Setback and Power Pole Testing

[River Rocket]

A comparison between 13.5" of setback and power poles vs 11.5" of setback and no power poles. Same load, boat, temps, and prop. Different days so not back to back and that will make a difference. Not easy to pull a jackplate and power poles and replace with a hydraulic plate and do back to back testing so this is about as close as I can get. As noted seen in the photo my power poles are folded down.

The poles will go back on. Right now I'm enjoying the performance with them off. Plus I haven't figured out how to mount them yet. It's clear now that they are dragging on the hole shot and costing me some acceleration.

This was the defining moment for the R. It is now running equally as well as the 300XS DBR. All performance testing I have done shows it leading the 300XS DBR now. Still not apples to apples until the poles go back on. More work to be done with that.

[shapfromla]

That is exceptional work!! No B.S. right there. Everyone wonders how much the poles affect performance and you showed it. Understanding the extra setback also has a huge effect. On a high performance rig like an Allison, Stroker, Bullet I would imagine the difference to be more pronounced but even us slow boat guys have to realize that poles and setback negatively affect hole shot, acceleration and top end. We ask too much of these rigs now a days with 50 plus gallons of fuel, 2 power poles/talons, pumps, 4 big batteries, live wells full of water. That's easily close to 1000 pounds of load sitting on the back of the boat and we wonder why our hole shot sucks in the summer! LOL!

Thank you for the videos. I love watching them. I guess one of these days I'll just have to bite the bullet and jump over to an Allison instead of stalking you guys all the time.

[Johnny Maxwell]

Geoff, once again excellent work. Been meaning to tell you that since you first posted this. I wish I had some quick disconnect gadgetry on my boat so I could see the difference my poles make. The only thing I can do is guess for now. Mine being a Bassport Pro Elite has different characteristics from your boat no doubt, but the drag and weight distribution of the poles has to have a big effect. Last February when I decided to let mine air out for a couple of miles on Pickwick I was at 95.6 running 6100 rpm's. I felt there may have been a little more speed there but I was positive that with the drag on the back triples was out of the question. Just from having run these boats a lot over the years, I think your video shows a perfect expectation of what poles will do to a boat's performance when top performance and speed is the goal. I'm betting fuel economy sucks with poles too. LOL...no... I KNOW IT DOES! LOL

[River Rocket]

Thanks guys. I truthfully have never tried going over 97 with them up. 97 was only done before I made the tilting brackets. The boat really falls off on top with them up. I have always thought I should do a pass up and a pass down back to back just never have. And now they are hanging in the garage and I'm debating making someone a killer deal on them next spring.

It really is crazy how big of an impact they made and that is with them folded down. I'm into cooler weather now and testing vs. the DBR 300XS from last year is closer to apples vs. apples. It's the 100lbs of weight in the back of the boat that made the huge impact from the poles. After seeing this I went at weight like a made man and made more changes. I put lithium in the boat and shaved another 100lbs. Plus I pulled 75lbs of useless junk out (I had a battery impact wrench in the boat...) and with no carpet it is another 25lbs lighter. So in all, from the first pass with the poles the boat is now 300lbs lighter in fishing form. I'm blowing all my previous best numbers out of the water now.

Lithium Battery test coming up next.