Boat won't plane out

[J Francho]

Couple hits from a google search is easier than trying to explain it.  I've done it twice, once on Conesus and once on Oneida (the prop eater lake, lol).

http://www.boatingmag.com/how-to-tell-if-youve-spun-your-propeller-hub

http://www.propshopinc.com/blog/Easily-Diagnose-a-Spun-Hub-bp4.html

In the case of Conesus, I was in a hurry, and revved with the hotfoot and slammed it into gear (not realizing at all I was doing this), spinning the hub.  It's an easy fix, takes about ten minutes or less, so long as you have the part and a proper prop wrench.

[Bob C]

18 hours ago, Wayne P. said:

That is intentional for some setups. You run a small hub prop to get prop cavitation to get the rpms up. Some props do that with vent holes in the barrel. After you get on plane, that affect is nill.

With the Javelin I had, I used a full size barrel prop when fishing alone and a small hub prop when someone was with me for tournaments.

 

Not on mine. It would go nose high, nearly 45 degree angle, and would not get any speed. About 10 mph at best and the nose would not come down at any trim. I installed the correct prop and all was well.

[Patrick West]

I have an Champion 210 BASS BOAT that does the same thing.  I think the issue is weight distribution. Try having one of your heavier friend's sit or lie up front near the bow.  Have your trim almost all the way down before it actually goes all the way in, and hit it with WOT. On my boat the bow eventually comes down and you can hear the motor go up in revs before taking off like a rocket.  It will do about 65+mph once it is on its pad right.  Once my  boat is on plane, it has a tendency to porpoise so I have to continue to trim it down slightly.  You will know when your trim is right as it will be fast and traveling on its pad. Both hydraulic Jack plates and/or Trim tabs are the best solution but a hydrofoil for your motor is cheaper although getting them to stay on it a different issue.  Hope that helps. 

[WRB]

I hope in 3 years the OP solved this problem.

Weight distribution is more critical with narrower hull boats to get up on plane. Sometimes it takes a 4 blade prop.

Tom

[Doug Smith]

Had my Alumacraft out today and same thing. Would not plane out. I adjusted trim all the way down and same thing. I have a Suzuki 140 and the stainless prop does not have a serial number on it. It acted like it wanted to stand the boat on end. Wondering maybe hydrofoil?

[Way2slow]

Some of the things that will cause one to be hard to plane.

A damaged prop.

Prop with too much pitch

A spun hub in prop, this is usually the case if the motors quits pulling and just revs up.

Too much weight in the rear of the boat.  Especially in smaller boats

Motor not trimmed in far enough

Low performance from the engine

        This can be caused by low compression on a cylinder or two

        A totally dead cylinder.  Funny thing about a two stroke, they can be misfiring on one cylinder             and you won't notice it.

        Dirty carbs.   If carbs have low speed adjustment, it may be too lean. 

Too small of an engine for the size boat.

 

If the boat is new to you and you have no history on it.  Then start with a compression check.  

Next if you have the experience, check and clean the carbs.  If you are going to need to pay someone for this, check the prop and other stuff first.  Carbs rebuilt can run hundreds of dollars.

 

 

[Sam]

On 5/1/2016 at 7:27 PM, Kevin22 said:

Prop wont cause the bow to go up. Bow going up is your motor tilted too far up. Trim it all the way down, and if it still wont get up on plane then you have issues. Motor height or prop. 

Do you have a three or four propeller prop?

 

The prop may be too strong for the boat causing the bow to rise when blasting off.

 

Check with a local propeller repair shop for their input.

[Way2slow]

I was just going by Doug Smith's recent post about his wouldn't get one plane, not the first post from years ago.

However, yes if you are getting excessive bow lift to the point it looks like it's pointed at the clouds, that's mainly weight distribution and trim angle.  Too much weight and power in the back and not enough weight in the front.  

I can put my 25 Merc with tiller steering on my 1436 jon and with me on the back, gas tank behind the seat and TM battery behind the seat, and no one in the front seat, it can be scary if you just pour the power to it from a hole shot.  It stands up tall but it lays over quickly.  When by myself, I put the TM battery in front of the front seat.  I however don't do that, even with a transom brace in it, because that's about twice the power the boat is rated for.  With the 9.9, which is probably 75 pounds lighter and whole lot less power, it comes out of the hole and lays over just fine.

[Kevin Blake]

I was out on the lake the javelin was running perfect , johnson 120v4,  when I went back to idle the motor stopped, it ended up being no ignition , I had it repaired at the boat shop , now it won't get on plane,  I finally got it to plane out but it would only do 27 mph , when normally it would do 41 mph.. the engine cranks easily and sounds good, but it seems like it boggs , I did not notice the rpm but it did not appear to Rev up high . I would say low rpm.  It was fine up until the ignition system died , they changed  everything.  Including the spark plugs .. 

[Way2slow]

First thing I would check is making sure the butterflies in the carbs are going fully horizontal, (wide open when the throttle is fully advanced.  

Next I would pull the plugs and see if all four are the same color.  If one is off, especially if it's still new looking, it's not firing on that cylinder. 

There are a couple other checks you can do, but I'm not sure of your expertise and these are the two most common causes.   

[billmac]

I'm embarrassed to say I had this problem after I bought my first bass boat two years ago.  Bottom line is that I thought I was trimming it all the way down, but I wasn't.  I was tilting the motor down until it seemed like it was stopping, but that was just the beginning of the trim.

[Dfresh84]

My boat would not plane out.14 ft crestliner with 25 hp Yamaha 4 stroke. Put a hydrofoil on and it is 1000% better. I'm a believer. 

[newbiedmv]

Yep. I added 30lbs to the back (replacement battery). Now it's hard to get on plane. 

I learned this week for my boat start with trim all the way down, Rev up to about 2800 then raise the trim until the bow comes up about a foot. It feels like a rocket just ignited and the tone changes dramatically. A 17' 1200 lbs with a 50hp 2 stoke topped out at 45mph and it was a tiny bit scary.  I found out later at the ramp I smoked an open header boat. 

I only ran it for a minute or so as the chop was making me nervous (I've dolphined before and it can get rough if your reactions are to slow).

Man I had no idea the learning curve on this would be so steep and long, and there is only one way to learn....mess up. But WOW when you get it right, you have a blast.

[Alex from GA]

A few years ago @ a ramp a guy just came in and said his boat was scaring the crap out of him.  It just stood up and wouldn't plane.  I asked if he gave it full throttle and he said he was too scared to.  I explained that's the way to get it to plane.  It was a tiller motor so I adjusted the tilt to the lowest peg and he tried it and he asked if I wanted to buy it.  It hauled butt.  Some people need instruction BEFORE they try new things.

[billmac]

My new (old) bassboat wouldn't get up on plane, and like Alex's story, I wasn't trimming down the motor.  I had no experience and when tilting down the motor, I stopped when it seemed to stop.  And WOT scared me to death until I got used to it.