Nitro 290 Engine Height

[oilguy]

Are there any Nitro 290 owners out there that have played around with their engine height? Possibly on a 290 with a 200 Verado and 19P Tempest?

The boat came with the motor mounted on the lowest set of bolt holes and I'd like to move it up at least one hole. Before I go out and get the proper lifting eye for the motor, I was hoping to find someone who has lifted their motor and seen better overall performance. Right now at WOT I am getting 5900 RPM and 45-47MPH with a half tank of fuel. I get 5800 RPM and 43-44 MPH with a full tank of fuel and a full livewell. I can also trim the motor to max without the prop blowing out at WOT.

I've read a lot of posts about engine height on Rangers. Lunds, Crestliners, etc.....how about a 290 Nitro....anyone?

[4JawChuck]

Not to rain on your parade but unless your cav plate is under water at speed now there isn't much to gain unless your real light on the bow. Without a jackplate to give your engine weight leverage on the hull you will lose bow lift since there won't be that column of water above the prop to trim against.

I went through this with my 17' Lund powered by a 200Merc, raising the motor lessened the drag but without being able to lift the bow it actually lost me speed...on the top hole the prop was actually piercing the waters surface and slip went up and speed went down without the bow up to make the water wedge smaller at the stern which is what you want to lower drag.

The idea is to balance the bow weight with jackplate or setback on the transom to allow the engine to run neutral trim or very little positive trim which will let you raise the motor until slip starts to negate raising it further.

You can experiment of course but the closer you get to surfacing the prop the less leverage you will have to lift the bow, you will likely get more speed increase by moving heavy stuff to the rear of the boat like batteries and anchors. This all depends on your current boat setup and how well its balanced now, your hull has an offset pad now...getting weight behind that offset will let you run less trim which will let you run less motor depth.

Been there done that, on my non-pad equipped hull I required a 10-12" jackplate to allow less motor depth and neutral trim...prop walk/blowout from over trimming at 60mph with a shallow prop is no joke...very dangerous!

Be careful fellow canuck, there are gains to be had but only very small ones until you re-engineer the setup to balance the hull to get the big gains. My advice is unless your going to get a powered jackplate it may not be worth the losses in rough water and differing loads etc...not being able to lower the motor when you need it is a real negative and might not be worth the couple of mph you will get.

[oilguy]

I'd have to agree with you for the most part. I too had to play around with motor height on the last boat (an 18 1/2 Princecraft) because it was set up too high. I couldn't get the bow lift I needed at anything over 1/2 throttle due to prop blowout.

This Nitro seems to be a completely different animal in the way it responds to throttle. It is set up a lot different than the last boat too. All the batteries are in the back of the Nitro so the only extra weight in the bow is a trolling motor, an anchor and maybe another 15 lbs of gear in the storage compartments. The bow is not plowing even with the trim 1/4 of the way up. With that being said, it just seems like the motor should be running a little higher RPMS when at WOT.

Again, before I go through the hassle of getting the proper lifting eye for the Verado and moving around the motor, I'd like to hear from other owners who have done this. A jackplate was an option for this boat, but it was recommended to me from a pretty reliable source to stay away from them on this model of boat (they did mention I may want to experiment with motor height though). I was planning to lift the motor these past few days, but thought best to leave it where it's at for now. We are off to the lake for a week so I'd hate to have to run the boat all week with the motor mounted too high.

Thanks for the insight! I'd just really like to hear from a few other Nitro owners on their experiences with this model. I'm finding most people get the boat "as is" and never think twice about adjusting anything. Maybe for good reason?

[4JawChuck]

If your neutral on the trim now the middle set of holes will likely be the best speed position with the least drawbacks...but it will likely blow out if you overtrim. Its always a compromise...save your money and get a powered jackplate...its an excellent option to have even if you don't need the setback.

Just running in skinny water or near the launch is reason enough to me now to get one...if you ask me they should be standard equipment on all boats...up there with hydraulic steering.

[Shuclan]

Hi Oilguy,
I believe that I shared e-mails with you when you got the boat last fall/winter. I have a 2011 290 sport with a 200 XL Verado, and a 6 inch manual top adjusting jackplate. My boat has the same prop as your boat. I have moved the engine up 1 turn on the jackplate bolt and that seemed to get the motor up high enough to run right for my boat. I get 5900 RPM's and 47/48 MPH with an empty boat on smooth water. The 290 Sport is a heavy boat, and not a speed demon. I am not sure why you were told not to get a jackplate. I bought this boat in april 2010, and according to my BPS dealership, I have the first boat out of the new mold for the 2011 model. The dealership and Tracker/Nitro recommended a jackplate, so I went with a manual jackplate because it was more cost effective for me. My boat runs very well, and I have not had any issues at all with it. It runs great in rough water and is a dry riding boat. Overall, I am very happy with my 290 so far.
Phil

[oilguy]

Hey Phil,

You are correct about the emails last Fall/Winter. Thanks for the info then and now. Overall, I am very happy with the boat. It just seems that I'm not running the motor at the optimum height quite yet.

Eyes,

Thanks for the offer on the JP but I'm going to stay away from mounting one. If I find that the boat is set up properly and my top end is what it is, I'll run it this way. Hopefully it will be for only one or two more seasons before another new (quicker) boat is on order.

[Jim Carroll]

I've raised the motor up on both my Nitro 290's. Last year I ran a 290 with a Mercury 225 Verado, this year I have a Mercury 225 Pro XS.

I like how the boat handles with the engine up, and you will gain some RPM and speed too. The biggest difference I've seen is more lift in the bow, and the ability to keep the nose up in waves at slower speeds.

Up one hole in a Verado, up two holes for a Pro XS is my personal preference.

Jim Carroll NPAA #13

Originally Posted by oilguy

Are there any Nitro 290 owners out there that have played around with their engine height? Possibly on a 290 with a 200 Verado and 19P Tempest?

The boat came with the motor mounted on the lowest set of bolt holes and I'd like to move it up at least one hole. Before I go out and get the proper lifting eye for the motor, I was hoping to find someone who has lifted their motor and seen better overall performance. Right now at WOT I am getting 5900 RPM and 45-47MPH with a half tank of fuel. I get 5800 RPM and 43-44 MPH with a full tank of fuel and a full livewell. I can also trim the motor to max without the prop blowing out at WOT.

I've read a lot of posts about engine height on Rangers. Lunds, Crestliners, etc.....how about a 290 Nitro....anyone?

[oilguy]

Thanks for the info Jim. I guess I know what I'll be doing on one of my days off next week.