AVX 1880 and Lake Powell Narrows

[ifishinxs]

If anyone who has been to Lake Powell recently will know the Narrows in the afternoon heading back to Wahweap can be a bitch. Boat wakes bounce off the canyon walls back out to the main channel. Add some wind and boat traffic and it will beat you and your boat to death. Its like a salad bowl with 2 to 3 ft swells coming from every direction.

I warned my buddy in his 19 ft Tracker that it was going to be a rough ride. He slid in behind me and rode my wake as I battled the slop. I finally found that 3200 rpm was about as good as It was going to get without going airborn, falling off plane and getting beat up too bad. You have to keep the bow up or your going to stick a swell. Once we hit the no wake zone outside Glen Canyon dam it was nice and calm. The little 1880 handled the narrows without beating me up to bad. If anything was going to break this was it. My buddy said, never again in his Tracker. He didn’t have power steering. He said his hands kept cramping up trying to hold the wheel straight.

All and all very impressed with this tin boat that handles like a glass boat!

[Boat4Life]

"The little 1880 handled the narrows without beating me up to bad." I don't consider a 19 foot boat "little".....the 1880 is also a wide boat. Glad to hear it did well under those conditions.

[City17Banner]

If anyone who has been to Lake Powell recently will know the Narrows in the afternoon heading back to Wahweap can be a bitch. Boat wakes bounce off the canyon walls back out to the main channel. Add some wind and boat traffic and it will beat you and your boat to death. Its like a salad bowl with 2 to 3 ft swells coming from every direction.

I warned my buddy in his 19 ft Tracker that it was going to be a rough ride. He slid in behind me and rode my wake as I battled the slop. I finally found that 3200 rpm was about as good as It was going to get without going airborn, falling off plane and getting beat up too bad. You have to keep the bow up or your going to stick a swell. Once we hit the no wake zone outside Glen Canyon dam it was nice and calm. The little 1880 handled the narrows without beating me up to bad. If anything was going to break this was it. My buddy said, never again in his Tracker. He didn’t have power steering. He said his hands kept cramping up trying to hold the wheel straight.

All and all very impressed with this tin boat that handles like a glass boat!

That's fantastic to hear that your Vexus 1880 did so well in those tough water conditions sir!

I'm not certain my old Ranger RT188 would have handled the situation as well as your 1880 simply because of the shorter beam and mod-v hull design similar to your buddies Tracker.

I'm going to run my Vexus 1980 on Chequamegon Bay all season this year and see if I miss my Ranger so I can determine if I should keep the Ranger and upgrade the fishing electronics and trolling motor or sell it to my cousin who wants a big water bass boat for fishing smallmouth bass on Mille Lacs.

[ifishinxs]

The 1880 is a dingy on Lake Powell. 80 ft house boats, large day cruisers and 25 ft Wake boats are the normal. That same day we ran 40 miles one way. The morning run was pretty easy but that afternoon coming home was brutal.

[MarkG52]

I love how well our boats handle rough water but, mine stayed in the garage Sunday afternoon(my only chance to go last weekend), sustained winds over 30 with gusts over 40.

[Vossman]

I would stay home too.

I love how well our boats handle rough water but, mine stayed in the garage Sunday afternoon(my only chance to go last weekend), sustained winds over 30 with gusts over 40.