Hey guys, just want to hear some opinions and suggestions. Like I said above, I have a 2009 nitro z7 with a 200 Merc optimax. I’ve decked this boat out pretty good, 36v ultrex, and lots of tackle. Originally with no jack plate and a 25 p tempest plus, the boat was slow to pad 5 seconds or so, but always got up. With my latest addition, dual 8 foot blades and a 6” z lock jack plate, it takes 10-20 seconds to pad, sometimes not even making it. I thought perhaps if I dropped a pitch to a 24 tempest plus, it might improve the issue, but unfortunately there was little to no change. By myself I get on pad decent, 6 or 7 seconds, but with a second person in the boat, it’s the 10-20 seconds. If I have the second person sit on the front deck, it improves the plane time to around 6 or 7 seconds similar If I were by myself. I have the outboard height set at 3.5 inches currently. It’s a 70 mph boat and if I go higher than 3.5 I begin to run into stability issues.
My thoughts, I don’t have enough weight in the bow. Do you think adding 50-100 pounds in the nose would help plane and performance? Or maybe I’ve just overdone it and need to reduce the stern weight dramatically?
thoughts and suggestions?