Stern hanging too low? Have a jack plate? read this...

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richg99

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I read this comment on the Chattanooga Fishing site, by poster catch 1....

Can't say that I ever thought about adding flotation to the stern of a boat equipped with a jack plate...but....it seems like a good idea. richg99

"If you are wanting to stop the water from getting into the splash well I would try putting kids toy balls in the jack plate. I have 5 in mine and it lifted the rear 2". Some people use boat bumpers or fill with styrofoam. "
 
Well, when you add a jack plate, and already have a heavy motor, the extra length tends to make such boats tilt towards the stern when at rest. If you reverse/back down, in that position, it isn't unusual to have water come in over the transom.

By using this guy's idea of adding some kid's empty floaty balls, or adding a floatable fender, ( all positioned inside of the jackplate's slider) you would add external flotation at the back, and should raise the stern by xx inches.

Therefore, you'd be less likely to have water washing over the stern when backing down, or even when stopping/killing the engine quickly.

Anyhow, that is how I see it. richg99
 
Seems feasible but was the guy "over powered" to begin with. Another solution could be to slow down slower, or don't just cut the throttle completely, but do it gradually, and that should eliminate alot of his issue in most cases, excluding rough water of course.
 
Ha! Have been doing this for years on my Gheenoe!

This pretty much started back on the B.A.S.S. tournament trail. Ranger boats had changed to 4-stroke Yamahas from the 2-strokes for the Bass Masters Tournament. All the Contestants running the boats came in and were complaining that when they came off plane the water was coming up the rear deck and down the backs of their shirts and pants!! The engines weighed a Hell of alot more than the older 2-stroke engines.
The Yamaha guys were at the tournament and went into town to the local Wally World and came back with large inflatable kids beach balls. The boats were taken out and these balls were stuffed into the air space between the jack plate and the hull and inflated! The additional flotation went a long ways toward solving the issue on a temporary basis.


Works well when you have a big engine on a small boat!
As a side benefit this also limits the reverse thrust water from welling up inside the jack plate and coming into the boat.

 
Kind of reminds of the time I ran over a full size basketball with a fork truck. The basketball didn't explode right away but when it did **** everyone knew!
 

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