power trim or jack plate for 1448 jon?

hey evebody i am new to to this site but have done som research on here and everyone seems to be helpful. (I am already going to appologize for my grammer as my girlfriend did all my english classes when i was younger) . I have done some research on this but i would like to get some answers on my specific setup so i am sorry if some do not like when a new thread is made about the same stuff. Here is the rundown, I have a 05 1448 tracker all weld mod v jon boat with a 20 in transom, my motor is a 92 25hp suzuki long shaft. my Cav plate sits about 1 in below the bottom of my boat. I do pretty much everything with is from bever hunting to fishing to bowfishing to running small rivers bowhunting, i know that a jet motor is the way to go for running shallow but i need a strong reverse and i dont think that is the way to go for me. I usually have 2 people in the boat with all the equipment needed for whatever i am doing. I need my boat to run shallow as i can, plus be able to plain out witha big load, during bow season i end up running 15 or so miles up a shallower river and the later the season the shallower it gets. In my mind i think that i could mount a cmc power trim 1in higher or so to do what a jackplate would do plus trim up. I was hopeing that i could trim the motor up and hall a## and that would make me run shallower plus pick up or maintain speed and help me plain out. I personally like the idea of a power trim and think that would be the way to go. But i have learned what i personally like is not always the right way to go. so if you guys could help me out, give me some pros and cons of each or let me know what you would do it would be greatly appreciated. Or just tell me to keep dreaming if that is what i need to do i can take critisism so dont hold back on your thoughts. Thank you for your time, and look forward to learning from everyone on here. I also was wondering what dose removing the foam from under my seats and deck do to my boat, i would imagine it is there for a reson but i just cant seem to grasp it, say i take a cup and try to pull it under water and then take a cup with foam in it and try to pull that under i just dont see that foam making that cup any harder to pull under untill it is completely submerged then it makes sense.

i really don't have anything to say about the trim/jack plate other than i just bought a TH marine mini jacker from Bass Pro and it raised my motor up nicely but no trim...

Now on to more useful information... the foam in your boat is there in case it starts to sink. When the boat fills up with water this foam will keep it at the surface instead of dragging it, your motor, and all other items to the bottom. This is why they have a weight limit on the rating plate on the transom. that is the amount of weight that the foam will keep afloat.

Remember, a jack-plate is like a lever,the farther back you move your motor, your transom will sit lower in the water.True when your on plain your motor will be higher,it is a trade off.Just make sure you don't go too high where the water pump will not pick-up water.They're are other ways to raise your motor other than a jack-plate especially if your only going up 1 or 2 inches.

If you add the $75 jackplate from BP it would raise the motor and set it back a little. With the set back created by the jackplate I am told you can put the Cav plate about 1/4 inch ABOVE the keel. Then add some float pods and it would level everything out and help keep you shallow. That in combo with the power tilt and trim will get you about as shallow as you are gonna get without going to a tunnel hull or a jet.

Jack Plates: The question is this, do you want to just RUN on plane through shallow water or GET on plane in shallow water?

For getting on plane in shallow water a jack plate will help. As you sit at rest you can jack the motor up a little to help get on plane without dragging the skeg. Then, once on plane, you lower the motor back down to keep the prop in the water. This sounds really good, but in reality you only gain a few inches of shallower water to get up in. But maybe a few inches is all you need.

For running through shallow water (but getting on plane in deep water) all you need to do is adjust the height of the motor on the transom so that the anti-ventilation plate runs close to the top, or on top, of the water while on plane. No jack plate is needed for this reason:

No matter what you will have the bottom of the motor under water; from the anti-ventilation plate down, let's say 13 inches. So, if you are on plane you will have at a minimum 13 inches of motor in the water; no way to get around that even with a jack plate. This is the reason we build tunnel hulls and have jet drives; to have less of the motor in the water.

If your anti-ventilation plate is under water while on plane, just move the motor up on the transom. You will be able to run shallower and have better top end speed. You can use a jack plate for this or just use a spacer on top of the transom; especially if all you are moving is one inch.

So, for getting up in deep water and running through shallow water just move the motor up (tune the height of the motor) with a spacer or a jack plate.
For getting up in really shallow water, you really need to go with a tunnel hull design or a jet drive as a jack plate will only get you a few inches.

Here is how I tune the height of my motor:
1) I start out with the anti-ventilation plate one inch above my transom. I use a straight edge laid on the bottom of the hull that extends out past the motor to measure.
2) I then run the motor WOT on a straight away. If the motor ventilates I lower it by 1/2" and run WOT on a straight away again.
3) If it does not ventilate on the straight run I then take it into a series of sharp turns.
4) If it ventilates badly, to the point of stalling, coming off plane or loosing what I feel is too much speed I lower it 1'2 inch again
5) I again run it through the turns, if it ventilates just a little, with no stalling, dropping off of plane or great loss of speed I am good.
5.A.) If there is NO ventilation I then check my straight away WOT speed and compare that to my last straight away WOT speed. If it is with in 1-2 MPH I am done tuning.
5.B.) If there is a WOT speed difference greater than 1-2 MPH I then RAISE the motor UP 1/4 inch, and run the turn test again.

What I am looking for is the best top end WOT speed, with just a little ventilation in the tight turns but not enough to cause me to come off plane, loose a lot of speed or stall.

This best done on a nice low wind day in the summer as you get more consistent performance on flatter water and you will be in and out of the water several times adjusting the height of the motor.

As to the buoyancy foam, as arkansasnative posted, it is there for when the boat is swamped or capsized. It adds nothing to the performance while it is right side up; but if she ever gets wrong side up it will save the boat and may save your life. Keep the foam. To use your cup empty cup full of foam analogy think of this. Fill the empty cup with water and it will sink; the foam filled cup will not sink unless you hold it under water by hand.

Thanks for the info i am doing this to run through shallow water not get up in shallow water so i will try to put a small piece of square tubing in under my motor to raise it some. and now i understand the use of the foam. in the cak of my boat behind the back back bench on my boat there are to little boxes filled with foam on each side i was thinking i amy cut the top off and take the foam out for a spot for batterys and storage. it would not be taking much out, do you think that is safe to do? also you have me intrested in smart tabs. do these make a differnce? would it be worth it to put them on a small boat? also would selp adjusting ones be the way to go?

Welcome to Tinboats ND - Do not worry about the grammar - we all speak "boat" here


Please do fill in your profile and use spaces between teh paragraphs - jut hit the enter key once in a while to separate the questions for us old guys!

Power trim.....does that mean she works out? :roll: :lol:

(Sorry, couldn't help myself)

nuckinfutzracing said:

Power trim.....does that mean she works out? :roll: :lol:

(Sorry, couldn't help myself)

Click to expand...

Leave it to a Marine!

Semper FI!

ndthwacker said:

Thanks for the info i am doing this to run through shallow water not get up in shallow water so i will try to put a small piece of square tubing in under my motor to raise it some. and now i understand the use of the foam. in the cak of my boat behind the back back bench on my boat there are to little boxes filled with foam on each side i was thinking i amy cut the top off and take the foam out for a spot for batterys and storage. it would not be taking much out, do you think that is safe to do? also you have me intrested in smart tabs. do these make a differnce? would it be worth it to put them on a small boat? also would selp adjusting ones be the way to go?

Click to expand...

The foam is placed in different places of a hull to offset different weights in the hull. The reason for this is that the USCG standard for flotation is 'upright and level". The foam in the hull is placed to keep the boat in an upright and level condition should it become swamped. If you remove the foam from the back of the seat area you may not have upright and level flotation if she gets swamped. At the very minimum, if you do remove the foam from this area, add in foam to an equal volume in another area. This way it may not float upright and level, but it will still float and give you something to hold on to until help arrives or you can self rescue.

Trim tabs work well if the aft of the boat is heavy and you experience porpoising during WOT and can't seem to tune it out with the trim of the motor; they also help to get on plane faster. They will help keep the bow down during WOT as well.

In a small craft it is usually more economical to use a Dol-Fin attachment on the anti-ventilation plate of the motor. They perform very close to the same as trim tabs on small craft. I would start there before I went to trim tabs. The adjustable tabs are good for what they are, but the electronic are much better (but much more expensive as well). The nice thing about the electronic tabs is you can adjust them on the fly and move them all the way out of the water when in reverse.

Will a dol-fin slow me down???

ndthwacker said:

Will a dol-fin slow me down???

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Yes, and no. I had two boats with no difference in speed, but all the others have loss 1-2 MPH top end. If everything is perfect, prop pitch/design, motor height, trim etc you will not loose any speed. The idea is to have the Dol-fin out of the water, or right on the water, while on plane. This way you will have maximum lift during the hole shot but no drag while on plane.

Trim tabs will do the same thing. When Danny put them on his boat he lost 1-2 MPH. But the improved performance out of the hole and improved bow control while on plane makes them worth the loss in speed. We could probably fine tune his motor a little better and get the MPH back, but he is happy with it for now.