Excel Volaire 390 - First Impressions

[chris moody]

My £6 one has had four or five trips out on the water so far and is still fine and appears remarkably accurate. It’s definitely paid for itself as I have now sorted out my propeller issues.

How waterproof are they ?

I’m not expecting the £6 one to last very long.

Dunno - I haven’t killed it yet and it has got very wet.

[harrison]

I need to swat up on props and learn what effect size, pitch and cupping have because although I’m not keen to spend more money and am more than happy with what I can get out of my boat

Hey Brerabit,

Awesome write up of first run.

If your getting 27mph not much wrong in my books from a 20...well done. By all means get a tach, great advice, we run one on all our motors and extremely useful, but can’t see your prop being far out with those speeds.

We have the Mariner version of the efi 20 running with the stock 9.25 x 10” prop...will assume you have the same. It will have 10P stamped on outside of hub. Not yet carried out any in depth analysis as have hull issues (T38) but motor/prop size not one of them. Gut feel stock prop is about right as decent hole shot, easily achieves 25mph+ and not knowingly bounced off the rev limiter yet (kicks in at 6500 revs) but freely revs up to around 6000. So well in the 5700 to 6200 wot range. We’ll do more extensive full speed testing soon, including some towing wakeboard, kneeboard, toys etc. but will be surprised if prop change required.

If anybody can be arsed to work out the theoretical optimum then gearbox ratio is 1-2.15, recommended wot range 5700 - 6200 and prop pitch 10”

As a ball park figure work on a 200rpm increase for each 1” reduction in prop pitch...and vice versa (assuming same diameter).

I wouldn’t worry too much about cupping. All props are cupped to an extent, but custom cupping comes into its own to address specific problems. They can provide more low down grip, reduce ventilation and allow prop to run nearer the surface.

Boat and motor sound spot on to me. Looking forward to see you and your boat/motor on the 21st.

[Brerabit]

Thanks @Harrison that’s very reassuring.

I didn’t really have good idea of what to expect with regard to speed but I suppose it’s inevitable that we all want ’to see what she’ll do’ from time to time. I have to admit that before I got out on the water, I wasn’t anticipating a great deal of excitement. Certainly, it was going to be a bit of a challenge while I was learning the ropes and trying not to take an early bath. I also knew that speed would fall well short of some of the RIB posts I’d read and to be honest, even 30-40mph seemed pretty tame to me so anything below that was bordering on pedestrian.

Isn’t it surprising how your perception of speed changes when you’re only a few centimetres from the water, perched precariously on some inflated plastic whilst hanging on to the tiller and a bit of string. The soft, sloshy wet stuff you were wading about in at launch has now turned into undulating, shiny concrete and all this while your trying to get to grips with a steering arrangement (I’m using the term very loosely here) that is totally counter-intuitive.

I can’t remember having so much fun for years - and believe me, I have been trying…

I’ve already ordered a tach because, as I’ve gleaned from this thread and also from my involvement with performance cars, your speedo only makes any sense when you know the speed of your engine.

It’s relatively easy to do the maths when you have in effect, direct drive all the way from the engine to the tarmac. The variables that get thrown into the mix when you try to do this on water are a tad more complex to say the least - I’m finding it absolutely fascinating.

I’m happy 27mph is regarded as respectable but…
I think that if we trimmed her to #3 we might do just a a little bit better.
Gotta give it a go.

[sonny1]

im going out in the morning and believe me i cant wait to get a realistic speed reading now im all set with almost run in engine and garmin to read my speed . just hope the weather holds out . watch this space tomorrow evening to see what my 30 hp tohatsu on an open mercury 420 can achieve

[Brerabit]

I've just discovered the Volaire 390 is rated for 30HP...

No - It's too heavy.

Maybe, if I renewed the gym membership...

[pezza]

I too am interested in purchasing one of these. Do you know if it could tow a wakeboard or ringo behind it with a 20hp? It's a lovely looking boat

[ChrisParish]

I have been in one with a Mariner 20 on it and it performs similar to the Honwave T38 with the same engine. @harrison has towed toys behind his T38 so I would presume that you would be able to tow with the Volaire.

[pezza]

Fantastic many thanks. I think I might have to buy one of these I think the f-rib is out of my price range for a bit but these excel boats do look very good.

[harrison]

I too am interested in purchasing one of these. Do you know if it could tow a wakeboard or ringo behind it with a 20hp? It's a lovely looking boat

The Volaire should be fine.
We’ve towed ringo’s, kneeboards and wakeboards behind all our sibs, both air and alumin floor models, with 20hp motors. As with any lightweight craft, extreme slaloming of the ‘towee’ will affect directional stability. Other than that a sib with enough power can tow teenagers/small adults with relative ease, and great fun. The main limiting factor usually is choppy conditions when it’s uncomfortable to keep the power on to stay planing, particular coming out of turns.

Kneeboarding in the bay - Aerotec/Suzy 20