Planing a Bayliner Capri

l911 · Mar 9, 2013

Kids wanted a ski boat so I bought a 1987 17ft Bayliner Capri and put my 50 hp Evinrude on it. We took it out today and could not get the boat to plane out. I may not have the motor tilted correctly, would one of those plastic planing kits help?
Also, I have an 8hp Johnson kicker motor on a Jack plate mounted to the back, could this be too much weight or drag? I put the 8hp on in case the main engine quit or something, I did not have it on my old bass boat. I previously had the 50hp engine on a 1984 15ft Phantom Bass Boat and had no problems planing out fast or pulling a tube.)

H20Rat · Mar 9, 2013

Re: Planing a Bayliner Capri

50 on that boat is extremely marginal at best. That is certainly underpowered, that hull is mean to have an 85 on the back. The kicker certainly isn't helping, try to get as much weight as you can to the front.

LippCJ7 · Mar 9, 2013

Re: Planing a Bayliner Capri

oh boy.....

Yeah the plastic planing kit could help
Yeah the kicker could be the issue
Yeah the motor isn't helping much
Yeah there could be several other issues....

I think the first thing I would do is take the whole rig and weigh it then drop the boat and put it in the water and go weigh the trailer, get a good weight as empty as possible on the boat itself very little gas, gear no kicker and anything else, Someone here has the weight and lets see if your boat is retaining water, once we know that I think it is a good start in figuring out what exactly is your problem.

Water weighs 8 lbs per gallon and you could have literally hundreds of gallons in your floatation and stringers, that in itself would keep many boats from planing and I don't think you want to put a 300 hp motor on your boat so that you can get up on plane do you....

jestor68 · Mar 9, 2013

Re: Planing a Bayliner Capri

That boat had a dry weight of 1475 with an 85 Force. Drop 96 lbs for the 50 HP and it works out to around 1379 lbs empty.

A quick run through a prop selector suggests a 15" pitch prop for it. But I would use a 13 pitch to get that 50 to rev up close to it's rpm limit; which is 6000 rpm. With that prop, you should see about 28 mph top speed.

What size prop is on there now? I'm guessing a 17 pitch, based on the boat it came off of.

A Doelo Fin would help get the boat on plane quickly.

Set the trim pin so that the AV plate is parallel with the boat bottom; probably the second hole from all the way in.

The kicker is just dead weight you are hauling around. Live dangerously.

Home Cookin' · Mar 10, 2013

Re: Planing a Bayliner Capri

agreed, lose the kicker and get your children a paddle. The "extra motor" strategy is not a good one.

as far as whether a boat is underpowered, length is completely irrelevant. It's all about hull design and weight. The BL capri is a pig and worse if it's old and waterlogged. (I run a 50 on a 19' boat and my sister has a 150 on her 19' boat and both are matched just fine--and totally different hulls.)

If you have power trim/tilt, use that for getting up; if not move the passengers around. If you know what you're doing you can run over shallow water to get up--but not for skiing!

Texasmark · Mar 10, 2013

Re: Planing a Bayliner Capri

smokingcrater said:
50 on that boat is extremely marginal at best. That is certainly underpowered, that hull is mean to have an 85 on the back. The kicker certainly isn't helping, try to get as much weight as you can to the front.

>>>>>> +1 big time.

Mark

WIMUSKY · Mar 10, 2013

Re: Planing a Bayliner Capri

Put a kid, preferably and adult, way up in the bow. Assuming it's an open bow..... She'll probably never plane with your current setup unless you get that bow down..........

l911 · Mar 10, 2013

Re: Planing a Bayliner Capri

I bought the Bayliner from a dealer, last fall, he had left the drain plug in and it had about 2 ft of water in it. Over the winter I drained the water an pulled out the rotten floor. The main fiberglass part of the boat was solid. I let it dry I'm my garage for a few weeks and over the winter I put in a marine grade plywood / carpet floor. I suppose there is always the possibility that the boat is still water logged somewhere I can't see. The boat will "almost" plane out if I sit in the front "200lb" and my son drives. This was our first test run. I'm not sure about the prop size.....?

saumon · Mar 10, 2013

Re: Planing a Bayliner Capri

l911 said:
I bought the Bayliner from a dealer, last fall, he had left the drain plug in and it had about 2 ft of water in it.

:facepalm:

Oh my gawd! Ok, let's see it:

- a Bayliner Capri
- bought from a dealer
- without engine
- that sat uncovered
- with 2 ft of water in it

Is it a boat dealer or a car dealer that take it as a trade-in? Hope you didn't pay too much for it...

Home Cookin' · Mar 10, 2013

Re: Planing a Bayliner Capri

amen! don't go back to that dealer for anything.

WIMUSKY · Mar 10, 2013

Re: Planing a Bayliner Capri

l911 said:
I bought the Bayliner from a dealer, last fall, he had left the drain plug in and it had about 2 ft of water in it. Over the winter I drained the water an pulled out the rotten floor. The main fiberglass part of the boat was solid. I let it dry I'm my garage for a few weeks and over the winter I put in a marine grade plywood / carpet floor. I suppose there is always the possibility that the boat is still water logged somewhere I can't see. The boat will "almost" plane out if I sit in the front "200lb" and my son drives. This was our first test run. I'm not sure about the prop size.....?

You didn't mention foam. I'm assuming there isn't any? If there is, it's water logged.......

rjh8115 · Mar 10, 2013

Re: Planing a Bayliner Capri

My 86 1600 had a Force 85hp and would plane at about 15-20 or so.

l911 · Mar 10, 2013

Re: Planing a Bayliner Capri

rjh8115 said:
My 86 1600 had a Force 85hp and would plane at about 15-20 or so.

Couple pics, I'm happy with it, even if I put on a larger outboard, it's got the room we wanted and its a breeze to load.

southkogs · Mar 10, 2013

Re: Planing a Bayliner Capri

When you pulled the floor, what kind of shape were the stringers and transom in? You may have some structural issues due to that water - not necessarily, but maybe.

Regardless - bone dry, in great shape and will the stars aligned just right: that 50HP won't getcha' up on plane with a load of people on board. You're just way underpowered on that boat. I had a 16' (similar weight to your Bay) that I ran a 50HP on for a while. We just used the boat to swim off of and cruise around some - and that's all she'd do. Stripped out with just me and a kid on board, she'd hit plane but add another kid or exchange the first kid for my slender and only slightly heavier wife ... no deal. We're back to bein' a barge.

Before you consider upping your HP, make sure your transom is solid - but to hit plane, you need a few more ponies.

l911 · Mar 10, 2013

Re: Planing a Bayliner Capri

Transom is solid as a rock, when I pulled the floor, everything else looked good, the stringers were still glassed in, I didn't see any foam. This boat had the floor replaced in it once before, so it was fairly straight forward, I just used the old floor as a pattern. We only plan on using the boat for cruising around the lake and pulling a tube. So I'm not overly concerned about the 50hp. It's real close to coming up to plane now and if not I'll pick up another outboard somewhere, there a dime a dozen on craigslist. I got maybe $700 in every thing on this boat including the previous boat and motors, the most expensive thing was the new tube, lol.

l911 · Mar 10, 2013

Re: Prop for Bayliner Capri 50hp

Re: Prop for Bayliner Capri 50hp

I looked at the current 3 blade prop, I don't see any markings. What pitch should I go with and three blade or four blade? I'm willing to throw a little cash at the current 50hp.....if it will help plane her out....

dorelse · Mar 10, 2013

Re: Planing a Bayliner Capri

My 16ft BL Capri had an 85HP Force on it and would also plane & run great. I just think with a family of 4 your underpowered and possibly could adjust the tilt to see if you can make it work...but I'd look for a larger OB.

Capri's can be great boats, so ignore all the hate. I've had 2, both were great, I should have never sold the 1600 below, but 2 foot'its took hold.

Here's mine:

dorelse · Mar 10, 2013

Re: Planing a Bayliner Capri

Here's how quickly my 1600 planed from a dead stop:

l911 · Mar 10, 2013

Re: Planing a Bayliner Capri

dorelse said:
My 16ft BL Capri had an 85HP Force on it and would also plane & run great. I just think with a family of 4 your underpowered and possibly could adjust the tilt to see if you can make it work...but I'd look for a larger OB.

Capri's can be great boats, so ignore all the hate. I've had 2, both were great, I should have never sold the 1600 below, but 2 foot'its took hold.

Here's mine:

Yeah, I ignore the haters anyway. I'm going to test out a few cheap things like a hydrofoil and maybe a prop change. I may remove the kicker motor too, it was leaving a drag wake behind me. My Capri is only rated for a 90hp.

dorelse · Mar 10, 2013

Re: Planing a Bayliner Capri

Keep in mind this as well, depending on the year of your OB motor, it may not be prop rated, so you may really have like a 45 HP or less...the 50HP could be rated at the powerhead...so you might have less power than you think.

Planing a Bayliner Capri

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