i have the top 3 holes on each side plugged, can i plug one more, only leaving 4 on each side open, would that be leaving enough open for water intake??...
i have the top 3 holes on each side plugged, can i plug one more, only leaving 4 on each side open, would that be leaving enough open for water intake??...
I'm questioning if you have to actually plug any of them..........what height are you running the motor?
Kevin I have the top three holes pluged on mine as well I had to I was sucking are and getting fluctuating pressure reading and the motor temps were going up.. I talked to JR Nance at Pitstop Marine before I plugged mine and he told me that three on each side was fine to plug and that four was pushing it but he did know of a few guys running with four plugged.. Like I said I plugged three on each side and now my water pressure is steady and I also have more pressure because it's not sucking air.. The engine temps stay around 130 to 140 now instead of going into the 150 range when running hard ... Mine is fine with three plugged you might give JR a call and talk to him...
Hmm..........didn't realize that you had any plugged Terry.........I wouldn't have thought that we'd be running our motor high enough on Gamblers to require it. Guess I learned something today.
i'll probably just stick with the 3 plugged then, im on the ragged edge with the trim all the time is why i was asking...running WOT, about 12# of water, then if i try to sqeeze out every last mph by tapping up the trim she drops down to around 8# so i have to trim back down...oh well!
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Al from Canada »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what height are you running the motor?</TD></TR></TABLE>
AL, iv'e done forgot exactly...2 5/16 or somewhere there abouts!
3 is ok but kinda pushing it if you don't have low water pick-ups.4 is fine with them.
To be honest with you Al I have never really measured my prop to pad on this boat I just know where it runs it's best from the Bobs dial and once I got it setup right the water pressure was low and fluctuating and my engine temps went up way to high so I had to plug the top three holes.. I spoke to JR Nance and he said that three was safe on the Opti but four was pushing it but he knew of a few guys running the Opti's with four plugged.. Mine works fine with three plugged so that's were I will keep mine.. The T/M on most all of the new models have the low water pickups so it gets plenty of water and my pressure is around 20lbs now instead of jumping around and unsteady...
Plugging the intake ports first appeared in BWB many years ago, they even provided the Mercury part number for the plugs. Its not so much 3 or 4 plugs, its what kind of safe water pressure can you maintain with the holes plugged. Running a TM with its low water pickup provides good water pressure, MR said running 4 plugged was fine. If you find your water pressure is too low, unplug the bottom plug. And then,..... drill a 1" hole in your exhaust just above water.
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