Who has experience with a 2200, 300 Merc?

[MCarte]

If any of you have a late model 2200 and a 300 Merc I could use a little help. This boat is very difficult to drive over 70 MPH. This engine came with a sportmaster gear case. How high should I run the engine on the jack plate and how much trim. As I bring the engine up with the jack plate and trim to vertical the boat nearly goes airborne. I can not begin to operate the boat at it's potential. Any help would be appreciated. I read the other comments about getting use to the boat and all but I am wondering if the others are as wild. It is an awesome machine!
MC

[JAZII]

Most likely you are trying to over trim the boat.
Most people new to a Gambler over trim the boat.
Try running the boat with neutral trim till the speed will not get any faster, then make small positive trim movements to see how the boat reacts
2.5-4 on the Bob's gage depending on the load in the boat.
JAZII

[white gambler]

I have the same rig and its a baby to drive. First and most important you want to run your jackplate as high as it will go during highspeed running ( 6 on the guage) you must get the sportmaster out of the water or it will hunt around and make the boat feel twitchy. Its designed to be run very high. You dont need alot of trim at all. The boat will lift itself. Have somebody with you and look back....if the water is arching higher than the top of your cowl, you're over trimming. If you try to drive this with the same settings as a 2100 with a torquemaster case you'll be way off. What prop are you running??? if you have any questions, you can call me.. just im me.

[MCarte]

Thank you so much for responding to my message. Your info is so greatly appreciated. I have been running my jack plate at 3 to 4 on the position indicator and yes she insist on a scary ride. I wanted to run the motor higher on the jack plate but I did not know if there was enough skag in the water to maintain control. The boat came with a Trophy Plus 26P. The original prop was bent so I bought a new one therefore my prop has like less than 1.5 hours run time. It seems like a person would want a surfacing propeller for the sport master gear case but that is what Gambler recommended. I also have a bunch of blowout during take off. This weekend I changed all the vent plugs to the smallest hole size available. Have not run it since the change. When you say not much trim...do you mean with the motor vertical or say at 90 degrees to the water surface...or do you mean a negative trim e.g. trimmed in toward the boat. Thanks again.

[white gambler]

on mine its between the first line and the 1/4 mark on my trim guage. Check the height of your rooster tail like i mentioned .

[MCarte]

After your recommendation about motor height I measured the position of the prop shaft to the arch in the running pad with the jack plate all the way up. The top of the prop shaft will be even with the arch in the running pad at 0 trim. My motor is bolted to the jack plate through the 4th hole down from the top. One more thing, this boat came with a 10" jack plate and a 2" extension for a total of 12" back. Will the Trophy prop handle that high of a motor position? What prop do you run?

[Matt Mc]

http://s146.photobucket.com/albums/r264/MATTNHEB/

I don't rely on the numbers on the jack. Measure yourself so that you know for sure where your propshaft is in relation to the pad. You can make marks on your jack plate with a sharpe. Mine ran its best at 2 1/4 below the pad. Raising or lowering any caused a drop in mph. Once at top speed I could trim up a little more and run the nose high. It cost me 1 mph. But overtrimming will never get you to topspeed. Too much adjusting won't either. Look at the videos on the photobuckt link and see how my rooster tail is nearly nothing. It also takes me some distance to reach top speed. Prolly will you too especially when trying to figure out a ride your unfamiliar with. I agree with the others. Here is my advise because I was in the same place as you less then a year ago. I overtrimmed and blew out many times learning.
1. Try various engine heights might start at 2in below the pad.
2. Make runs where you can cover some distance in good water.
3. Make small trim adjustments. When you feel the hull start to loosen up stop. Pay attention to your GPS at this point.
4. keep it to the floor and give it some time. When you quit gaining speed you will either have to bump the trim up, bump the trim back down, or possibly bump the jack down a little.
I would recommend not moving the jack while trying for topspeed. Would be better for you to just slow down move the jack and try again.
There is a lot going on on the 2200. RPM, WPressure, hyd jack, trim, and paying attention to water conditions at topspeed is hard enough.

REMEMBER!! keep adjustments in very small increments. I found that 1/4 of an inch made a difference of 2 mph.

Hope this helps
Matt Mc