Motor Position (Depth)

OK I need some help.I have a 14' V hull boat, 9.9 Merc. How deep in the water does the motor need to be? Reason I ask is due to the fact that the boat really does not want to settle the nose down at all. With my lightweight buddy in the boat by himself it really stands up best we have gotten out of it is with my 300+LB body leaning over the front of the boat to balance it out, and that is trying the trim in all positions. I have been reading some and am thinking this could be my problem. I'm new to boats for the most part and I am pretty sure my motor is a long shaft and my transom in on the short side. Here is a pic of the boat. I'm going to stic the motor on it tonight and I'll get a good picture of all of it. Thanks for the help in advance.

With my boat to keep the bow down I don't trim atoll,keep it close to the stern.Move what weight you can to the bow.As far as using a long shaft motor on a short transom,I have know experience there.Other than more drag to slow you down should be know problem,but maybe these statements are all wrong...

Well I guess it was bit of an optical illusion. The cav plate only measures 1.5 inches below the bottom of the boat. Its not that much but more than it needs right?

Pics.

Nice buggy.
That looks like it should be fine...is that a 2 bladed prop?not sure what effect that would have.
Does your outboard pump water(cooling)fine when it's running?If it's not in the water enough you have to watch your cooling,it's has to pump water.
Or maybe it's air cooled don't see any water(cooling)pick up?

Thanks on the buggy. Its got few miles on it.

As far as the the cooling goes yeah its fine pumps plenty of water. I've read some other places that 1 1/2" makes a big difference, but most of that was much larger than a 9.8 Merc. I guess I'll cut some spacers and stick it in the water and see what happens. Easy enough to take out even on the water.

I wouldn't even bother with the spacers. That inch and a half really takes effect more at 70 plus mph.

These boats are going to ride bow high when empty and underpowered. Just the nature of the beast. Only one that I can think about that works right at low speeds is a guy with an alumacraft 14 foot open D with an Evinrude 4 deluxe. That motor will plane that boat and run perfect. I have the exact same motor, and have run it on 2 12 foot vees, with differing beam dimensions with the same load as him, and it won't plane. That Alumacraft he has has a very unique shape and weight distribution that balances out better than most other 12 - 14 foot aluminums.


Add some more weight to that bow, and see what happens. Or, add a bit more hp, and see if a bit more speed will level things out (I can't see the beam width, but that boat probably wants 20 hp or so to really get optimal performance. My guess though, is the second option probably isn't viable, so you are going to have to experiment with different tilt settings and weight distribution to get the best speed, which may not ride nice and level.

Thanks I kind of wondered that if it would make any difference at all. I am getting ready to deck the front and move the battery up there and mount the trolling motor as well so maybe the weight will help get it more level in the water. I know it will never be a speed boat but I don't see anything wrong with squeezing what its got out of it either. I won't be upgrading anytime soon considering what I have in it amounts to about $50.00 total at this point.