FishinsMyLife
Well-known member
Making this thread as more of a way to keep up with what I want to do/have done to my boat. Might help out a couple people along the way.
Boat is 14'8" long and 36 inches wide at the bottom. Motor is a 30 hp 1988 Evinrude.
1. Max out speed (without buying a new prop for now)
2. Replace transom and hardware
3. Paint camouflage for duck/goose season in the fall
4. Add seat(s) and rodholders
5.Add aluminum deck with storage from front to bench seat
6. Replace plywood floor with aluminum
7. Hydroturf surfaces
8. Get a bow mount trolling motor or get a cheap mount and convert one of my transom mounts.
9. Possibly add a gunbox
The way it sat when I got it.
Ran well on the local flow.
Caught some fish out of it, too.
Finally got the chance to put the boat on GPS. According to the "GPS Tool" app for my Blackberry, I was running a disappointing 23/24 mph with another person and 25/26 with only me.
I assumed the previous owner had it maxed out for speed, but the cavitation plate was at an angle when I got down and looked at it. The pin was in the second hole from the bottom
Moved the pin up a hole, and I got a little more out of it. One more and even better results. The top hole was too much, so the second from the top is where it's pinned now.
The previous owner shimmed the motor up 1/2-3/4 of an inch with a piece of wood. When I get the chance, I'm going to experiment a little more with this.
I plan on taking out that wood, dropping the motor down, and trying to trim it up one more hole.
If that doesn't show any benefits, I'm going to add wood shims (with the pin in the hole second from the top) to get my cavitation plate a little bit higher. If it starts to get where it'll blow out on turns, I'll drop it back down to what worked. Compare the results and go with the most practical/safe setting for speed.
Boat is 14'8" long and 36 inches wide at the bottom. Motor is a 30 hp 1988 Evinrude.
1. Max out speed (without buying a new prop for now)
2. Replace transom and hardware
3. Paint camouflage for duck/goose season in the fall
4. Add seat(s) and rodholders
5.Add aluminum deck with storage from front to bench seat
6. Replace plywood floor with aluminum
7. Hydroturf surfaces
8. Get a bow mount trolling motor or get a cheap mount and convert one of my transom mounts.
9. Possibly add a gunbox
The way it sat when I got it.
Ran well on the local flow.
Caught some fish out of it, too.
Finally got the chance to put the boat on GPS. According to the "GPS Tool" app for my Blackberry, I was running a disappointing 23/24 mph with another person and 25/26 with only me.
I assumed the previous owner had it maxed out for speed, but the cavitation plate was at an angle when I got down and looked at it. The pin was in the second hole from the bottom
Moved the pin up a hole, and I got a little more out of it. One more and even better results. The top hole was too much, so the second from the top is where it's pinned now.
The previous owner shimmed the motor up 1/2-3/4 of an inch with a piece of wood. When I get the chance, I'm going to experiment a little more with this.
I plan on taking out that wood, dropping the motor down, and trying to trim it up one more hole.
If that doesn't show any benefits, I'm going to add wood shims (with the pin in the hole second from the top) to get my cavitation plate a little bit higher. If it starts to get where it'll blow out on turns, I'll drop it back down to what worked. Compare the results and go with the most practical/safe setting for speed.