What speed are you getting at WOT and the size of you boat

[Thin Ice]

2009 Suntracker Regency 22 (24' OAL). 2011 Etec 115HO, 2-4 ppl, full tank and coolers......24-25MPH.

Best Ive had by myself with good conditions is 31MPH.

[curtiscapk]

2009 JC Neptoon triple tube 21TT, 2010 Suzuki DF150 with a Mirage Plus (Thunderbolt) SS prop, 19P. No strakes but plan to add finally, next yr. I can touch 38 alone, very light load, ideal conditions. Wife and I can run strong 37, with regular gear, good conditions.

2009 Tracker Fishing Barge 21 - Mercury 90 HP 4 stroke, 38MPH GPS @ 5800 RPM with a 13.25 X 17 prop. Lifting strakes help a lot!

I would love to see someone with a Sun Tracker toon and a Merc 90 hit 38, or turn a 17 pitch prop -even a 13" diameter one - to 5800 RPM on same boat for that matter. Unless that prop is flexing insanely. My DF150 can turn the Mirage Plus to 6050 full trim. I have 2.9L of displacement AND 2.5:1 gearing. Strakes or no strakes, sorry, with all due respect I am not buying it.

A few people 'round here claim their 90s run mid 30s, even upper 30s, just not gonna happen. Yes I've seen the ultalite little toon on Youtube run 40, that is a stripped boat. Like the folks claiming 45 from their 150s. Sorry.

you haven't been around for the older Tracker NV log discussions and videos have you???? You are gonna lose this one Jay.... Sorry buddy.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10392&start=15

[wed]

Well.....Dang.....I never!

Jay... lighten up! you don't have to believe and that is OK. The fact is that these toons, which were manufactured for only a few years, are of a very efficient design. Why tracker quit making them I don't know.

I have seen 39 MPH GPS out of mine but it will not sustain that over a significant distance, so I say it is 38 MPH. I does turn a 13.25 X 17 prop at approximately 5800 rpm. It does this with a 90 HP four stroke Mercury. My boat likes to be trimmed almost flat in the water to get best speed and very little of the logs are in the water, about 1/3 of the length. There are several other owners here that will attest to the same level of performance.

I have seen it run at approximately 32 MPH with 6 adults (several of us are well fed), 3 dogs (70 lbs total), 20 gallons of gas, cooler and trolling motor and battery. It was a lot of work to get it up on step with this load but when it got there I was amazed at the performance. Yes, the lifting strakes make a huge difference in performance.

The downside is that it is a toon (2 tubes) and is very sensitive to water conditions. A little chop has a significant effect of speed. That is where the Tritoon excells. It is not a perfect world is it?

Yes, It runs better than it should and it does it reliably!

[pond tuuunes]

I am still a little skeptical, but I suppose a 2 log, only 21' straked inside and out, I guess, but they are also claiming very maneuverable. Maybe because its so short? JT

[wed]

That is it. At speed I am not dragging much boat through the water. Less drag = good speed.

Maneuverability? Probably about the same as any other comparable toon at low speed but suffers at higher speeds. At high speeds it will tend to skate (feels spooky) wide until one toon bites and scrubs off speed pretty fast. Not so bad with just me on board. Again, the tritoons have an advantage with that center toon. The maneuverability is better when I run my spare prop with a 15 pitch, just loose some speed.

This configuration gets very good fuel economy in general but seems to do really well in the mid 20s. At those speeds it is fully on step at a relatively low RPM. You just have to be careful that it does not fall off step when cruising in that range. Hey guys, it is not a perfect boat but it was in my price range and it works for me.

[Soonertoon]

Well.....Dang.....I never!

Jay... lighten up! you don't have to believe and that is OK. The fact is that these toons, which were manufactured for only a few years, are of a very efficient design. Why tracker quit making them I don't know.

I have seen 39 MPH GPS out of mine but it will not sustain that over a significant distance, so I say it is 38 MPH. I does turn a 13.25 X 17 prop at approximately 5800 rpm. It does this with a 90 HP four stroke Mercury. My boat likes to be trimmed almost flat in the water to get best speed and very little of the logs are in the water, about 1/3 of the length. There are several other owners here that will attest to the same level of performance.

I have seen it run at approximately 32 MPH with 6 adults (several of us are well fed), 3 dogs (70 lbs total), 20 gallons of gas, cooler and trolling motor and battery. It was a lot of work to get it up on step with this load but when it got there I was amazed at the performance. Yes, the lifting strakes make a huge difference in performance.

The downside is that it is a toon (2 tubes) and is very sensitive to water conditions. A little chop has a significant effect of speed. That is where the Tritoon excells. It is not a perfect world is it?

Yes, It runs better than it should and it does it reliably!

I can vouch for what is being said here. I had the same boat with a 90 Merc 2 stroke that would run about 34 mph with 4 people full gas w a 13 1/2 x 15 alum prop. Shocked the hell out of me to. Keep in mind this was with calm water, and chop had an effect. However , I will say that it was a rough riding sunofabitch!!!!!! The speed component was great but unless you were running wide open or up on plane there was no benefit in my opinion.
Great idea on a piece of shit boat. Motor and all. Traded it off for a new g3 Suncatcher.

[smoker62]

I just wonder if these toons were so great , why arent all the builders designing similar toons ? Any quality builder who can put a twin toon with a 90 in the low to mid 30's would gain one large chunk of the market on the performance alone.

[Waterlogged]

I got the boat in my signature up to 31mph spinning a 13.75 X 15 prop 6400rpm. I have the lifting strakes, don't know if it's called a NV or what the NV package includes. I just don't see 90hp at 38 mph.

Glenn

[Soonertoon]

There is no queston that these NV logs were somewhat revolutionary in that they changed what the typical pontoon could do in terms of speed, and speed to hp ratios. In the last few years, vurtually all mfg. make a pontoon with some type of lifting strake available. What Tracker did and how they were designed , has been inproved on alot.
Having owned one of these , I can tell you that the strakes combined with a big, fat, round pontoon alowed for a very rough ride. Those that own them will attest if they are honest about it . They were great in calm water . Man could that boat fly with a 90 hp motor!. But, put them in a little chop and they would beat the fillings out of your teeth. Everything comes wth a trade off, right?
Another side effect that I would offer as a reason they quit with that design is; the stress and shock on the rest of the boat components. That rough ride didnt just affect the passengers. It shook the hell out of that boat overall. The strakes created a rather large concave shape at the bottom of the toons on each side that virtually "trapped" the water and kept the lift effect in place. The desgin alone is indicative of a rough ride.
All in all it was a breakthru in pontoon performance at the time, tradeoffs and all . If you have strakes on your toon, you can thank Tracker for opening that door years ago.

[MerkFalc]

2005 voyage w/ 225 will do 33mph loaded down and top up. 43 empty with 2 adults.

[jayw]

Well.....Dang.....I never!

Jay... lighten up! you don't have to believe and that is OK. The fact is that these toons, which were manufactured for only a few years, are of a very efficient design. Why tracker quit making them I don't know.

I have seen 39 MPH GPS out of mine but it will not sustain that over a significant distance, so I say it is 38 MPH. I does turn a 13.25 X 17 prop at approximately 5800 rpm. It does this with a 90 HP four stroke Mercury. My boat likes to be trimmed almost flat in the water to get best speed and very little of the logs are in the water, about 1/3 of the length. There are several other owners here that will attest to the same level of performance.

I have seen it run at approximately 32 MPH with 6 adults (several of us are well fed), 3 dogs (70 lbs total), 20 gallons of gas, cooler and trolling motor and battery. It was a lot of work to get it up on step with this load but when it got there I was amazed at the performance. Yes, the lifting strakes make a huge difference in performance.

The downside is that it is a toon (2 tubes) and is very sensitive to water conditions. A little chop has a significant effect of speed. That is where the Tritoon excells. It is not a perfect world is it?

Yes, It runs better than it should and it does it reliably!

Oh not to worry, I'm light...

I haven't followed the NV log discussions (I didn't join the forum until I bought my first TT in Oct of 2010) but I did go back and read a bunch of posts. Plus, out of curiosity, googled around about the NV toons.

I've also seen these on our chain, a few weeks ago noticed a smaller Tracker with the huge strakes zipping along and do recall being quite surprised once I saw it had a 90. He was flying, but definitely not doing 38. Or even 35. Sounds like it's possible from what everyone says. The Tracker 22 on boattest.com with the NV logs and 115 showed top end of 36, so how you guys with the 90s get 36, 38, 39 is beyond me. Tracker claimed "speeds in excess of 30 MPH with a 90" that's all they said. Also, how can that motor carry a load of 6 adults plus gear to 32 MPH, to even get up on the strakes? It would have a hard time on a planing hull boat of same weight. Not getting it.

It just all seems so surprising, so un-businesslike, that Tracker had a product that so vastly outpaced its competition BUT stopped making it mysteriously. Why? And why hasn't anyone else ben able to match that formula for success? You just don't see numbers like that from pontoons or tritoons with lower HP motors, and I see a lot of them.

If Tracker had such a golden goose, why kill it? Why has no one else even come close? Have they? Does anyone else know of another pontoon maker with these #s?

Our chain is incredibly choppy every weekend and any windy weekday so the TT is the right boat for us. It cuts thru most waves & wakes like ripples.

[jayw]

I got the boat in my signature up to 31mph spinning a 13.75 X 15 prop 6400rpm. I have the lifting strakes, don't know if it's called a NV or what the NV package includes. I just don't see 90hp at 38 mph.

Glenn

Based on what I read I think NV performance tubes were the only Tracker strakes you could get then (08). Is that correct?

[Soonertoon]

Well.....Dang.....I never!

Jay... lighten up! you don't have to believe and that is OK. The fact is that these toons, which were manufactured for only a few years, are of a very efficient design. Why tracker quit making them I don't know.

I have seen 39 MPH GPS out of mine but it will not sustain that over a significant distance, so I say it is 38 MPH. I does turn a 13.25 X 17 prop at approximately 5800 rpm. It does this with a 90 HP four stroke Mercury. My boat likes to be trimmed almost flat in the water to get best speed and very little of the logs are in the water, about 1/3 of the length. There are several other owners here that will attest to the same level of performance.

I have seen it run at approximately 32 MPH with 6 adults (several of us are well fed), 3 dogs (70 lbs total), 20 gallons of gas, cooler and trolling motor and battery. It was a lot of work to get it up on step with this load but when it got there I was amazed at the performance. Yes, the lifting strakes make a huge difference in performance.

The downside is that it is a toon (2 tubes) and is very sensitive to water conditions. A little chop has a significant effect of speed. That is where the Tritoon excells. It is not a perfect world is it?

Yes, It runs better than it should and it does it reliably!

Oh not to worry, I'm light...

I haven't followed the NV log discussions (I didn't join the forum until I bought my first TT in Oct of 2010) but I did go back and read a bunch of posts. Plus, out of curiosity, googled around about the NV toons.

I've also seen these on our chain, a few weeks ago noticed a smaller Tracker with the huge strakes zipping along and do recall being quite surprised once I saw it had a 90. He was flying, but definitely not doing 38. Or even 35. Sounds like it's possible from what everyone says. The Tracker 22 on boattest.com with the NV logs and 115 showed top end of 36, so how you guys with the 90s get 36, 38, 39 is beyond me. Tracker claimed "speeds in excess of 30 MPH with a 90" that's all they said. Also, how can that motor carry a load of 6 adults plus gear to 32 MPH, to even get up on the strakes? It would have a hard time on a planing hull boat of same weight. Not getting it.

It just all seems so surprising, so un-businesslike, that Tracker had a product that so vastly outpaced its competition BUT stopped making it mysteriously. Why? And why hasn't anyone else ben able to match that formula for success? You just don't see numbers like that from pontoons or tritoons with lower HP motors, and I see a lot of them.

If Tracker had such a golden goose, why kill it? Why has no one else even come close? Have they? Does anyone else know of another pontoon maker with these #s?

Our chain is incredibly choppy every weekend and any windy weekday so the TT is the right boat for us. It cuts thru most waves & wakes like ripples.

Read my last post above as the possible answer as to why they stopped making them is explained...

[LittleRiver]

18.5 top speed. Getting some where 13.5 to 14 mph at 4000 rpm.
Stereo rocking, chilling about 8 mph

[illinoid]

At WOT I get way too much vibration from bent shaft on 1980 70hp Johnson on 1975 24ft Kayot...oh well the admiral doesn't like to go over 8 or 10 mph anyway. I need to figure out if a lower end rebuild is doable this winter without special tools or if the parts put it out of the budget. First motorboat, having lots of fun boating and fixing her up. I have to resist the urge to put any real money in her and save it for the big upgrade in a couple years when I retire. This is a testbed to figure out what I want/need and make my mistakes on something that won't brake my heart if I put a dent in it.