Need help tuning setup

I have a 14ft skiff with a 32 in wide bottom that i need to geta motor setup right. I have an old 7.5 merc that i put on it. When i test drove the combo i had a few issues. One is it seems like it is trimmed out too much. Its in the 1st hole(closest to transom) but it rode bow high an just looked trimmed out alot compared to others.. Idk if theres sn issue with the motor or what. Also i think the motor sets too low. I had spray coming like out the sides of the motor when i got some speed up. Boat is short transom as is motor. Cav plate was level with bottom of boat.. I jacked it up an inch w a block of wood an it still did it, but a little less. What yall think

Try putting a battery or something with weight in the front of the boat to counter balance the weight of you and the motor. Might help might not. maybe dropping your trim one more hole would help as well. Give it a shot what ya got to loose. Some motor guru will give you the right answer but this might do it.

Motor was trimmed down in the bottom hole. Also i had ab 60lbs in the front to hopefully balence her out a lil bit

hmmmm I don't know then bud.

sounds like you might need to change prop pitch. put a tach on the motor and see if it's running up into the correct WOT RPM range. if you don't have a tach, you can get one on amazon for $25.

You may not have enough HP to get the boat on plane.

lckstckn2smknbrls said:

You may not have enough HP to get the boat on plane.

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That's my guess.

think that 7.5 can be changed to a 9.8 with a carb swap. same cc's. if you need a carb I work for a mercury dealer. and if its still got a two blade prop try the three blade they offered. still can get parts for them antiques

That boat has a high bow on it so it looks a little deceiving, it looks to me like it is sitting pretty level. 7.5 hp is not much and I don’t know how heavy that rig is, it looks heavy for some reason. Sits low in the water all around. If you were able to raise the motor 1” above the transom and not vent the prop then try to tilt the motor up one more hole. The truth is that you will need to play with the set up on any boat to get it right. No two boats are alike unless in fact they are alike. 

Yall are right, more horsepower wouldnt hurt this thing. The boat is all .125 alum. Aka 1/8th. Its still a bare bones boat tho. No wood anywhere. 2guys can load it in a truck bed easy. Itd run good with a 15hp tho. Im not really interested in spending the money to hop this one up bc its a friend of mines motor he let me long term borrow. Im gonna build a jackplate for it cuz im a welder an have some materials that should be perfect but other than that im just gonna have to play with weight, loading, etc. Id love to know of any cheap/free tricks to get a little more speed/handling/whatever out of this thing. Otherwise whatever i get is just gonna have to be good enough. It ran 17mph on my gps when i test rode it. Id be happy with 20-22 tho. Im saving money for a go devil 13-16hp longtail in the used condition. Ill give up speed to be able to run the swamp

I have a 20 4s on my 14 and it would only do 27, I would say 17 with a 7.5 is pretty good.