Maxum 1800 SR - Maxum Boat Owners Club

Treq7 · 01-02-2009, 03:26 PM

The Maxum 1800 SR has a 3L, 135 HP engine. This will be my first boat and will be doing water sports (tubing, wakeboarding, skiing- 2 skis). With this size engine will I be able to have 4+ people on board and a skier?

Thanks.

seapuppy · 01-02-2009, 04:53 PM

welcome to the zoo....depending on the size of the people on board...it might be a bit weak in the top end and take off....it's always better to get as much hp as possible in the boat...the 4.3ltr v6 or even the 5.0ltr would definitely be a better choice....but that's just my opinion...someone with experience with this engine/drive combo will hopefully chime in...

SP

Fly Boy · 01-06-2009, 06:57 PM

I also have the 3.0ltr LX. and yes, you should be fine. I have had 8 persons on board and a bunch of camping gear. Took ahwile to ride up, but eventually it got up. To pull one skier and carry 4 persons, I would change my prop and shorten the tow rope. I changed mine to a 19 pitch for skiing, and run a 21 pitch for long distance excursions. A few minor changes and you should be fine.

Argonaut · 02-04-2009, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Treq7

The Maxum 1800 SR has a 3L, 135 HP engine. This will be my first boat and will be doing water sports (tubing, wakeboarding, skiing- 2 skis). With this size engine will I be able to have 4+ people on board and a skier?

Thanks.

Skiing on a pair should present no problem, neither will tubing or wakeboarding ....
Moving to Single ski deepwater starts would be a problem for bigger riders.

Consider looking at a lower pitch prop if you struggle at pulling away.
I changed the prop on my SR3 to a High 5 and that made a huge difference to pulling away.

If you have problems with bow rise (I did) when pulling away at full power, consider fitting SMART tabs.

Fly Boy · 02-04-2009, 06:46 PM

Smart tabs? Are those the fins that attached to the sides of the outdrive? I have heard pros and cons for them, but have never tired them.

Argonaut · 02-04-2009, 06:54 PM

No ... those are not that good.
Smart Tabs are Trim tabs that fit to bottom of transom ... they are very well respected (look at reviews on iboats)
http://www.nauticusinc.com/smart_tabsSX.htm

There are some videos on that site.

I have Smart Tabs sx on my Maxum

Fly Boy · 02-06-2009, 07:42 PM

hhmm, interesting. so it does plain out quicker and helps at speed as well. interesting indeed.

Argonaut · 02-07-2009, 02:38 PM

The theory is that it should come on plane quicker ... not done any comparative tests (I will though) so unsure on that.
Likewise expetecd fuel economy improvement.

The key thing I wanted was to cure excessive bow rise.
The 1800SR3 is a nice boat (well I think so) but if you have a skier on the back and use full power to pop them out of the water .. there is a huge amount of bow rise ... so much that for some long seconds you cannot see anything but sky.
The attitude of the boat is therefore not ideal, and can lead to snaking, and it could be thought of dangerous as for that time you cannot see what is in front of you in the water.
It also makes it tiring for the skier as they get dragged rather than popped on on the water.

With Trim tabs as the boat piles on the power the Tabs are down, water flows under hull, hits the angled tab plates, this acts as a lever and exerts upwards pressure on transom ... this pushes bow down ... drastically reducing amount of bowrise, and the time that any rise is present.

You can do this with expensive hydraulic or electric tabs and sophisticated controls (expensive) ... Smart Tabs give a form of automated control and no controls are needed.

This is achieved by having the size of the TAB and importantly the damper to match the hull length, engine size & loading.
Not come across anybody who does not think this made a big positive improvement to their boat.