Jack Plate on Jet drive

I have a 60/40 mercury jet drive on a 1652 Lowe Roughneck boat. Would I get a increase in speed by adding a jack plate to this boat?

Re: Jack Plate on Jet drive

that depends on if your engine is too low

Re: Jack Plate on Jet drive

why not just mount the engine correctly? If the engine is set where it is supposed to, you won't gain anything by going higher as you are already at the max.

Re: Jack Plate on Jet drive

Yes you will gain more speed! You have to be able to see in your head what im saying- As the boat passes over the water, it creates turbulance. The further behind the boat, the less turbulance there is. Then theres the second part - After the boat passes over water, the water immidiately starts to rise back to where it was before the boat passed over it. The further back you can put your motor, the higher you can mount it and catch the "rise" of water coming off the back of the boat.

When I went from my motor bolted directly to my transom, to my motor on a jack plate, I gained 3-4 mph and was able to set the motor an 1-1.5" higher than it used to be! That leaves less of my shoe below the boat and gives me more shallow water clearance. Another positive that came from the jack plate was once it was set up right, the boat runs flatter than ever before!

Heres a pic of mine after the jack plate. It used to run really nose high!

Re: Jack Plate on Jet drive

Well put Shakin. I'm not real familiar with jet outboards but I can assure you the same laws of physics apply to prop driven outboards. When you back the motor further away from the 'boat wash' you get better performance & more effective trim control. Not to mention being able to run an elevated motor height?

Cool pic btw. Take care.

Re: Jack Plate on Jet drive

You may need a bigger splash plate,or not.
Jet up can be even tricker with a jet...so I here.

Re: Jack Plate on Jet drive

shakin is right. do alot of research to find out if you want manual or power trim (static gives no room for installation error) and the setback you want. i have a 5.5" and wish i had a 10".(WTH)?. power tilt is a must if you do not already have it.

Re: Jack Plate on Jet drive

Jets want the cleanest water they can get. and no drag. Proper set up is a must.
It depends on your boat transom height.
Guessing you have a deep transom. 20 inch.???????
I hope.

A jack plate is not the answer, and costly, it is only a matter of 1/4 inch increments, up or down to make the motor perform at it's peak.
GOT Pics?

Re: Jack Plate on Jet drive

Don't know if it matters now as this is an old posting but I thought I'd share me experience with jet outboards and jackplates. I do agree that proper mounting height is a must, however the use of an adjustable jackplate offers many options. I had made my mind up that I had a heavy, not ideal jet setup and was stuck with a poor preforming boat until, while preforming some transom repairs I thought I'd try a jackplate with an outboard jet. I hadn't seen any in use on the local rivers so I thought I'd give it a try. I went conservative with a 4" setback and 4" rise. The boat a 16' older Lowe (16x48) while not ideal was already set up with a 60hp Merc It struggled getting on plane and max speed was about 20 mph. After installing front and rear decks along with a 26gal fuel tank I expected to be selling it because of its lackluster preformance, and the additional weight. We easly added with a full fuel load an addition 350 to 400 pounds.
Much to my suprise first trip out it was quick to get on plane and 26mph , A little tuning acheived 31 mph and I think I can still squeak more mph by raising it another 1/4" or so. The point is I know the boat wasn't set up right to begin. The jackplate makes adjustment easy and now "tuning" only takes a minute. A small investment turned a poor preforming boat into a joy to ride in. I was ready to upgrade but not now. Onlyything I would do different is I would shell out the extra cash for a power jackplate.