X-14/X-14v owners & enthusiasts thread

[PS205Tex]

X-14/X-14v owners & enthusiasts thread

Hey all, relatively new X14 owner here. I bought the boat about a year and a half ago and have just been working through fixing things up on it. I replaced the dead JL amp with a Rockford tm1000x5ad, swapped the 10” sub out for a 12” Rockford marine unit, and added a set of JL speakers by the drivers foot and corner near floor under observers seat. I replaced the TPS sensor due to a wandering throttle, rewired the plug to the speed/temp sensor because of corrosion, flipped all three ballast pumps to be pump down, motor up being two had leaked and rusted the pumps up. I also removed and cleaned the rust out of the steam vent and drilled two 1/8” holes in the thermostat to stop the dreaded idle overheat issue. Now just run the motor at 1500 rpm for about 30 seconds on first start to push out any air bubble and she’s golden. I shimmed the swim platform with sheet aluminum and drilled two new locking holes further down the support to get rid of the annoying platform banging. I bypassed the heater and shower because I don’t use them and it makes it easier to winterize. I wired the seat heater switch for the non existent seat heater to power the accessory circuit to keep the stereo on while starting and stopping frequently to pick up skiers. Switched the tower lights out from halogens to LED. Replaced the trailer tongue with a UFP inner and outer kit because the master cylinder was shot, replaced all wheel bearings and a few oil level sight caps. Rewired the whole trailer, welded the cracked guide pole brackets and switched out the boat buddy for a ramp n clamp unit. So if anyone needs any info on any of those fixes or part numbers, just let me know.

Hey Doc. Congrats on the new boat! Please post as many photos as you can! I am interested in the speakers mid ship placement. I have done most of the same projects you have based on solid advice from TT members. If you have not done the center rear cushion step insert replacement it is really really nice. Guys here led me to that project and its been the biggest positive impact for me. Again, share pix!


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[93Prostar190]

DoubleD is in heaven with all the prop and RPM talk, thank you Doc Haze for coming into the thread …. My 214 tandem trailer needs the guide pole bracket repairs , interested in seeing how you did it, if you removed the fender, etc.

So if you have some details, I would love to see them.

Congrats on the sweet boat, post some pics!



Mine is the closest one …. Tiny little tower and mini MCX engine …


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[lakedrum03]

Fender will definitely need to come off. Boat can stay on the trailer.

On my trailer the outer corner was damage and the weld cracked at the frame. I fixed the corner and added a piece of stainless as a corner bracket to beef that up. Then rewelded the frame connection on outside and inside to strengthen that connection.

[PS205Tex]

DoubleD is in heaven with all the prop and RPM talk, thank you Doc Haze for coming into the thread …. My 214 tandem trailer needs the guide pole bracket repairs , interested in seeing how you did it, if you removed the fender, etc.

So if you have some details, I would love to see them.

Congrats on the sweet boat, post some pics!



Mine is the closest one …. Tiny little tower and mini MCX engine …


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That is some good livin'. And that flat water mid day... wow.

[Double D]

DoubleD is in heaven with all the prop and RPM talk, thank you Doc Haze for coming into the thread …. My 214 tandem trailer needs the guide pole bracket repairs , interested in seeing how you did it, if you removed the fender, etc.

So if you have some details, I would love to see them.

Congrats on the sweet boat, post some pics!



Mine is the closest one …. Tiny little tower and mini MCX engine …


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Some awesome book ends. My X14 is holding up the other end.

...

[Doc Haze]

I’m trying to figure this forum setup out. I have pics on my iPad, but I can only see the button to link a photo via url. Am I missing a paste function somewhere? I have the mini tower, same as PS205Tex. I live in NJ and went to NC to get my boat because I had two requirements: the ly6 and the mini tower. I have a bridge with a 7ft clearance at nominal water height I have to get under. The mini squeaks under with 3-4 inches to spare.

Back to fixing things, I loosened the fender and stuck a block of wood in just to separate it from the frame when I rewelded the guide pole cracks. There are only a couple welds about two inches long, so as long as you don’t burn all welds back to back, the heat isn’t too bad. I didn’t have to add any extra metal, but I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt. Depends on how hard you plan on crashing into them.

I’ll check out the rear seat step mod. That poor thing takes a beating getting in and out all the time.

As for the prop, Double D in a previous post, you said you had the wrong prop with reverse specs, was that correct? Based on your performance numbers it seems that way. If I had to sacrifice a little over a second getting to 30 to pick up some top end and calmer cruising rpm, I’d be okay with that trade off. But I am fine for the most part with the stock prop. It’s a beast for mid range acceleration, which is great for winging a tube sideways out of the wake (my kids friends haven’t learned to ski…yet). I’m really looking for more positive engagement with the water. Either through more cup, bigger blades, or possibly a four blade. The 1281 looks like it has a lot more blade surface than the stock one. I’m wondering if an acme 1253 might be more up my alley. More blade surface, 2” more pitch, and more cup at .135 but still 13” diameter. You want it to slip some to get it into the power band, but maybe the 1281 is a little too much. I bought a techmate pro to help me diagnose that pretty much EVERY sensor needed to be replaced on the motor. I didn’t have it on me when I did the performance runs, but I want to see if at wot the tps reads 90 degrees, vac 0” and the injector pulse widths aren’t being pulled back. I really feel like the computer is rpm limiting it. Hopefully next week I’ll get it back in the water to check that out.

[Doc Haze]

Hopefully there is a photo attached to this post…

[Doc Haze]

Hey would you look at that, I’m not as dumb as I smell.

[Double D]

X-14/X-14v owners & enthusiasts thread

As for the prop, Double D in a previous post, you said you had the wrong prop with reverse specs, was that correct? Based on your performance numbers it seems that way. If I had to sacrifice a little over a second getting to 30 to pick up some top end and calmer cruising rpm, I’d be okay with that trade off. But I am fine for the most part with the stock prop. It’s a beast for mid range acceleration, which is great for winging a tube sideways out of the wake (my kids friends haven’t learned to ski…yet). I’m really looking for more positive engagement with the water. Either through more cup, bigger blades, or possibly a four blade. The 1281 looks like it has a lot more blade surface than the stock one. I’m wondering if an acme 1253 might be more up my alley. More blade surface, 2” more pitch, and more cup at .135 but still 13” diameter. You want it to slip some to get it into the power band, but maybe the 1281 is a little too much.

Morning Doc, I was mistaken in that earlier post and switched the numbers, I am not a fan of the 13x12 performance, but I have friends with the same boat, with the MCX and 13x11, that I can compare the performance against.

You are obviously more technically sound than I am. The 1253 is 1” less pitch than the 1281 but the cup is larger. How does cup effect performance?

I know a guy who recently sold an X14 with our drivetrain and he was trying to get it to surf and put on an OJ 4-Blade 14.75 x 14.25 pitch that OJ said was a good all around prop. The numbers he told me were surprising so I am confused why anyone would recommend this prop. The hole shot floored me on how bad it was.

0-30 9.6 seconds
44 mph 4800 rpms
34 mph 2960 rpms

I want there to be a clear performance king for our boats like I found for my 94PS205, but still searching. Let’s keep the discussions going.



The 1281



The original


The rear mid step option. I upgraded from standard lines this year. We also added it to the glove box..





Maybe we can get PS205Tex to show you his step option...

[Double D]

Hopefully there is a photo attached to this post…

OOOO, 93ProStar190 (Rob) is going to love to see this... Mini Tower!!

[PS205Tex]

TeakWorld did an amazing job with this custom request. High quality, and surprisingly cost effective. Having them do it ensured a perfect match with the swim platform. They gave me some spare pieces that I put in place myself to ensure exact placement of the blocking underneath.










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[PS205Tex]

Hopefully there is a photo attached to this post…

Doc, thanks for the pic. Your boat is awesome. I also like the decking on your dock. Does that dock come in and out each year? If so, its looking sharp for a dock that gets disassembled and re-assembled.


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[Doc Haze]

The step option looks like a very useful mod. The custom cut padding looks great and is probably the way to go for low maintenance, but that teak step….man, that’s a thing of beauty. My 8 yo son was climbing in after kneeboarding and slipped or tripped on that cushion and fell and split his eyebrow open on the side grab handle. Took four stitches to fix it, so I’m sure this will be in my near future.

The decking is the veranda brand, or whatever it now got rebranded to, from homedepot. That dock is 7 years old in that photo. Stuff still looks awesome. We’re not on a main part of the lake, so I don’t have to worry about ice flows or pushing on it. I don’t even remove the lifts.

I’m still looking into the propeller issue. The cup has to do with channeling water off the trailing edge of the blade. It plays into efficiency, but that translates to changing the slip percentage. That’s why it commonly associated with acting like a change in pitch. It works different though. It gives the water a last little high speed fling for a lack of a better explanation. It’s something you want more of for higher speeds, but less of for lower speeds. I’m looking to improve in the slalom ski range, so I’m looking at adding cup as an alternative to just more pitch.

Being I’m looking at the higher speed, i want to try to stay with a 3 blade to not increase surface area drag and probably stick with a 13” diameter to keep blade tip speeds down, which is another drag contributor. Our boats with the 1.22 trans fall in that no mans land between the faster turning 1:1 ski boats with the small three blades and the slower turning 1.5:1 wake board boats with the bigger four blade props. I think master craft compromised when they probably shouldn’t have. The boat is way better at being a ski boat than a wakeboard boat, so it probably would have been better with a 1:1 trans, and then people could’ve propped it down if they were adding extra ballast. The 1.22 trans adds 4-5% parasitic loss to the shaft horsepower measurement, which is probably why the MCX powered boats with 1:1 really aren’t that much slower. We only are putting maybe 30 hp more to the prop.

So my stock prop is an OJ 13x12 which I confirmed with master craft was stock for an ‘07. I’m not sure the cup, as there is no part number stamped on it. The OJ and acme props are very different blade design wise, so there’s no real way to compare them just based on specs. This would put it as a 346 or 348. But I would guess the 346, as that’s the standard cup model. They have the 364 which is a 13x13 with .110 cup which would certainly be a step in the right direction. I just think the boat could use more, but they don’t offer a 14” pitch. Acme does with the 1253, but like i said, who knows if it would be remotely close to acting like what I would expect. I think it’s going to come down to figuring if the boat is artificially capping its wot rpm or not.

Maybe there is a 14” diameter prop that would be magic for wake sports. Who knows? There’s so many variables.

Has anyone gotten these things to hit a gps verified 50 mph? In theory a 14” pitch should get me there.

[JohnE]

My 3 x14’’s all topped out at 42. But I wasn’t looking for top speed. Slalom was my focus.

[Doc Haze]

My wife, brother and dad drive the boat when I’m slalom skiing and all three have said that they never had to use anything close to full throttle to get me up, but more that at slalom speeds they complain that the throttle is super touchy. I can feel them monkey with it as I ski. I haven’t taught them to use the cruise control yet. I’m pretty sure the boat propped as it is would easily do two slalom skiers from deep starts. I’d like to calm it down a little, and maybe reap the benefit of some extra top end and calmer cruising rpm.