A morning on Loch Ken :O)

navaraman · 23 September 2009, 20:47

Hi all,
Just thought I would post a couple of pics of me and the wife (and bob the dog), running in my outboard on Loch Ken last week. The weather was dry and fairly warm. After an easy launch at Loch Ken Marina (£10 a day), we had a couple of hours doing the first bit of the running in. Throttle no more than half for the first 2 hours.The boat got onto the plain at around 10mph(the blanket speed limit on the Loch, apart from the water ski zone). The wind started to pick up, so I dropped off the wife and hound and went back out for another hour and half. At this point of the runnuning in, I could do a full throttle run for 1 minute. The boat topped out at just over 19mph, but sits happily at around 14/15mph, so it's not worth the extra throttle for slight increase in speed.
So overall, I'm very pleased with the whole outfit.
If anyone else fancy's using Loch Ken, you have to register your boat, cost £31 and that included the stickers and plates. Theres plenty of parking at the marina.
Oh, and there is a Loch Ranger that patrols the Loch, met him when he had me for speeding :O)

oujakov · 24 September 2009, 03:21

It looks to be a good trip on the nice calm lake!

It looks very cold, as bob the dog is covered in blanket.
19mph it is a good speed with 9.9, I get top speed of 35km/h (Garmin GPS) with 15hp with me alone on 3.3m QS.

Fenlander · 24 September 2009, 12:35

Good trip out there navaraman... those loch limits are a pain. We had a week in Scotland last year on Loch Morar after rejecting many other places with limits. Seems the system there is when applying for a weekly registration the guy will only approve your boat if it is judged to be not a speedboat type.... but once accepted there is no limit as such.

Your max speed looks about right. With our 3.2m Zodiac (inflated to the max) and 9.8 2-stroke Tohatsu the most we've ever seen is 19mph in very favourable conditions (tail wind and light ripple) with one adult & one child.

David

navaraman · 25 September 2009, 18:06

cheers guys,
Bob does feel the cold, not much a fur coat on him. it wasn't too bad for the first couple of hours but then the wind picked up and I took SWMBO and bob back to my truck and went back out again.
We went to Loch Ken because it was closer to where we were staying, but I would have preferred to go up to Loch Lomond if it wasn't twice the distance. lomond's very beautiful Loch and the speed restrictions are only in limited areas, as opposed to most of the Loch. we used to water ski up there many years ago.
very pleased with speed of the sib, can't wait to take it out again :O)