My outboard is spraying water at me

Sounds like the idea, test it and see. One problem you can encounter with the motor too high on boats like this is ventilation when running through a chop that has just broken.

 

Well, i hope I havent bolted it too high lol coz i am kinda commited to this mod

Looks weird having a huge space under the clamps.





I have since double nutted the bolts and will test it out in the morning.

 

Try some sharp turns or figure-eights, in your test. Height looks good to minimize drag.

 

Will do

 

Do you see now what I was saying before. Your transom has a short shaft cut out. You have a long shaft motor. Where it is now should work well.

 

Its weird, the stacer website specifically states that it is a long shaft transom and every one of these boats from over 100 dealers package them with long shaft motors. I raised the motor a full 3.5" and i think half of that is because of the weird yamaha 21.7" shaft. The suzuki and mercury long shafts are 20" which would have saved me 1.7". My transom is around 18.5" so not quite a long shaft but too tall for 15" short shafts. I think the ideal outboard would be an 18" shaft which would be a medium shaft.

I dont understand why a boat designned in 2011 and released in 2012 would release a non standard sized transom.

 

SP,looks a better height.
I'm no engineer but if it were me,I'd have a 1/4 plate of aluminum..the depth of that channel and maybe couple feet wide to spread the load out more. On the inside for sure and on the outside if possible..
And much bigger washers.

 

They do look a bit ordinary sitting up like that, I'd tend to instal a 1/2" ply transom pad(ply is good as the outboard bracket will bed in) & build the height plus sandwich the cross peice on the transom at the bolts, even an alu say 6mm plate inside(in an elegant fashion!)- who knows whats inside that alu- if there's no web those bolt/washer/nuts will work over the alu.

Jeff.

 

Structurally, that will be much better with a filler piece on the cutout.

 

Thanks guys.

Just got back from the morning test.

Its like a different boat. I can actually turn the tiller when on the plane I didn't notice any real difference in performance other than greatly improved handling. The bolts are solid. Will try weld an extension on at some point but this will do for now, just looks a bit weird.

It is probably a touch high now as it does ventilate coming out of sharp turns. It also takes longer to speed up from a standstill. It jumped straight out of the hole when it was deeper but now it sort of burbles up to plane speed. It is also a lot louder, perhaps the exhaust was under water the last time.

So yeah, the vertical spray is gone and i can now steer But it is louder, takes longer to accelerate, cavitates/ventilates on turns and probably will in the chop too.

Quick video of the wake.



If i could go back i would put it down half an inch but guess i will just live with it

I sent an email about all this to the dealer and this is his response:

"The 429 Rampage is built to take a 20” shaft engine. The Yamaha 30HP is the perfect engine for this boat.

When we spoke at hand-over, depending on weight distribution, the motor may be needed to raised to accommodate water heights.

As I cannot see the boat in motion, I cannot suggest the reason for the vertical spray.

This combination is very common and we have sold many units in this category.

At high speed, tiller motors do seem tight in manoeuvring as you are combatting the vertical forces sustained in motion."

I really dont see how he can say that when it was over 3" too long for the transom. Guess sales people say anything to get rid of you. He did offer to send some bolts so i guess thats something.

Cheers guys

 

A ventilation plate fin will likely cure most of the issues you currently have, with hole shot and venting in turns.

 

Thanks PAR, will look into it.

One last question, the hole shot and turns dont really bother me performance wise, was just worried it may hurt the engine. Does 1 or 2 seconds of ventilation now and then cause overheating?

Also, if it ventilates on every wave in a chop, will that overheat it?

 

Won't cause overheating, but isn't any good for the engine, nonetheless.

 

Good to know

What does it do to the engine?

 

Revving off the clock ("red-lining") puts a lot of strain on the internals, many high hp outboards have electronic rev limiters to avoid it. I think you will need to test your boat in a variety of conditions to satisfy yourself you have a sound height setting, where over-revving happens only rarely.