How Fast Should 98 sportster 1800 go

[mattbraafhart]

I'm wondering if I can do something to increase the speed of my sportster, I'm getting about 45/50 at full throttle on calm water, is this typical, will wear rings/prop make a difference? I don't really have any desire to do mods to this boat, just wondering what a top speed should be if the boat was in top condition.

 

[howie099]

In the upper 40's is all you will get. You can swap out the implellers for differnt ones that help on the bottom end or help on the top end. I installed the Skat swirls on mine. Loose bit of the topend but it hooks up much better and grinds up weeds real good. No one really attempts engine mods since the factory pretty much squeezes all the power out of the engines and than you just loose reliability.

The Sportster 1800's are just crusing boats. I did get mine to do a 360 w/2 people on board. The faster you go the more money it cost. The boat looks good in the pic. I just have gray Hydro-Turf on mine :thumbsup:

 

[mattbraafhart]

Thanks! I was doing 360's last weekend with it, I didnt' know it was even possible, I was pleasantly surprised, and now excited to get back out and do some more. I broke the reverse cable doing crash stops, I think I'll stop doing those.

The hydro turf pretties it up quite a bit, I love this boat, I can man handle it by myself on the ramp, and it's just big enough for the family to spend the day on the water.

 

[howie099]

My Reverse cable broke a few weeks ago. When I bought it it was very hard to go from Forward to Neutral/Reverse. With the new cable it is easy as pie now. I like the boat. I got mine for a super deal $4400 w/trailer. That's the cost of a used 3 seater jet ski. The guy just bought a $400 cover for it,new $200 ASM battery for it, and had a fish finder/depth finder on it. I added a little better stero w/10" sub,4-channel amp, new speakers, dual battery w/switch, Skat Impellers, and Hydro-Turf.

 

[mattbraafhart]

That's a great deal, I paid $6K for mine, there is another one for sale here, asking $8,400.

My shifting was super hard before the cable broke also, the new calbe shifts very easy, can here the clicking into position now, which I couldn't hear before.

How did you do the dual batter w/switch setup, I need that.

 

[howie099]

$8,400 is kind of high unless you can eat off that boat and it has very low hours on it. I bought a 1-all-2 switch from Perko that was like $40, some marine quality battery cable(6 or 4 guage will work), battery box, and Deep Cycle battery. I will send some post some pics, but I fiberglassed 2 - 3/4" strips of green plywood(4" wide) in the corner of the boat to make it flater to attach the battery tray to. The 2nd battery sits right next to the current battery. I just glued the tray to the added wood/fiberglass. I attached the siwtch to the seat back between the oil tank and MPEM. Ran a Negative cable from one battery to the other . Put the 5 positve cables to the 'COMM' lug on the switch (3 MPEM/Accessory and 2 stater cables). Ran a cable from the each of the 2 post on the switch to the 2 batteries.

Now I can cut power to whole boat to charge the batteries or store it. Switch between batteries on the water if I kill one listening to the stero.

 

[mattbraafhart]

That's Sweet! Please send pics, I'm better with visuals, thanks!

 

[howie099]

I am going to swap out the battery tray this weekend with a smaller one that's eaiser to get the battery out. Here are the pics. I used 4 gauge wire since I ran a cable to the console since I installed my Amp in there. You can use a 6 gauge wire to cut down cost.

 

[mattbraafhart]

Very Nice, looks great, question though, when you have the switch in ALL position does it run series or parrellel, ie. 12 volt or 24 volt? Maybe the real question is how do you keep both batteries charging when you are running, if the ALL is parrellel I guess that works to have it in the ALL position while running to charge both.

 

[howie099]

12v when in ALL. The batterieds are in parrellel. You can change both in the ALL position. It is better to use the ALL if you have to of the same battery since the batteries will try to level each other out if your not running the boat to change them. I usually just switch to the Deep cycle battery(not really made for starting) to run the Stero while beached and just switch back to main one if I kill it to much. So far I ran the stero for a few hours and I could still start the engines on the Deep Cycle. My main battery is a very good ASM type from the road construciton signs. The guy I bought the boat from worked for the street department and get got one of thjose batteries.

I just charge the one low battery when I get home.