Problems to consider putting Talons on an older bass boat

[Fishead1167]

I would first like to say that I love my Talons for fishing. I have a 1995 Ranger 481v (not the vs) 18' and about 86" beam, with 175 Fast Strike, and 4 blade prop. The main issue is the weight of the installed Talons, and where its carried on the boat. The 12 ft. Talons weigh about 75 lbs. each with brackets, sandwich style, and tilts. Originally I put the brackets between the 10" setback and the motor. Absolutely not getting on plane with this setup, no matter how much I raised or lowered the motor. Next move: put the bracket between the transom and jack plate. A bit better now but takes 6-8 seconds before she rolls over. I read somewhere that for every foot back behind the transom, you are doubling the weight. Not sure if I believe this or not, but after sinking over 4 grand into these things, what's another $300 for a 6" setback. You see, one of the other issues with the weight is the transom freeboard is about 3-4 ", and the wave when you go off plane about swamps you. These older boats have an open splashwell, unlike most of the new ones. Even with new setback installed the freeboard gain was minimal - you have to be very vigilant about waves and boat wakes swamping the back of the boat. With the new setback, rollover is maybe a sec or 2 better and top speed 60mph. This is down from 65-68mph pre-Talons but we can live with it. I would also suggest you consider the weight carried of 3 tm batteries, 3 bank charger, oil res, I carry about 80lbs of gear behind the seats. Never use the live wells, plugged off, and now keep 1 of the 2 23 gal gas tanks with only about 10 gals in it. Forget the 112 ultrex idea, the extra weight of the 4th battery would never work. Another problem is the trailer is single axle, and the added weight so far behind the wheels causes a light tongue weight and trailering sway becomes an issue. I moved the winch post as far forward as it will go to shift the weight more to the front, but because the transom has all the weight, this was a minimal gain. Currently have added 40lbs of weight, from a home gym, to the underside of the trailer, below the winch post, and saw big improvement.

Thanks for listening. Hopefully this helps make someone thinking about Talons realize there are other issues to be considered other than what a great asset to fishing the Talons are.

[JR19]

I have a 1999 boat with an Evinrude 150 HO. I experience poor hole-shot but I was able to resolve my issue. I have two of the older style 8ft Talons. They weigh close to what your 12 ft model weighs. I experimented with motor height and it helped but very little. By far the best thing I ever done was add a hydrofoil. I went from 6-8 seconds to 4 seconds light 5 seconds with two people and live-well full. I stayed with my 3 blade Raker 24 because it has great top end speed. The best part about a hydrofoil is you gain hole-shot but it has zero effect on top end because it is out of the water when running up on the pad.

I installed a traditional Stingray hydrofoil. I have zero regrets but if I were to do it again or if anything happens to mine I will switch to a custom hydrofoil made by BBC member cbailey. The Stingray is plastic and quiet honestly looks ugly BUT it does improve your hole-shot. cbailey makes a custom hydrofoil that can be bought in stainless, brushed finish or painted finish. It is made of metal and its design is a little different and the differance also make the appearance a lot better. Personally I have never used one but I read enough positive reviews here on BBC to know it works.

Here is a link. Scroll thru and look at all the pictures. You can see different colors/finishes and also what they look like mounted. He will "custom" make one for you. http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread....316&highlight=

Another option would be another prop. You mentioned a 4 blade. Without know what you have I will bet $ its a Renegade because they are typically run on Johnson motors. If you want a prop that has the reputation of being KING of hole-shot then you need a Bravo I XS...they are not cheap. A foil will be much less expensive and also improve hole-shot.

[KMcClure]

Get ahold of cbailey on here and get a foil from him. You will be surprised what it will do for your holeshot

[KMcClure]

^^^speaking from personal experience by the way. I put power poles on and killed the little bit of hole shot that I had. Problem solved and pretty sure if I take the poles off it will literally jump out of the hole. I’m going to try it in the spring. I have the stainless one. If I remember it was around $140 shipped maybe but it’s been the best improvement I’ve made to my boat. You won’t regret it

[Nova Kaw 650]

X2 on the hydrofoil, they work as designed.
Regarding the CBaily foil, I have one but found very little lift in my application. If ordering another one of CB foil, I would have him make one without the corners cut off. I had a buddy make one for me off the CB foil design, but left the corners on. Much better. It is currently not on my boat, but I did put a holeshot plate that I made out of Lexan; my holeshot is very good with a single Talon.
The OP will now need a different pitch prop if he dropped 7-8 mph off the top speed.

[Fishead1167]

Definitely will get ahold of Mr. baily, many thanks for the links and suggestions. Prop I run is a Predator 25p, no longer in business, turn at 5500-5600.

[Nova Kaw 650]

Definitely will get ahold of Mr. baily, many thanks for the links and suggestions. Prop I run is a Predator 25p, no longer in business, turn at 5500-5600.

Even after your top speed was much lower? Or before?

[Fishead1167]

That was the rpms before adding the talons and now once I get to top speed. Was down around 5200 until I adjusted the motor down about 2"s.

[Fishead1167]

Still haven't ordered the hydrofoil yet, but living in the northeast I still have months before open water. One of the problems with the weight and splashwell design is that the drain water coming into the splashwell drains into the bilge area. Yes I have an automatic pump, and a manual in the bilge, but you get more that a few gallons of water back there before the pump kicks on. More water, more weigh, only makes the freeboard space less and less.

[Mike482Ranger]

Your splashwell should drain through the boat, not into your bilge that's got bad news written on it.