Monkey Off My Back....2 Hour Motor Break In Complete...3/21/2026
by Capt Juls on 03/23/26My work schedule and the weather finally gave me the opportunity to get the new Vexus out for it's first run on the water. The 400 Verado V-10 needed to get its initial 2 hour break in done, before I could run any trips. The other required 8 hours of break in can be done while I'm running trips, so that's all complete.
The DVX22 ran perfectly. I don't know how they did it, or if it was my imagination, but it seemed to ride even better than last year's model. I duplicated the 2025 boat in every way, so there isn't anything different that I know of, but this 2026 boat just felt even better while driving it.
The first two hours on the motor are most critical, because it seats the seals when the RPMs are adjusted up and down every two minutes (keeping it below 4500rpms), and will help the longevity of the motor in the future. For the next 8 hours, it can be run as normal as long as it is not run wide open for more than 5 minutes at a time....which, running wide open on Lake Erie doesn't happen too often...so, I'm good there. lol
We launched at Mazurik's and headed to Huron, for a 13 mile ride. Once we made it to Huron, one hour had been used up. We stopped to deploy the baby Merc and the Ulterra, to make sure everything was working. The iTroll worked on the kicker, and the Ulterra settings were set, so it's ready to go. The Ulterra's iPilot was set on "Locked Course", and had to be switched to "Locked Heading", so it would be using the compass instead of the GPS, but that's all that had to be changed.
We headed bacck to the south side of Kelly's, to get out of the wind, so it could be opened up to 4000-43000rpms, and be a smooth ride. We ran the slack water bakc and fourt several times untl the final hour was used up. Checking the Merc Smart-Gauge it said we had 2.4 hours on the motor....critical hours completed. :)
It was a chilly morning, so we headed back in to go get a hot meal, and gas her back up. It took 20 gallons of gas to run around, but thankfully, I had done my grocery shopping at Kroger's on Friday, so I got the 4Xs the gas points, and had .40 cents off per gallon. That made it 3.39 a gallon instead of the 3.79 it is right now. grrrrrrr....
My first trip will be the 29th....but, I told you about that in my previous post, so that's all I'll say on that. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that Mother Nature will play nice next month.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
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