What have i bought

We did our first wet test with the boat today and are very happy with how it is coming along . He got the boat up to a little over half throttle and it performed quite well . One thing he noticed was that the steering of the boat was not very responsive . To put it in auto terms the boat had a lot of push in it. The wheel deeded a lot of turn to get any kind of movement. The motor is turning but the boat isnt following along as well as we would home. I know we are at the dialing in stage so its all part of the learning process. Even at half speed the boat would take a long time to initiate the turn and follow thru. I will post a video to show you want we mean . The boat has the three anti sliding strips underneath and we have the motor in about the lowest position as far as the angle goes. Has anyone added additional skegs or fins and if so where ? Here are a few pics of the boat in the water and the video of the steering wheels movement verses the lack of by the bow .


video


and one of it underway

 

Well its been ten interesting months and there have been a lot of changes and hopefully they will all be positive when we actually get it back in the water at the end of the month. My partner in the project who has been doing all the hard work located a boat and motor which had been sitting for a few seasons and picked it up for a grand total of $ 300. It is a 1994 Johnson 50 which we were mostly interested because of the power tilt option which will come in handy due to the shallows in some of the waterways we will be using it. The motor obviously needed some work and after rebuilding the leaky power tilt pump , the water pump and stripping the motor for a repaint/ decal application it is looking pretty good.

 

To offset the additional 60 lbs of the larger motor we are removing the 6 gallon tank from the stern and replacing it with a 12 gallon under the bow. The extra fuel capacity is nice but secondary to the help with the weight transfer.

 

I wanted to have a better idea of what goes on so I added some gauges to the dash.

 

The biggest project was building up the transom to accept the longer shaft of the new motor. We used a cured piece of Cypress and attached it by using west systems epoxy, two layers of kevlar cloth and as a bit of insurance two pieces of 4 inch aluminum channel to tie it all together and provide a solid surface to thru bolt the engine mounts.

 

As you can see the trailer that came with the boat was built for a much larger boat and was just too big for our needs . My boat partner located a smaller trailer that was in pretty rough shape but with a lot of man hours on his part completely refinished and modified it exactly for our needs.

 

The last thing we have accomplished was to repaint the transom and hatch. Next stop is off to the outboard shop for a spring tune up and check over . The last major thing on our list we are thinking of is a low 6 inch lexan wind screen to keep spray on the deck from flowing back into the cockpit.

 

Finally out of the boat shop , next stop the engine shop for a spring tune up and check over . A few things left to do but its almost ready for our first summer .

 

Great work Maxmini . . - - Godspeed !

 

Thank you Angel. Your early tips put me on the correct path of enlightenment and what a fun journey its been

 

Hi Randy, very nice to see the results . .

What about the trim tab as mentioned in post #9 in the pics #8 - 9 - 10, see the text below those pictures, and your reply about it in post #11 and #14 . . ?

 

I have purchased two items to experiment with with regards to trim . We are going to run the boat as it is and try to dial it in as best we can with just the power trim . The first item will be a pair of adjustable " smart tabs " . I talked to the company and gave them my specs and they recommend a pair that should work well. The idea is that when first starting out the tabs are pushed low into the water but asthe pressure builds then eventually flatten out when the boat is on a plane and do not really cause noticeable drag. There is a lot of adjust ability and I thought it would be interesting to experiment and see what we can do with them .

Smart Tabs SX - Nauticus Incorporated http://nauticusinc.com/smart-tabs-sx/

The next item is a add on fin to the cavitation plate. I did some research and this particular one had a lot of positive reviews. I know I am going to lose some top end MPH perhaps but that really doesnt bother me as the majority of time I will just be cuising. My actual goal is to get the boat to plane as slow as possible as I will be going to a lot of lakes and a few rivers where I am unfamiliar with the bottom configuration and I prefer to explore safely before any high speed antics.

https://www.amazon.com/Marine-Sport...d=1525918248&sr=8-1&keywords=cavitation plate

Now these products may help or hinder or do nothing at all but for me its the fun of finding out if they work or not that makes them worthwhile .

Thanks for your interest.

 

Sweet little project; tks for posting. I'll be keeping tabs on it...

 

Thanks for the interest . I will be getting the boat on the water for the first time in about two weeks so I will have a good bit more to report . We took another batch of photos yesterday . I am looking forward to some pics of it off the trailer soon LOL

 

It's magnificent how she looks Randy, congrats to you and your mate . .

Re post #27: the ‘‘cavitation plate’’ / ‘‘anti-cavitation plate’’ is actually an "anti-ventilation plate".

( See the thread: Sharpie Schooner 42 with an outboard motor ---> post #88 + the links there. )

I'm looking forward to the reports from the water, I see quite a bit of porpoising (jumping like a porpoise above the water) in the first below vid, so if your boat has this too, then it's interesting to see if the spring loaded trim tabs you've linked in post #27 can better it, this is going better to an increasing extent in the second, and the third vid . . .

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Here's an old thread about anti-ventilation plate add on fins: Add On wings for Outboards

I would first try the boat as she is now. If needed add the trim tabs first I'll think, and then test how she does. Add max one new item each time, and then test it.

Good luck !