Lake Powellers

For those who have taken their wakeboard boat to Powell, has anyone noticed if it ran or sounded differently. As you can see from my profile, I have a newer boat (2007) and I am wondering if there is something (computer chip, etc.)that adjusts the timing for the higher altitudes. The boat ran fine under full power but when I was yanking people out of the water, it almost sounded like I have an exhaust leak, plus it didn't have the pull I normally have here in AZ. I have yet to run it here in AZ since I got back to see if I have an issue or not. Any input will help and hopefully put me at ease. Thanks, guys.

I live in Phoenix and my 2000 SAN pretty much ran the same there except that it seemed to have a little less of a hole shot due to the altitude. I roll with 2000 lbs. of ballast and my hole shot at Bartlett is great but it seemed a little more sluggish in Powell. The engine and exhaust sound was exactly the same though so you may have an issue. I would take the boat out here and see if everything appears normal but you have my experience above. Good luck and hopefully everything is ok.

I had issues with dock gas esp from Dangling Rope. Next time I go I will bring some octane boaster.

When I run at Mead which is about the same elevation as phoenix, I really don't notice much difference than when I run at Powell - 3,600 ft.

I would consider some bad gas or get your boat checked out. If it seems fine now...blame it on bad gas.

could the "exhaust leak" be from the canyon walls deflecting the sound. i run a good amount of weight also and had no problems but i'm at altitude all the time so hard to tell the difference

my boat seemed sluggish there, so I got back and changed oil and it was back to normal. That was on my old boat that had a carburator though.

My boat is an I/O which is different than yours. With the altitude, you might try to change your prop to a lower pitch. My boat runs best with a 21 pitch at sea level, but runs best with a 19 pitch at Lake Powell.

Your engine will lose roughly 3% of your total engine output per every 1000' of elevation. This is due to loss of air density.

I think Lake Powell is around 3700ft. = 11% of 330 hp would be roughly 36 hp less than at sea level.

A lower pitch prop definitely will help make up for the loss in power.

I noticed a loss of some power at Powell, but did not sound any different. I normally operate really close to sea level. What i couldn't figure out was why i had to bump up the RPM's in PP RPM mode for surfing. Might have just been the amount of weight in the boat but i don't think it was any different than i normally run (people+ballast). I really wish there would have been more gas stations, ran out 1/2 mile from dangling rope and luckily got pulled in by a houseboat. NOw i know why people run around with 6-8 gas cans on the swim deck. What a beautiful lake!

Romi- actually your engine needs less octane at altitude, because of the low cylinder pressure caused by the low density air.

In fact some high altitude towns don't offer over 89 octane for that reason.

No sound difference, but I gain power because of the elevation drop.

Thanks for the input guys. Come to find out I did have an exhaust leak (since been repaired) and now I know why it didn't have the pull out of the hole (high altitude). Thanks again!!

Actually Chris, when you're at 3700 ft. you would probably be down 17% on power compared to sea level from dyno tests I've run.
I always feel really good when I get to drive at sea level.

Interesting Art, that's more like 4.5% loss per thousand ft.
No wonder when I took my old V-6 I/O up to Shaver Lake (5000 ft.) it was such a dog...
Anytime you want to boat down at sea level, let me know... Maybe New Year's Day??