Breakin it in!

[tony dunn jr.]

Well finally decent weather here in Nor Cal so some time can be spent on the water. My M.P. owners manuel says 20 hours on breakin. Is that the norm before you pull a boarder? My daughter is going nuts to get behind the boat. 20 hours seems like aot of driving around before she gets a pull! Is that what you guys are doing??

[Lucky 275]

you can pull a boarder when you're dunn : ) running through the rpm ranges the 1st few hrs. I wouldn't add ballast until you get to 15-20 hrs though

[bneub]

Our dealer said it was ok to board/ski behind our new boat during the breakin period. They said just don't go out and only ski or only board for long periods of time. Ski a set or two, then board a set or two, then drive around at other RPM's for a while.

[whitlock87]

I was told that as long as you do not maintain a steady RPM for more then 5 minuets it was ok to pull a boarder.
we did 20hr after our 4th trip

[talltigeguy]

I think boarding should be the perfect break in. With me and my crew, we rarely go 5 minutes without falling!

Or we are already tired after holding on that long.

Seriously, though, the breakin period applies to full throttle and to varying the speed. Your daughter's load on the boat is not going to be much different whether she is in the boat or behind it on a board. The only problem I have found this time of year is that the water is still cold, so the kids are afraid to fall and just hang on back there without doing anything.

[ctcranor]

Break In Period

Vary your RPM's even while pulling a boarder or skier but DO NOT go to WOT or pull a barefooter (basically the same as WOT). This is where the engine damage may occur during that first all important 20 hours. I would also avoid heavy loads during that time like tubes and other towables.

[Ruune]

Honestly, the accelleration under a load (pulling a wakeboarder) and relatively low RPMs are ideal conditions for breaking in a 4-stroke engine. Basically, accellerating under a load causes the piston rings to expand uniformly- thus causing an even wear on the cylinder walls and rings themselves. Low RPMs helps ensure that microscopic shavings have time to be evacuated through the exhaust before they can do any extra scoring on the walls or rings.

Also, if youre running perfect pass (Wakeboard edition)- you're probably already running it in speedometer mode. This will automatically vary your RPMs to hold a constant speed... as the load on the engine changes from the rider cutting back and forth. Also, as the boat maneuvers, PP has to compensate by changing RPM to hold a consistent speed.

[Domsz06]

We boarded behind mine. Just went out, varied the throttle and told them we were going to vary betweenspeeds. Not a big deal, and still running strong after the 2 year. Our dealer just said 20 hours at no more then half throttle and then the next 20 keep it varried, but not full throttle. or something like that. Maybe it was 10 hours, not sure.