Sporty or Torque? Bassport

[pops77s]

Wide open question!!! No pun intended! My best speed with two large dudes, a good friend of mine, loaded for a tournament has been 86.1. Solo I've been 87+ and ran out of runable water. I'm usually at 83-84 with two loaded in tournament trim, though there is more there. I was the first boat in the second flight (boat 29) on the Arkansas River leaving three forks harbors running to Robert S Kerr Reservoir. When we got to the lock we were the third boat there. We were the fourth boat out of the lock, within 1/4 mile we were leading the pack. My co-angler was astonished, beyond belief what he had just witnessed. Our fastest speed was 84.5. Keep in mind I also have dual 8' Power Pole Blades.

[atcje]

Anyone with a sponsor on his shirt is gonna say what he is paid to say...I have no sponsors, fury is by far the worst prop I've ever bolted to my motor. The torque master is challenging to drive compared to a sporty, very challenging. Jmo

[pops77s]

Who here is sponsored?

[NOTGSXR]

Anyone with a sponsor on his shirt is gonna say what he is paid to say...I have no sponsors, fury is by far the worst prop I've ever bolted to my motor. The torque master is challenging to drive compared to a sporty, very challenging. Jmo

Lee told me the same thing..

[Tim Powell]

Sporty only for me. If you carry the proper wrench and put a little vasoline on the gaskets you won't tear the gaskets when removing the covers.

[NOTGSXR]

Sporty only for me. If you carry the proper wrench and put a little vasoline on the gaskets you won't tear the gaskets when removing the covers.

Now he tells me lol

[pops77s]

I have become quite proficient at it. I had debris stuck in both thermostats after the Arkansas River tournament.

[pops77s]

Tim,

What is this proper wrench you speak of? I use two different sized sockets, an inch pound torque wrench 1/4" drive for the thermostat housings and a ft lbs torque wrench 3/8" drive for the fuel rails. I do torque mine to the Mercury specs, and use liberal amounts of 2stroke oil on the injector "O" Rings when re-installing the fuel rails.

[pops77s]

Sporty only for me. If you carry the proper wrench and put a little vasoline on the gaskets you won't tear the gaskets when removing the covers.

You are also running a 300 way beyond mid 80 mph. Not an apples to apples comparison. When I talked to Teb he had no negative feed back on the TM lower unit. I have talked to him specifically about the performance of the two on three different occasions and all three times he had zero negative comments. He said he has pushed his past 85 mph and said it was rock solid. Best thing to do is contact Teb on Facebook. I'm sure he would be happy to answer any questions you may have quite candidly. Teb is a straight shooter and will give you his on the water, tournament experience insight running the Allison BasSport Pro Elite with the Mercury 250 Pro XS.

[traybird]

Well because of where I am at and I do run the marsh a lot i would think id have issues with a sporty even tho it handles better from what I hear. On my last Bassport I had a torquemaster and could run it up to 85 and never had an issue out of it.

[fishnfireman]

Really good info here.. Could be a definite advantage to not use the low water pickup in some areas. I have had a couple of occasions where I was cussing them. All but one of those was on a new lake.. After cold seizing a motor due to a small pebble hung in a t-stat it will make you nervous when running the SM in places.

[JOEALLY]

What are the torque specs for the t-stats & fuel rails?

Tim,

What is this proper wrench you speak of? I use two different sized sockets, an inch pound torque wrench 1/4" drive for the thermostat housings and a ft lbs torque wrench 3/8" drive for the fuel rails. I do torque mine to the Mercury specs, and use liberal amounts of 2stroke oil on the injector "O" Rings when re-installing the fuel rails.

[pops77s]

What are the torque specs for the t-stats & fuel rails?

Here is where to find the instructions.
http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=25691

[Strokerdean]

I do mine a little different. I just loosen up and pull back the right (starboard) fuel rail enough to remove the t-stat bolts. Remove the housing and stat, put the stat in hot water until it opens and the debris is gone. Grease the gasket, install the stat and housing and put back together. On the left (port) side I only remove the t-stat housing bolts, housing and stat and perform the same process to clean the stat then reassemble in the same manor. I do this probably 4-6 time in early spring when there is rain or run off that puts a scum film on the lake surface. It is a hassle but a necessity if your going to run the engine up to 2 3/4-3" above pad.

[JOEALLY]

I do mine a little different. I just loosen up and pull back the right (starboard) fuel rail enough to remove the t-stat bolts. Remove the housing and stat, put the stat in hot water until it opens and the debris is gone. Grease the gasket, install the stat and housing and put back together. On the left (port) side I only remove the t-stat housing bolts, housing and stat and perform the same process to clean the stat then reassemble in the same manor. I do this probably 4-6 time in early spring when there is rain or run off that puts a scum film on the lake surface. It is a hassle but a necessity if your going to run the engine up to 2 3/4-3" above pad.

This is how I've been doing it, just pulling the starboard side fuel rail back enough to get the t-stat out.

[Tim Powell]

I carry a small racheting wrench, I can remove the port side bolts without removing the fuel rail. You will have to remove the starboard fuel rail to get the bolt out of the lower hole. I was at Guntersville a few weeks ago and the dang eel grass kept holding my stats open. I dropped the jackplate from 1" above to about 1/4" below and I was able to eliminate the problem.

As for the TM/SM debate, the LWP on the TM is just as bad IMO as the sporty, I was constantly cleaning out the t-stats on my 21/250/TM Bullet. The XB21 with 250 is capable of running 91-92 solo loaded to fish. Ive setup and driven several to those numbers....one of them is Joe Lee's boat, with a dang 27 TXP of all props. I have 2 more locally that I have setup and ran 90+.

Everyone has different needs, and I do have personal issues with that when making suggestions as my running water is much different than others. I set my boats up to run on top because I am fortunate enough to have extremely long stretches of water and id rather stay off the limiter for 50 miles at a time. Ive also ran a TM1 to 87 on a 21' Bullet with 250 and had zero issues at those speeds for miles at a time. I just hate to see someone get tied to a TM when the boat will run faster than what the TM is capable of....you might say you will never run over 85, but one day you will want to see what she has and the blow out potential with a TM will always be there....nothing says its guaranteed to 85 as its not...ive blown them out at 77-84 way more than I ever have at 87.

But if your fishing dirt shallow water, maybe the TM is better in that situation.....I just hate leaving performance on the table.

[pops77s]

Absolutely perfect response Tim! This is the feedback I was hoping you would bring to this debate. It helps bring all of the perspective's to the table. This along with the above information is what helps people make a good sound decision on what to spend their hard earned money on. Also it gives them real world expectations on what to expect or not expect during their ownership. I make due with my Sporty while in this mud water in Southern Louisiana and fishing the shallow back waters of the rivers. I'm still very happy with the Sporty LU, but I think the TM has its spot in the shallow water fishermans haunts. I rarely get to go over 85 mph so the TM in my application down here (SHALLOW) I think is a better option. If I was in deeper water where dirt shallow wasn't the norm I would recommend nothing but the Sporty. To put it into perspective most of the canals we run in while fishing down here is 6' or less in its deepest spots. If you stay in the canals, rivers, intracoastal water ways, you are pretty safe from any thermostat issues. When you leave the canals 99.9% of the time you are in 3' or less. When you get into some of the marsh's and back water ponds you are literally floating on top of the silt kicking up mud either on the troller or the big motor. So with the low water pickups on the Sporty you are literally sucking up mud and debris.

[hooken203]

I fish the muddy Miss and shallow water running is the norm. Because when running I can run even with or above the pad I have been pretty impressed with what this boat will go through and not plug up the stats. When idling jack it all the way up and its not an issue.

[Tim Powell]

[TBendXB21]

Mine has a Torque master on a 225 pro xs. I got the boat to run fast but also be as reliable and fuel efficient as possible. I run a Bravo 1 that Daris put on the boat and it seems to run great. The fury is the worst prop on the market for an Allison. I also carry tournament loads frequently.