Key West Question for Jay

[PropNut]

Jay,

I am about to resurrect my Key West. Several years ago you had some recommendations for setting up this boat. As I recall, it was an x432, six cells and a 17turn motor. The article was quite specific regrding COG, etc. Is the info still available?

Thanks,

PropNut

[eddieh]

propnut, hope I am not jumping in where not wanted, but a question are you going to run the 05 for a reason( class, ie 4 cell , cost etc) I run the keywest on a 700, 12 cells and a 642, I use the octura strudder, it runs very very well, I saw jay's article about running them on 4 cells, but this boat cooks on 12, my 2 cents, cheers eddie

[Jay Turner]

Propnut: I ran most of my Keys with Hughey gear drives and 6-8 cells; it does 'cook' on 4 cells though, especially with the gears. For 6-cell direct drive competition in oval you could use a 9- to 12-turn motor and props between an x430 and y535. For offshore a 14 to 17 turn motor and x432 to x435 would probably put you in the ballpark. A lot depends on the cells you use for offshore - gotta match the power to the run time.

The 12-cell Keys I've seen - when set up for oval - were virtually uncontrollable. That's a lot of weight for a little 21" boat, and a big prop compounds the problem. My 8-cell geared Key was faster than the local 12-cell Astro 25-powered versions, although the maintenance was higher.

Back to your question - my XL Cat ran very well with 6 cells, a good 15-turn motor and either an x435 or P735 prop. The P735 will lift the transom and needs several degrees of "up" at the prop end of the shaft, while the X435 runs best flat or with a degree of "down" at the prop end. I clocked the little XL at 34 mph over a 205' course with the P735 setup - it was "cooking". The y535 may be the 'best' prop for that setup, and there is no reason to think that a lightly-build Key couldn't do as well. As always, you performance will vary depending on the quality of the motor, the setup, and of course the cells. That's where ALL the power is.

[PropNut]

Thanks for your help. Good to know my memory was pretty close.

Propnut