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Welp, got my new 10 Puma FTD, wife, kid, bottles of water, camera, towels, and assorted bits of female-designated-we-have-to-have-this-stuff foofarall in the water on Lake Conroe yesterday to try running around for a couple of hours and get the new Merc 250 broke in.Well, things could have been slightly better for a first voyage. To begin with, it was dan hot. About 101 at 2:00 when we finally got the boat stuck in the water and the truck & trailer parked. No problem, we were dressed for the heat, had the water on ice in the handy-dandy boat cooler, and had on plenty of sunscreen. The root cause of the problem was not simple. Lake Conroe, at least the portions south of Stowaway marina, have almost every square inch of waterfront bulkheaded. this, coupled with a lot of jet skis churning around, plus some really big party boats and pontoon boats going here and there for the better part of the day, had churned up the water something fierce. All those wakes were criss-crossing everywhere and didnt have any place to break on a shore and lose their energy, so theyd just been reflected and reflected all day. There was not pattern to ay of the waves, except where you could visibly see boat wakes headed towards you, and all the wave heights were 2 to 3-1/2 with barely any breeze. To put it mildly, the water conditions sucked unless you had at least a 25 – 30 bay or offshore boat, which I saw plenty of. Wife and daughter made it for about 20 inutes before they were ready to go back to the boat launch. It was too hairy for them, plus my wife was getting scared and a little green and beginning to take it out on me. SO back to the boat launch, drop them off, get chewed out and get called names because I still needed to run the boat a little more (aint just gonna run the boat for 30 minutes then go home when I had to drive over an hour to get there and pay the $10 boat ramp fee.). Anyway, went out and tried it some more. After about another 30 minutes of my Puma doing its best impersonation of a jet-ski in juping over the top of and past waves, I decided that discretion was the better part of valor, called it crap, and went in. That sucked. I will never go to Lake Conroe again when the weather is party-weather. When the water gets too cold to swim, then I might go, but by that time Ill be on Rayburn ayway.Boat & motor setup: 2010 Puma FTD, full gas tanks, no water in livewells, about 2 gallons of bottled water plus a bag of ice in the forward ice cheast, two adults, one 1/2 adult, nuerous beach towels, food, snacks, camera & bag, plus stowed away seats and ski tow-bar. Some very light equipment (no more than about 20 pounds) underneath, just behind, and just in front of the seats. Rest of gear was split between the two rod boxes (which were cavernous. Whoop!). 2010 Merc 250 Pro XS with 26 Fury prop, no plugs in vent holes (3 holes).Heres my impressions:The Good The hull handled that rough-azz water and random big waves (somewhat very-concerning pucker-factor production type waves) like a champ. I noticed when everything was said and done after I got the boat back on the trailer that none of us got a single drop of water splashed on us. BONE-DRY RIDE!!!! WHOOP! The Merc was so quiet it sounded like a well-tuned Chevy 350 with a set of perfectly-tuned glass-packs purring at idle. The very few chances I got to poke it up to 4000 rpm, when I was driving solo, it still was fairly quiet, and very quiet compared to my older previous Evinrude carbd boat motor. WHOOP! Even with the cobb-rough water, the ride in the seat was cushy, yet firm, so no struggling to stay in the cockpit when I was somewhat airborne a couple of times and decided to land on some big honking boat wakes that were everywhere. WHOOP! (uhhh…can you say pucker factor?!!!) Boat trailers just fine going down the road. No trouble pulling, turning, or backing. WHOOP! Aurora boat cover was easy to put on and take off, except for the confusing straps on the back. I got it figure out after a while, though, even with the distructions as a reference. Thats a story for later… Whoop. Stainless screw-in drain plug is cool. No twisting the tiny diameter, small, finger-munching brass t-handle on a traditional plug any more. My fingers are thankful!!!The Bad (translate as I need hints & suggestions for improvement and more experience) When taking off, the boat seemed to take a while to get up on plane and really porpoised until it did. I had the jackplate about 1/2″ above all the way down, and had the motor trimmed to +1 (which was just about all the way in, like I was told to do for break-in). I normally take off with the motor like that anyway for the best launch based on experience with the old boat anyway. I imagine there are a few things I can tweak to get a little better launch, but its just something to be mindful of right now. The boat is heavy, and the motor is heavy, I had two full tanks of fuel, plus an adult and a 1/2-adult in the boat, with all the aforementioned gear. so that ight have affected launch a little. Slowing down off of plane the boat wanted to really porpoise, too, even with the motor trimmed all the way in, but I never got any spillover of water in the back. Good hull design. Again, I think me looking at FAQs and tips on boat/motor trim and performance will help there. Prop sounded like it was cavitating a little getting up on plane, especially just before it started to catch and start tilting the bow down as I picked up some speed. Ran really smooth once on plane. I was hitting the throttle pretty hard to get up on plane, and maybe gettig about 2500 – 3000 rpm until I planed out. Once I planed out, i had to really get off the throttle or wind up doing a 1/4 drag race acceleration run by how hard I could feel the motor start to shove the boat forwards. With the water warmer and more gear in the boat, do I need to plug the vent holes to keep exhaust out of the prop blades and reduce cavitation tendency, or do I need to bring it up with less throttle and different jackplate position or engine trim in the future? I will need to do some looking here to figure that out. Again, very impressed with the motor/prop combo, just want to reduce time on plane. It was taking about 10 seconds to plane with the whole family on board, and maybe 8 seconds without. I realize Im not going to be on plane in 3-4 seconds like the older, lighter 89 Cat I traded in, just curious if I can improve a little. Still, WHOOP! The Ugly (as in bad-ass boat Ugly!!!): I still havent finished break-in yet, so the monster black thing pushing my boat is only going to get stronger. WHOOP! I cannot wait to get on a little smoother water and not worry too much about backing off the throttle as I get up on plain and really ride the rocket! If that motor pushes as hard as it does now, before the break-in is done, it will be drag race feeling coming up to speed right off of plane. Whhoooooooooo!!!!! Even the few seconds of rush I felt before I had to back off quick due to the rough water, was AWESOME! Cannot wait to get on smoother water and really do some serious break-in work!Your Signature …
Not many lakes like the South end of Lake Conroe on summer weekends. You need to get North of the bridge after about 10 AM. Of course right now a sandy beach and in the water is the place to be after 10 AM.
Ive had my puma ftd with 250 pro xs for 2 months now and about 22-23 hours on the motor. I have a 8″ manual jack plate so I cant comment about your hydraulic jack plate settings. Heres my experience so far.I think break in of the motor is the most important thing so I followed it to a t. The manual says to keep it between 4000-5400 rpm first hour. I wasnt able to get 5400 rpm without trimming the motor up a little bit so I would use about 3/4 throttle then bump trim until I got to 5400 rpm, rode for 2 minutes, then trimmed back down to 4000 rpm and started varying rpms again. After break in and about 7-8 hours on motor, I started testing hole shot. With full gas tanks, full livewells, two people, and a good load of gear hole shot sucked. I timed it to be about 13 seconds. The jack plate was pretty low so I started raising it 1/4″ at a time and tested hole shot again. There are a lot of post on adjusting plate to read. I ended up raising mine to the point the prop would blow out and I experienced a lot of steering pull, then I lowered it back down 1/8″. That seemed to be the best set up with my rig. I was amazed at how little a plate changed made the boat handle differently. I got the hole shot down to 7 seconds. Now heres the thing – I have 23 hours on the motor now and the hole shot is getting better. The motor had a stutter at take off when it was new but that has quieted down some. Still does it but seems to do it less and less. So I think youll see improvements once the motor is nice and broken in and you adjust jack plates settings. It seems to take so little adjustment to make a big difference. I would leave the wife and kid at home during break in and just drive it. Dont worry about hole shots or anything else. That Pro xs will get better as you get some hours on it.
Lake Conroe is always this rough on the weekend; no matter what the wind is doing. Advise to go only Mon./Fri. Not too bad then.
CajunAg wrote:Welp, got my new 10 Puma FTD, wife, kid, bottles of water, camera, towels, and assorted bits of female-designated-we-have-to-have-this-stuff foofarall in the water on Lake Conroe yesterday to try running around for a couple of hours and get the new Merc 250 broke in.Well, things could have been slightly better for a first voyage. To begin with, it was dan hot. About 101 at 2:00 when we finally got the boat stuck in the water and the truck & trailer parked. No problem, we were dressed for the heat, had the water on ice in the handy-dandy boat cooler, and had on plenty of sunscreen. The root cause of the problem was not simple. Lake Conroe, at least the portions south of Stowaway marina, have almost every square inch of waterfront bulkheaded. this, coupled with a lot of jet skis churning around, plus some really big party boats and pontoon boats going here and there for the better part of the day, had churned up the water something fierce. All those wakes were criss-crossing everywhere and didnt have any place to break on a shore and lose their energy, so theyd just been reflected and reflected all day. There was not pattern to ay of the waves, except where you could visibly see boat wakes headed towards you, and all the wave heights were 2 to 3-1/2 with barely any breeze. To put it mildly, the water conditions sucked unless you had at least a 25 – 30 bay or offshore boat, which I saw plenty of. Wife and daughter made it for about 20 inutes before they were ready to go back to the boat launch. It was too hairy for them, plus my wife was getting scared and a little green and beginning to take it out on me. SO back to the boat launch, drop them off, get chewed out and get called names because I still needed to run the boat a little more (aint just gonna run the boat for 30 minutes then go home when I had to drive over an hour to get there and pay the $10 boat ramp fee.). Anyway, went out and tried it some more. After about another 30 minutes of my Puma doing its best impersonation of a jet-ski in juping over the top of and past waves, I decided that discretion was the better part of valor, called it crap, and went in. That sucked. I will never go to Lake Conroe again when the weather is party-weather. When the water gets too cold to swim, then I might go, but by that time Ill be on Rayburn ayway.Boat & motor setup: 2010 Puma FTD, full gas tanks, no water in livewells, about 2 gallons of bottled water plus a bag of ice in the forward ice cheast, two adults, one 1/2 adult, nuerous beach towels, food, snacks, camera & bag, plus stowed away seats and ski tow-bar. Some very light equipment (no more than about 20 pounds) underneath, just behind, and just in front of the seats. Rest of gear was split between the two rod boxes (which were cavernous. Whoop!). 2010 Merc 250 Pro XS with 26 Fury prop, no plugs in vent holes (3 holes).Heres my impressions:The Good The hull handled that rough-azz water and random big waves (somewhat very-concerning pucker-factor production type waves) like a champ. I noticed when everything was said and done after I got the boat back on the trailer that none of us got a single drop of water splashed on us. BONE-DRY RIDE!!!! WHOOP! The Merc was so quiet it sounded like a well-tuned Chevy 350 with a set of perfectly-tuned glass-packs purring at idle. The very few chances I got to poke it up to 4000 rpm, when I was driving solo, it still was fairly quiet, and very quiet compared to my older previous Evinrude carbd boat motor. WHOOP! Even with the cobb-rough water, the ride in the seat was cushy, yet firm, so no struggling to stay in the cockpit when I was somewhat airborne a couple of times and decided to land on some big honking boat wakes that were everywhere. WHOOP! (uhhh…can you say pucker factor?!!!) Boat trailers just fine going down the road. No trouble pulling, turning, or backing. WHOOP! Aurora boat cover was easy to put on and take off, except for the confusing straps on the back. I got it figure out after a while, though, even with the distructions as a reference. Thats a story for later… Whoop. Stainless screw-in drain plug is cool. No twisting the tiny diameter, small, finger-munching brass t-handle on a traditional plug any more. My fingers are thankful!!!The Bad (translate as I need hints & suggestions for improvement and more experience) When taking off, the boat seemed to take a while to get up on plane and really porpoised until it did. I had the jackplate about 1/2″ above all the way down, and had the motor trimmed to +1 (which was just about all the way in, like I was told to do for break-in). I normally take off with the motor like that anyway for the best launch based on experience with the old boat anyway. I imagine there are a few things I can tweak to get a little better launch, but its just something to be mindful of right now. The boat is heavy, and the motor is heavy, I had two full tanks of fuel, plus an adult and a 1/2-adult in the boat, with all the aforementioned gear. so that ight have affected launch a little. Slowing down off of plane the boat wanted to really porpoise, too, even with the motor trimmed all the way in, but I never got any spillover of water in the back. Good hull design. Again, I think me looking at FAQs and tips on boat/motor trim and performance will help there. Prop sounded like it was cavitating a little getting up on plane, especially just before it started to catch and start tilting the bow down as I picked up some speed. Ran really smooth once on plane. I was hitting the throttle pretty hard to get up on plane, and maybe gettig about 2500 – 3000 rpm until I planed out. Once I planed out, i had to really get off the throttle or wind up doing a 1/4 drag race acceleration run by how hard I could feel the motor start to shove the boat forwards. With the water warmer and more gear in the boat, do I need to plug the vent holes to keep exhaust out of the prop blades and reduce cavitation tendency, or do I need to bring it up with less throttle and different jackplate position or engine trim in the future? I will need to do some looking here to figure that out. Again, very impressed with the motor/prop combo, just want to reduce time on plane. It was taking about 10 seconds to plane with the whole family on board, and maybe 8 seconds without. I realize Im not going to be on plane in 3-4 seconds like the older, lighter 89 Cat I traded in, just curious if I can improve a little. Still, WHOOP! The Ugly (as in bad-ass boat Ugly!!!): I still havent finished break-in yet, so the monster black thing pushing my boat is only going to get stronger. WHOOP! I cannot wait to get on a little smoother water and not worry too much about backing off the throttle as I get up on plain and really ride the rocket! If that motor pushes as hard as it does now, before the break-in is done, it will be drag race feeling coming up to speed right off of plane. Whhoooooooooo!!!!! Even the few seconds of rush I felt before I had to back off quick due to the rough water, was AWESOME! Cannot wait to get on smoother water and really do some serious break-in work!Dont trim until you are completely done (i.e. 120 minutes gone on the Smart Craft Timer). You have to keep a load on the motor and should be watching your rpms and not going WOT for extended periods. Vary the rpms during the breakin period and dont hold at any range for extended periods until fully timed out on the 120 minutes…
I knew Conroe got a little crowded on the weekends, didnt think about all those stupid boat wakes bouncing off of bulkheads. Suck.Thanks for info so far. I got instruction from ther dealer to keep it between 3000 – 4500 rpm for first hour, varying it around, then go 3000 – 5000 rpm the second hour with occasional 10-second bursts at full throttle. So I was trying to stick with that, but water conditions were not conducive for doing that with any safety. And THAT was north of the 1097 bridge!!!! South of there was futzing nuts! Thats where I went semi-airborne a couple of times, decided to hell with that, went it, on the trailer, and came home. Nothing like keeping your new boat off of the bottom of the lake!!!I have this Friday off from work, so I may try to finagle getting a buddy and going to Conroe (if we can get there early!!!) or just move East a ways and tool around Lake Houston. Shoot, Lake Livingston isnt that far from Conroe, if I can get one of my buddys with enough time, I can make a day-trip there and do some running around, get the motor broke in, and maybe do some fishing while I fart around with figuring out the guts of the depth finders. Its a good plan, just got to see how I feel after a fricking bad-deal dental procedure I have to undergo this week. That really will SUCK!Whenever I do get y next chance to be on more calm water, it will NOT suck!Guess Ill figure out the jackplate thing adjustment after breakin. Figured I would do it that way anyhow. If anything, keeping the bow hunkered down while on plane helped out with the worse parts of the waves Saturday..Your Signature …
I have the same rig as you. The hole shot sucks 365 period! You would think a 250 would break our neck but not!!!!! I will have to live with it because Im not willing to give up top end for hole shot. You will enjoy The PUMA FTD……..I Love mine!Glynn
Hole shot can be remedied with a different propeller or PVS Combination. However as NELA states, some prefer the top end that the larger wheels offer. BCB
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