looking for help

[rugerman]

I have a 15.5 ft aluminum boat with at 40 horse tiller motor. If I have someone with me the boat handles great  (as long as they are in the front) but when I'm alone it is hard to keep on plane unless the water is glass smooth (porposing) short of putting 200 lbs in the bow any suggestions. I think the problem is that when alone all the weight is in the rear. Does anyone have any experience with a dolfin (whale tail) or know where I can find a body to put in the bow.  Thanks for the help.

[coyote 2]

rugerman: Yes - your problem is that the plane on the shaft of your motor is not at the right angle. To cure this problem add a StingRay fin or dolfin. With the spread of this on the motor it will make you plane faster and keep you from porpoising. The upward and downward ange is very important.
(As far as the body to put into the front of the boat - I understand that just outside of Vegas there are quite a few bodies buried..)

[rugerman]

Thanks for the reply coyote 2 I don't think that I really need to go all the way to Las vegas to find a body though I hear that the Mobile Tensaw delta has quite a few to be found if the gators haven't finished them all off. The boat will plane off real fast if I have some weight in the bow but with all the weight in the stern it gets exciting real fast. I think that I'll try a 48 qt ice chest full of water in the bow first then if that doesn't work I'll try the whale tail.

[Gun Runner]

rugerman, I have the same prob. when I fish alone. I put a longer hose on my gas tank (12ft) and set it forward, added longer leads to my elec. trolling motor, and set the batt forward, and set my ice chest forward along with my spare 2 gal of gas. It dosent jump rigt up on plane but will get there shortly with my 220 lbs in the back. I have a 14 ft with a old 15 hp evenrude on the back.

Gun Runner

[rugerman]

Thanks for the reply gun runner . What gauge wire did you use to extend your trolling motor leads. I guess I could rig a set of clips and a pig tail (coiled wire) to get the battery in the bow and the gas tank wouldn't be much of a problem and that would shift about 100 lbs to the bow. Thanks for the help.

[Gun Runner]

rugerman, I used 10 ga wire. Went to K-mart (came-a-part) and bought the cheapest set of jumper cables they had, ( there 10 ga) clipped the clips off one end, twisted the wires to gather tapped them and its worked fine since.

Gun Runner

[rugerman]

Thanks again gun runner I really like the jumper cable idea it'll save a lot of splicing and tapeing. The only problem that I can see is that since I'll be using it in salt water the clamps will probably break down pretty fast. But I'll deal with that when the time comes.

[Sourdough]

rugerman:  You may need simply to change the adjustment on the motor angle.  If it is set too high that will cause porposing.  With the boat on the trailer swing the motor up.  Lock it if there is a lock in the up position.  Now there will be a pin going through the motor mounts where they contact the back of the boat.  This pin should have a swivel latch on one end.  Take the pin out and reinsert it in a lower hole.  That will let the lower part of the motor set closer to the back of the boat, and change the angle of the prop in the water.  That should cure your proplem.  Good luck.  You may have to experiment moving it up and down to find the optimum location for best performance.  And the location may differ when loaded or unloaded.  Experience will tell you where to set the pin depending on load.

[dpe.ahoy]

I solved the problem with my square-back canoe by putting water jugs in the front, if I turn over the water wieghs the same in the jug or out so it won't pull me to the bottom like an anchor would.  DP

[Old Grizz]

rugerman:  You may need simply to change the adjustment on the motor angle.  If it is set too high that will cause porposing.  With the boat on the trailer swing the motor up.  Lock it if there is a lock in the up position.  Now there will be a pin going through the motor mounts where they contact the back of the boat.  This pin should have a swivel latch on one end.  Take the pin out and reinsert it in a lower hole.  That will let the lower part of the motor set closer to the back of the boat, and change the angle of the prop in the water.  That should cure your proplem.  Good luck.  You may have to experiment moving it up and down to find the optimum location for best performance.  And the location may differ when loaded or unloaded.  Experience will tell you where to set the pin depending on load.

I agree with Sourdough, change the position of your motor. On my boat if I try running at 40 mph with the motor not trimmed all the way down it porposes. As I trim it down it flattens out.

[Cookiemann]

Thought I was gonna turn my I/O over last spring.  I forgot to take the board out from the out drive that I rest it on in transport on the trailer.  Not much fun lookin' straight up at the sky when you dump the throttle on a 140 Merc in a alum. Starcraft.    Got lucky, the torque broke the board, whewww!

On my smaller boats I had the same problem and had to use a combination of the afore mentioned techniques in order to get a good plane and sometimes I used the ballast in the bow just so she would troll smoother, if I was alone in the boat.

cookiemann