Help please

[zellamander]

Hey guys. This is a question about the boat i bought. Its a 16' fiberglass buckshot bass boat. It has a 40 hp Mariner motor on it.

I can't get the boat to plane out. Maybe my butt is just to big! I've seen the boat plane out before, heck, i've had it plane before. But now i can't. Which is a better position to get plane for the motor, higher up or higher down. I don't have power tilt and trim, so i have to use the peg thing. Also would a different prop help out? I have no idea of the size that is on it, what would you suggest. I'm tired of getting blown out of the water.

Please help guys. Thanks

[JShrock07]

If you don't have a tilt lever on your boat I would keep the motor down all the way before you take off. When I go to take off I trim the motor all the way down. Then once the boat has gotten up I will then start to trim the motor up until the boat is level and running at full speed.

As for your tilt I'm not so sure to tell you how to do it best. But the only way you can get your boat on plane is to set the motor as far down as possible.

[J_Zink]

Higher down?

;D

[zellamander]

haha, yeah, higher down.... wow i'm a smart one. lol.

It also has a hydrafoil stabilizer on it, would it help if i took that off?

[NewScreenNameAdvised]

Keep the prop down.  Also, if you have any extra weight sittin gin the backof the boat, throw it up front.

[fishfordollars]

Move the motor to the hole that allows the motor to tuck up under the boat then start working your way out to get the correct location. I would leave the hydrofoil on it as most on here that have them say that it helps.

[zellamander]

Ok, So tell me if this is correct.

Drop the motor all the way down (I don't have tilt and trim so i have to just do it all manually) and just give it a try and go up from there.

I plug my livewell so it doesn't fill up with water and add weight. I even wired my trolling motor battery to a front storage compartment so that weight is gone.

So would a bigger prop help? What pitch?

[fishfordollars]

I would fill the livewells so that you can set it the way you fish. I think you will find that the second or third hole will be your best bet. I would look at possibly raising the motor a notch also. Several things to do before you start a prop search. When you get the setup you want then you can start looking at the operating rpms to see if you need to go up or down on the prop pitch.

Good luck

[zellamander]

Like raise the motor up on the transom?

[fishfordollars]

Yep, but only after you have a setup you can live with. the motor will have additional mounting holes that will allow this. Be careful though. You could raise the motor to high and it will create a problem with the water pickup. Also, if you raise the motor you will probably have to adjust the hole you were in that allowed the boat to plane. Every change will affect the other changes you have made. Go slow.

[zellamander]

Ok, I'll try to tamper with it this weekend, my next time on the water will be thursday at a bass tourny, and i dont' want to mess with it then. Can't catch fish messing with the motor! haha.

[fishfordollars]

A wise move.

[zellamander]

Thanks for the help FFD

[njpaulc]

If it used to plane, but doesn't now, some thing has changed.  Did you change or move anything?  If not, something might be wrong with the prop or the motor.  

[zellamander]

I havent touched anything. I've had some people tell me to get a new prop, it's kinda nicked a dented in some spots

[George Welcome]

40 HP on a 16' glass bass boat? I don't think so. What's the sticker rate that boat for? 90 HP or perhaps better.

[fishfordollars]

Try this. Draw a line with paint across the center of the hub. Go run it and then examine the hub to see if the line is still straight. If the line has moved you have spun a hub in the prop. About a 40.00 fix.

[zellamander]

The sticker rating for it is an 80hp, But that's not the problem. This boat has been on plane, with me driving, i've had the boat on plane before. Now it isn't.

I'll try that FFD, I should have a lot of time to get some work done to it this weekend.

[George Welcome]

Spun hub - if you spun the hub you boat would barely move - you can simply put the motor in gear and if the hub is spun you will be able to turn the prop by hand.

What RPM is the motor reaching? It doesn't make sense that the change would be that drastic in the two weeks that you have had the boat, so I would think it is something fairly obvious.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

and when you saw the boat on plane before,...was it the same prop?

(GW- My 15' Whaler jet will get 42-43 on GPS and it's only got appx 70 horsies underneath.  Hull design?  Self planing   Sticker rate isn't on the boat anywhere, it was a test boat for Whaler when they started playing with jets.  I'm curious what it would say though as I replaced the original power plant with one that was the same block size but higher HP---was 52 is now 70ish)

[George Welcome]

40 should push it over with hydrofoil but not with authority I would think.

Whalers have always been superbly designed and fly without much to pust them. Hull design, hull design, hull design.

[zellamander]

Ok guys, Got some a little time to tamper with the boat last night.

I didn't have a chance to put it on the lake, but i do have a set clamps that i can hook up to the water hose and up to the outboard.

1) I left the motor off, and put it in gear and I COULD NOT spin the hub. So does that mean that its all good?

2) How do I check the RPMs?

3) When the boat was on plane previously, it was the same prop as is on it now. I haven't changed anything on the boat. And i've taken weight from the back of the boat, and put it up front thinking that it would help.

4) It does have a hydrofoil on the motor

5) Another thought, if water somehow got in my gas, could that rob some horse power?

6) Could it need/use a carb cleaning or rebuild? I don't think the boat has seen any kind of normal upkeep since it was new in 1985.