Raise Jackplate or Lower Pitch on Prop?

[Natedawg717]

Hey all, my rig should be listed in the signature line. Current prop to pad is 4.00" (setting before I most recently added power poles). After adding poles, I am having an issue with getting the nose to come back down when getting on pad. It shoots up quick but takes forever to come back down, and I need to wiggle the boat side to side for it to go down with a co-angler and livewells full. Spoke with my tech this morning, his position is that the rear is under too much weight and the jackplate should be lowered or prop pitch be lowered to 23p. The other alternative offered was to throw sandbags in the nose of the boat. My position is that the boat ran fine before power poles and the jackplate just needs to come up a half inch. Someone tell me I am not crazy... Yes, the boat is heavy but it did over 70mph no problem before the poles with current prop to pad. I just don't see how lowering it would cause the boat to plane out faster when the issue is with the nose coming back down instead of going up.

[mactlman]

Adj ptp to 3.25 below - what is the RPMs when you take off and it’s lifting the nose so bad? Are you getting up to 3500-3800 RPMs? If not, can you open Vents up on the prop to allow that to happen? Power poles as high as you can get them so they’re not dragging

[Natedawg717]

Adj ptp to 3.25 below - what is the RPMs when you take off and it’s lifting the nose so bad? Are you getting up to 3500-3800 RPMs? If not, can you open Vents up on the prop to allow that to happen? Power poles as high as you can get them so they’re not dragging

I do not think the rpms are that high taking off, the prop does not have vent holes. I do have the poles up as high as possible. My thoughts are that the engine height is simply too low that the motor loses leverage at peak nose height to bring it back down. The boat had 5 lead acids in it before the Dakota Lithiums and poles. At 3.25-3.5 is where it did it's best. I have learned one lesson through all of this, buy a hydraulic jackplate and get the fancy little lever LOL

[mactlman]

If you have a jack plate raise it to 3.25 below and retest it but if you can’t get your RPMs up to 3500 on takeoff, you’re not getting into the Power band on a two-stroke and will always fight it. The heavier it is with stuff like the worst. It’s going to be you really need a four blade bravo or razor XLR prop with vent holes.

[Natedawg717]

If you have a jack plate raise it to 3.25 below and retest it but if you can’t get your RPMs up to 3500 on takeoff, you’re not getting into the Power band on a two-stroke and will always fight it. The heavier it is with stuff like the worst. It’s going to be you really need a four blade bravo or razor XLR prop with vent holes.

Thank you for the info, I will set it at 3.25. Boat is for sale and need it gone by winter, so new props are not in the cards unfortunately.

[mactlman]

Thank you for the info, I will set it at 3.25. Boat is for sale and need it gone by winter, so new props are not in the cards unfortunately.

List on bbc in the stratos section? Great boats

[Natedawg717]

List on bbc in the stratos section? Great boats

I have considered it! I may do it here if I don't get any bites locally. I love this boat and am really going to be sad to see it go. I'll probably always be a fan of Stratos hulls, which is why I am getting into a Falcon!

[mactlman]

The falcon predator is definitely one nice looking boat, wish they had more colors myself though

[Natedawg717]

I second both of those opinions. However, I haven't really seen a company that allows a boat to be so customizable with options. You can mix, match, and add whatever you want to any boat.

[mactlman]

I second both of those opinions. However, I haven't really seen a company that allows a boat to be so customizable with options. You can mix, match, and add whatever you want to any boat.

Brian Latimer, on his YouTube channel, has all kinds of build videos at the plant from three or four different years. Videos of his different Boats and very worth your time watching, if you haven’t already!

[PatriotAW4]

Definitely do not add weight to the front, adding sand bags in the rear since you switched to lithium batteries may be a good idea. That's not that great of a prop you have either. A 25" pitch Tempest set at 3" prop to pad is where I would start at.

[lpugh]

24 tempest plus with 2 holes empty & 1 large hole plug, leave it set 4 in for now. When bow noses over lift momentarily and roll back in to it. Without poles a 25 would be my choice, or 23 Fury 3
The lower the motor is, the greater leverage is to push the bow down trimmed down or lift the bow trimmed up, the drawback is the lower unit in the water the more resistance there is.
If you can find one, a CB foil does wonders for hole shot

Then start raising the motor 1/4 inch at a time recording GPS speed and Digital tach or smartcraft RPM untill speed no longer goes up and RPM increase, then lower back the best setting
every boat, motor, and prop combo are different in regard to height.

[Natedawg717]

Brian Latimer, on his YouTube channel, has all kinds of build videos at the plant from three or four different years. Videos of his different Boats and very worth your time watching, if you haven’t already!

I will have to check that out! I watch Brian's videos a lot. He has the most informative video, in my opinion, on navigating rough water conditions.

[Natedawg717]

UPDATE:

Set prop to pad at 3.25" and ran a tourney last weekend. Way better holeshot, much flatter launch. My goal was to set this boat up for a full tournament load, and I think it is about as good as I can get with what I have.

With two people, FULLY loaded with gear (Co brought an entire tackle shop with him), livewells full, 3/4-1/2 gas tank, plus boat specs:

Max RPM: 5500
Top Speed: 69 mph with the current, 67 against it.
Took about half the time to get on pad.

One thing I noted, the tech cautioned me about going up too high on prop to pad and said it would cause me to blow out on sharp turns. It does not do that at all. I think this is the setting she will sit at until the Falcon replaces her.

[mactlman]

Just make sure you trimmed down in a turn and you won’t blow out that way

[Natedawg717]

Just make sure you trimmed down in a turn and you won’t blow out that way

Yep! Boat turns on a dime at decent running speeds, really love it for the Mississippi River.

[mactlman]

Yep! Boat turns on a dime at decent running speeds, really love it for the Mississippi River.

You realize you’re going from corvette stratos to a caddy falcon

[Capt James]

I'd bring the motor up another 1/4" and test it and see how it does, if you start losing bite in sharp turns then bring it back down.