View Full Version : Transom wedges or motor height
Shellback
05-31-2004, 05:24 AM
I recently purchased a 16 foot Smokercraft with a 50 HP Merc. I've had problems before on boats where I needed to get the motor tucked in more to get on plane and prevent porpoising. Now, it seems I have the opposite problem. With the transom angle of this boat, the motor will tuck in way too much, at least it seems that way to me, then the trim limit won't let me trim out enough to keep the bow high. At WOT, the bow wants to come down too much and the boat has a tendency to lean to the left. To me, with the motor trimmed in all the way, it really seems excessive. I know I can move the stop rod, but that won't help with getting more trim out where I need it the most. Another point on the transom angle, I had to shim the bottom of my transducer out quite a bit to get it parallel with the bottom. Is this a case for transom wedges, or will raising the motor help? Thanks!
I would do both.
Install a set of transom wedges, angled the correct direction, and raise the motor three inches.
Take care
REW
Shellback
05-31-2004, 01:51 PM
Thanks for the reply. Would I want to raise it 3"s all at once, or try raising it one hole at a time? I'm really not a speed freak or performance nut, so I'm not trying to squeeze the last bit of performance from the boat. I'm just interested in a safe handling boat. I know you don't want the bow too far in the water at speed where it could affect steering. On your recommendation, I just ordered a set of transom wedges from BoatUS. From the ad picture it looks like they mount either way, for positive or negative trim. It's funny that I also posted on the Nissan kicker motor thread and one fellow replied that because of the steep transom angle on his Smokercraft he had to use wedges on his kicker to keep it high enough when on plane with the big motor.
Since your motor is not all that heavy, I would raise it three holes and give it a try.
If it is too high, drop it down a hole or two.
If you find that you don't get too much cavitation, by lifting it to the third hole, you are done.
Take care
REW
Shellback
06-15-2004, 05:41 AM
REW, As my cav plate was already a couple inches higher than the boat bottom, I installed the wedges and raised the motor one hole. After trying it out, I had prop blowout just running straight at WOT. I'm going to drop the motor back down to where it was, would the wedges themselves creat the prop blowout? The bow didn't seem to go down as far as before, but there was alot of spray off the spray rails. I believe the cav plate is about 2 inches above the bottom with the motor in the top hole.
THROWINWOOD
06-15-2004, 09:25 AM
WHAT PROP ARE YOU RUNNING? A FRIEND OF MINE HAD A SIM. PROBLEM WITH A SIM. RIG . HE WAS RUNNING A STOCK ALUM. PROP.WE SWITCHED TO A STAINLESS AND THE PORPOSING WENT AWAY.
I THINK WHAT IS HAPPENING WHEN YOU APPLY POWER THE BOW IS LIFTED BY THE PROP, THEN IT (THE PROP ) REACHES IT'S LIMIT AND SLIPS AND THE BOW DROPS. A NICE STAINLESS PROP WITH SOME CUP IN THE TIPS COULD SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM.
FIND YOUR MOTORS MAX RPM IN YOUR OWNERS MAN. AND TRY TO GET CLOSE TO THIS # WITH A TYP. LOAD. YOU MIGHT HAVE TO TRY A NUMBER OF DIFFRENT PROPS TO FIND THE MAGIC ONE. HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD DEALER IN YOUR AREA THAT WILL LET YOU TRY A FEW.
GOOD LUCK DAVE
I trim to neutral steering and my boat tends to lean to the right when running and the bow stays down
why is this ?
rebs