Bow too high at rest

[livemusic]

I have a Express Pro17 with 115hp Yamaha 4-stroke and at rest, wow, the bow sits high and stern is low! Looks like it’s ready to take off! My problem is the boat weathervaning in even slight wind. Bow wants to slide with the wind. Is this normal with aluminum boats? Could move batteries to front but what a pain to rewire. Bout all I can think of.
 

I really don’t like this!

I thought I had a thread on this a year ago but can’t find it with search.

[MN Fisher]

20 minutes ago, livemusic said:

Could move batteries to front but what a pain to rewire. Bout all I can think of.

Move as much as possible to the front - batteries, gear, even the gas tank if it's movable.

[Deleted account]

34 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Move as much as possible to the front - batteries, gear, even the gas tank if it's movable.

How do I put this delicately?...

[MN Fisher]

2 minutes ago, Deleted account said:

How do I put this delicately?...

Luckily I don't have that particular issue.

[livemusic]

Is this a common problem? In these days of using troll motors, this is not good design. Bought boat used. Otherwise really like it.

[Bird]

Transferring weight is really the only solution.

[WRB]

Do you fill your livewell? If your not tournament fishing keep dry. Same with the gas keep filled to a level that is what is needed but always full. Water weighs 8 lbs/gallon, gas about 6 1/2 lbs/gallon. Dry livewell is about 120 lb saving.

Moving batteries forward usually isn’t a practical option.

Changing the trolling motor batteries to a Lithium saves 1/2 the weight but at a high price.

Tom

 

[A-Jay]

1 hour ago, livemusic said:

I have a Express Pro17 with 115hp Yamaha 4-stroke and at rest, wow, the bow sits high and stern is low! Looks like it’s ready to take off! My problem is the boat weathervaning in even slight wind. Bow wants to slide with the wind. Is this normal with aluminum boats? Could move batteries to front but what a pain to rewire. Bout all I can think of.
 

I really don’t like this!

I thought I had a thread on this a year ago but can’t find it with search.

Perhaps a picture or two of your rig and your stowage plan; how and where the gear is stowed. 

Could be helpful

 

Also I found this thread of yours.

I read this one too.

Questions:

Does this rig have a power trim/tilt ?

If it does, is it operating properly and 

perhaps more importantly, do you use it ?

A-Jay

[TnRiver46]

Get a 75 hp? 

[livemusic]

1 minute ago, A-Jay said:

Perhaps a picture or two of your rig and your stowage plan; how and where the gear is stowed. 

Could be helpful

 

Also I found this thread of yours.

I read this one too.

Questions:

Does this rig have a power trim/tilt ?

If it does, is it operating properly and 

perhaps more importantly, do you use it ?

A-Jay

Yes, I did find that old thread but that isn’t what I recalled. Maybe it was another forum, maybe I dreamed it! 
 

Yes I have power trim also jackplate as mentioned in that thread. I do use trim but not jackplate as often.

 

This is close to a deal killer. Will not use livewell and not fill gas tank n see what that does. Will get a pic but even on the trailer it is def rakish!

[Deleted account]

42 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Get a 75 hp? 

Yeah, I was thinking a 115hp on a tin 17 might be a bit much, what about Shaq fishing from the front?...

[TnRiver46]

4 minutes ago, Deleted account said:

Yeah, I was thinking a 115hp on a tin 17 might be a bit much, what about Shaq fishing from the front?...

Mine is rated for 115, but it’s 18.5 foot and very wide. I have a 50 horse

 

i wouldn’t think he would have trouble planing out if over powered though 

[Deleted account]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

Mine is rated for 115, but it’s 18.5 foot and very wide. I have a 50 horse

Putt, putt, putt, mental note, fish TnRiver46's drops closest to the ramp, check...  

[cyclops2]

How heavy are you ?   Is it a Cameo paint model ?   If yes the 70 HP is maximum Plus that series only has a 21" transom & 24 " sides.

 

My 16 V  4.5 ' wide with  15 deep transom  fish boat and a max rated 30 hp really weather vanes. I have a 18 gallon tank & battery & 3 anchors up front. I am 200#.  You are packing a lot of stuff in that boat.

 

Have you checked ALL bilges / bottom compartments for excessive water ?

[livemusic]

28 minutes ago, cyclops2 said:

How heavy are you ?   Is it a Cameo paint model ?   If yes the 70 HP is maximum Plus that series only has a 21" transom & 24 " sides.

Not camo. Placard says max hp is 115. Max weight 1250 (persons, motor, gear). No telling what my weight is… motor, Talon anchor, jackplate, trim. Would you add fuel weight? Fishing gear, doesn’t seem it would be more than 100 lbs. I weigh 240.

 

Another memory creeping back in…that my 17’ bass tracker with 40hp also had this problem and that I ascertained that this must be an aluminum boat problem, that a larger, fiberglass boat has more mass and is more stable using troll motor.

 

edit…

2020 Xpress X17 Pro Package

Yamaha 115 HP SHO (135 Hrs) 

 

SS Prop 

 

Brand New Minn Kota 80# Fortrex w/Downscan 

 

SeaDek Decking 

 

Humminbird Helix 9 at Console 

 

Humminbird Helix 7 at Bow 

 

Minn Kota 8’ Talon 

 

Aluminum Trailer 

 

Fulton F2 trailer jack

Hot Foot 

 

6” Atlas Hydraulic Jackplate 

 

BayStar Hydraulic Steering 

 

Oxygenators in Livewell 

 

CO2 Vents on both Livewell Lids 

 

Center Seat (3rd Seat)

 

Lighted Storage Boxes

.

[Deleted account]

2 minutes ago, livemusic said:

Not camo. Placard says max hp is 115. Max weight (persons, motor, gear). No telling what my weight is… motor, Talon anchor, jackplate, trim. Would you add fuel weight? Fishing gear, doesn’t seem it would be more than 100 lbs. I weigh 240.

 

Another memory creeping back in…that my 17’ bass tracker with 40hp also had this problem and that I ascertained that this must be an aluminum boat problem, that a larger, fiberglass boat has more mass and is more stable using troll motor.

 

edit…

2020 Xpress X17 Pro Package

Yamaha 115 HP SHO (135 Hrs) 

 

SS Prop 

 

Brand New Minn Kota 80# Fortrex w/Downscan 

 

SeaDek Decking 

 

Humminbird Helix 9 at Console 

 

Humminbird Helix 7 at Bow 

 

Minn Kota 8’ Talon 

 

Aluminum Trailer 

 

Fulton F2 trailer jack

Hot Foot 

 

6” Atlas Hydraulic Jackplate 

 

BayStar Hydraulic Steering 

 

Oxygenators in Livewell 

 

CO2 Vents on both Livewell Lids 

 

Center Seat (3rd Seat)

 

Lighted Storage Boxes

.

Another thing you might try is taking everything out and weighing the boat, and comparing that to what it should weigh. If you have water intrusion, that can be a problem, I have seen it before.

[livemusic]

38 minutes ago, Deleted account said:

Another thing you might try is taking everything out and weighing the boat, and comparing that to what it should weigh. If you have water intrusion, that can be a problem, I have seen it before.

That is actually a great idea because I have had some perplexing episodes of the boat taking on water. Last year my first season with it, never figured it out. Although… I now think I did figure it out yesterday, first time out this year… the plug hole has a (sloppy) weld bead at its edge and I think if you don’t screw the plug super tight it doesn’t totally seal. So, hopefully nothing in the bilge got saturated. If so, how would you fix that? But unless there is a hole in there, water in the bilge could not do anything but fill the bilge I assume.

[Way2slow]

One thing that will help, take the jackplate off and mount the motor directly to the transom.  That motor weighs almost 380 pounds, any additional setback is going to cause a whole lot of extra bow lift.  

Don't know anything about your particular boat, or Trackers in general, but it's possible you might have some wet floatation foam.  Even with close cell foam, it can get about 10% saturated and that could add weight.   That's kind of a long shot unless the boat is stored outside, uncovered, but as mentioned weighing it will answer that question.  I had a Stratos 285 Pro I took almost 300 pounds of wet foam out of, but that was the older, closed cell foam.

Other than that, about the only thing you can do is start moving weight forward.  

[WRB]

Agree, take the jack plate off.

XPress Pro H17 is rated 90 hp, H18 115 hp.

Don’t believe the 4 stroke Yammy is over power the boat but 4 strokes are about 40 lbs heavy then 2 stroke in that range HP. Need to look up the weight difference* between 90 hp and 115 hp 4 stroke, usually the block in the power range are the same.

XPress aluminum boats are made with .125” thick, not a light weight boat!

Tom

* 343 vs 377 lbs, same 1.8 cu 4 cylinder engine, 34 lbs.

PS, Atlas jack plate is 70 lbs plus the 8’ Talon is 43 lbs. 

 

[livemusic]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Agree, take the jack plate off.

XPress Pro H17 is rated 90 hp, H18 115 hp.

Don’t believe the 4 stroke Yammy is over power the boat but 4 strokes are about 40 lbs heavy then 2 stroke in that range HP. Need to look up the weight difference* between 90 hp and 115 hp 4 stroke, usually the block in the power range are the same.

XPress aluminum boats are made with .125” thick, not a light weight boat!

Tom

* 343 vs 377 lbs, same 1.8 cu 4 cylinder engine, 34 lbs.

PS, Atlas jack plate is 70 lbs plus the 8’ Talon is 43 lbs. 

 

Thanks for the info. But once again, the placard on my boat says 115hp rating.

 

I think the previous owner, an amateur tourney angler, wanted this boat (and the jack plate) because he thought he could get to shallower water.

 

Supposedly sold it to buy larger to fish larger lakes some tourneys are on. Who knows, he might have not liked this weathervaning.

 

I can catch plenty fish as is, proved that last season but is certainly a negative in enjoying this otherwise nice boat.

Btw, the shape of this boat’s front half is rakish enough that moving weight, methinks it might not submerge the bow very much. Maybe I can find a pic of boat in water.

[Way2slow]

Being rated for a 115 has nothing to do with the extra weight of the four stroke.  When they first started hitting the market, manufactures had to add additional reinforcement for account for the extra weight.  So, not only do you have the extra weight of the four stroke motor, you have the jackplate, plus the additional setback it gives.  Then you add the weight of some super heavy deep cycle batteries and onboard charger to get the extra run time.  If you add those anchoring poles, pretty soon, you've added several hundred pounds of extra weight right to the ass-end of the boat.  

[cyclops2]

It would not be the first time someone removes a max H P plate & puts on a bigger one to B S inspectors & insurance company people.

 

 The " That's how I bought the boat. " routine

[cyclops2]

New Boats are offered with up to 10" Jackplates as a option.  So all that transom weight is factory approved.

 

The 115 HP seems to only be on the wider 18' models.   Some thing was different on your year.  

Does your bilge pump work in both AUTO and MANUAL modes ? Do you see water being pumped out ?

[livemusic]

Bilge pump is only manual and I have def expressed desire to make it automatic, have to change it out I suppose.

 

btw, the 115hp DOES seem to be ‘safe’ which is the reason for ratings, this weathervaning is just an annoyance.