need help on balancing act folks

[bamabassman]

ok, as ya'll know my brother has a n 89 pro185 cajun rig. it has an 89 suzuki 150 super six outboard. now we know the jackplate is not correct. BUT we took it out today and i can tell you...it is DANGEROUSLY sitting too low in the rear. jsut floating the fornt is out of the water. and the rear is almost UNDER water.

it has a 23-m 3 blade ss prop. mississippiboy is gonna post the pics in a few minutes for me.

the jack plate is a 10 inch manuel one. we know it is NOT set properly. so read on before oyu ask questions.


now on take off, the bow goes SKY HIGH and would flip if there was any hard wind in your face. and when oyu let off...it FLOODS the rear in a tidal wave. i know, we tried it out today.

so we know the jack plate and motor is not set correctly. BUT we need ot know how to BALANCE this rig. keep it from going sky high on take off and stop the flood when stopping. and getting the rig to float LEVEL.

is the angle of the jackplate too far out? is the jackplate too big? the rig is rated for a 185 hp motor. so the motor is not over the power rating. could the way the motor is set up wrong to begin with? we are dumbfounded at this. i mean it litterly is out of the water up front. nothing has been messed with as far as the rig being opened up or anything.

thanks gang. i hope we can get this figured out soon. it's driving my brother CRAZY. so that means he is driving ME crazy. lol.

[MississippiBoy]

Here's the pics.

[carolina-rig-01]

As far as the rear of the boat sitting low goes. I don't see how raising or lowering the jackplate will change that, you will still have the same amount of weight on the rear of the boat and it will still be the same distance from the transom. And I am pretty sure that all boats will swamp the back deck if you get out of the gas in the middle of a hole shot. But it sounds to me like the prop is pretty close to the right size, it might need to be fine tuned later but for the time being it's at least close enough to right for you to get it running. My money is on the jackplate being too big, a 10" setback is a hell of a lot for an 18'6" boat. I would shop around and see if you can find a good deal on a 6" jackplate. There is another forum that I know you know of that has a classifieds section for jackplates and I am betting you could find one there for a pretty cheap price, maybe you can get lucky and find someone who has a 6" jackplate that is wanting a 10" jackplate and you could work out a trade or at least partial trade.

[kennethdaysale]

Originally Posted by bamabassman

ok,. just floating the front is out of the water. and the rear is almost UNDER water.


BUT we need to know how to BALANCE this rig. and getting the rig to float LEVEL.

.

Darn John....It's been so long since I've run big boats I don't have a clue about all the prop and jack plate jargon. If the boat is acting the way you describe above then I would guess that maybe some ne'er do well has snuck into your bro's garage and placed many many bags of quickrete in the transom area. Either take them out or move most of them to the bow?

Seriously I'm stumped. Keep us posted

[bamabassman]

thanks kory. as for the flooding. we were at wot when i let off EASY. no matter how easy i let off and tim the motor to try to compensate, it would flood the boat. i have a 6 inch jackplate on my rig. with a 24 pitch raker 3 blade ss prop. we be thinking of swapping jackplates. think it would help us both?

[bamabassman]

kenneth, believe me. we ARE thinking of adding some weight. we BOTH stood on the bow. close ot 500 pounds in the front. still not balanced. or level.

[bassboogieman]

I think Kory nailed your problem, I totally agree a 10" jackplate has the motor too far back. Think of a teetertotter (seasaw) - the weight of the motor has moved the center of balance rearward, hence the bow sitting high. A 6" jackplate is common on an 18' boat, you could go down to a 4". I think that will solve the problem and also help the hole shot.

[bamabassman]

we are thinking the same thing bruce.

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by bamabassman

thanks kory. as for the flooding. we were at wot when i let off EASY. no matter how easy i let off and tim the motor to try to compensate, it would flood the boat. i have a 6 inch jackplate on my rig. with a 24 pitch raker 3 blade ss prop. we be thinking of swapping jackplates. think it would help us both?

Remind me what size of boat and motor you are running John?

[bamabassman]

18 1/2 foot rig. rated for a 185 hp motor. but has a suzuki 150 hp motor.


we have a 6 inch jacke plate that came off the 82 17 1/2 rig i am restoring. gonna take it and swap out for the 10 inch. then put the 10 inch jackplate on my rig. i have a 6 inch on mine ow. with a raker 3 blade 24 pitch prop. this should help me now shouldn't it? get me a little more speed and better take off?

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by bamabassman

18 1/2 foot rig. rated for a 185 hp motor. but has a suzuki 150 hp motor.


we have a 6 inch jacke plate that came off the 82 17 1/2 rig i am restoring. gonna take it and swap out for the 10 inch. then put the 10 inch jackplate on my rig. i have a 6 inch on mine ow. with a raker 3 blade 24 pitch prop. this should help me now shouldn't it? get me a little more speed and better take off?

John you knuckehead, I could look above and see what boat you are working on LOL. I was asking about your boat. You know, the Rajun Cajun that never smells like fish, has Mt. Dew spills all over the front deck, and the only thing that is ever in the livewell is Reese's Peanutbutter Cup wrappers LMAO. What size of boat is the one that I just described?

[bamabassman]

oohhhhh ok....MY RAJUN CAJUN is a 205 travis edition (21 footer fer oyu folks in mizzuuuuri,lol) wiht a 200 hp johnson venom. both are 97 yr models.

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by bamabassman

oohhhhh ok....MY RAJUN CAJUN is a 205 travis edition (21 footer fer oyu folks in mizzuuuuri,lol) wiht a 200 hp johnson venom. both are 97 yr models.

I can't really guarantee you that you will see positive results from going to a 10" jackplate (especially since what you guys in Alabama call 10" is probably closer to 4" LOL). But I would be willing to bet that you won't see any negative results. First of all your boat is a lot heavier than the shorter one so the motor sitting back another 4" shouldn't make a noticible difference in how high the bow of the boat sits. I would guess that it might make your hole shot a little better and probably help it handle a little better. If you got really into setting it up and dialing in the prop then you would probably squeeze a little more speed out of it.

Whether you decide to work on your set up or not, be ready to do some tweaking on your motor height if you switch jackplates. It most likely won't be anywhere near right for your boat once you first put it on there. You can get it close though if you measure your prop to pad as it is now and then set it to the same measurement with the new jackplate.cc

[bamabassman]

ok, thanks kory. mine handles VERY good now as it is. i love it and it goes fast enough really. jsut that if i got the 10" plate and it'll help some...why not try it? if i don't like it i can always go back to the one already on it right? we gotta fix my brothers first. going down there this saturday to change it out and measure it so it is set CLOSE to correct. then tweak it fi it needs it. he already is wanting to sell it anyway, lol. so if we do this and he can use it this summer...then he'll know more aobut what he REALLY wants in a rig and buy the one he and his son likes better. heath (nephew) already has his eyes on a ranger close to them he wants,hahaha. kids are so fickle.....lmao!!

[lilmule]

They are correct in that its weight set back,however my first jp was a 10 in rite hite installed it on my 15 ft skeeter,motor was a 400 lb plus 90 hp power of tower.
Ways around some things first raise the motor so center of lower unit is 4 in under the pad,can raise 1/4 at a time,many stock units can go to 3 1/2 psi of water being the important thing,psi guage is handy.With out being familiar with uki psi requirements,omc 15 psi,merc 12 psi.Its a manual jp so take a baskitball deflate stick in between motor and boat and reinflate,it will float higher at rest.Feather the throttle down dont chop,lastly your boat is front end light and needs a cleaver type of prop or stern lifting prop.After running post rpms bet you can go up a pitch.And front end will lay down better than with what you are running now.Whale tail can also help at slow speed and prevent porposing.When coming off plane dont stop dead give it tad bit of gas like fast idle then shut down it will out run that rear wake many boats do it for different reasons like reverse chine,reverse pad etc.
Post a pic of motor down in relation to the pad bet your deep.Take a straight edge long even a broom handle it will extend out under the pad measure from middle of lower unit nose or shaft level of it to pad for a quick estimate,for exact level boat prior,measuring each to concrete and deduct.

[bamabassman]

thanks muley. we'l try that man. thanks for real.

[nova385]

+ 1 on the deflated ball trick...find an Auburn one if you want it to work right.

[lilmule]

And if you did trade down in size your ten in is worth more than a 4 or 6,most obvious thing many dont think about it is a higher pressure placed upon the transom like a tetter totter board the longer it is the more weight it fulcrums and many older boats are not well suited for additional stress.Getting so anymore i put a stress plate on so they wont dig in made of 1/4 diamond plate or flat plate.Plus a transom saver plate inside that like a bar with hole each end for motor bolts or jp bolts as spreads the load out.
Going from a ten to a 6 it will be easier to get up once up should be little difference,if your other boat is longer might pay to switch as slow speed operation would be easier and less stress placed on transom.
I have run that however on 15 ft and 17 ft boats not having any prethought or anyone to tell me to much and it worked,mfg most likly would say 4 in or 6 in,but they warranty them,you are just taking additional risk either way and it is always a risk.

[lilmule]

Plenty of stray wildcat balls around they dont know how to use them,from what I hear.
Har har

[merc1997]

you definitely need to cut back to say a six inch jackplate. the further back that you hang weight, the more leverage it has. that is why it is pulling the back end down so far. next, i think that a 23p or 24p prop will get you in your maximum rpm range. you might want to consider trying a 4 blade. as for the backwash over the rearend of the boat, some boats are much worse with the problem than others. i know a couple of guys around here that run cajuns, and they have that same problem also. so, it is just inheirent with that hull. you will just have to remember to ease the boat back down, not just shut the throttle back and let the boat settle on its own. i know that some hulls of that length you can run a 10" plate, but they have a different balance point, and different amounts of upright floatation in them.

bo

[bamabassman]

thanks merc. we have a 6 inch we are gonna swap out with. mine is already a 6".

merc he has a 23-m 3 blade ss prop on it now. and i told him about LEARNIGN how to throttle it down to help prevent the backwashing problem.

thanks gang, i knew i could rely on ya'l. we are gonna do the swap out this saturday. wish us luck. lol.

[pro reel]

It looks like everyone agrees the jack plate is to big for that boat. As for the washover, thats common with some boats and my bullet does it bad if just stop the boat or even if you slow to a stop. What you have to do is learn where the sweet spot is as it's settling down, just before the water would wash over the back, and right then you goose it just a bit and it glides to a stop with no wash over.