Expidia
Commander
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2006
- Messages
- 2,328
After seeing a few mentions in threads of where the cavitation plate should be . . . I had thought it was supposed to be even with the bottom of the boat after taking delivery on this new rig last June.
I've always had a lot of spray no matter where I had the trim set.
I just figured the dealer who I bought my boat from knew what they were doing when they prepared the boat and mounted the motor. WRONG!
After I reading some opinions on tuning the outboards setup, I recently read that the cavitation plate can be tried riding about 1-2 inches above the bottom of the boat for possible better handling. So I figured I'd give it a shot to try and move the outboard up two holes "myself" rather than go back to this same dealer a year later.
Holding a straight edge on the bottom of the boat and out to the plate showed it to be about 1 1/2 inches below the bottom edge thus the reason for the spray in most trimmed positions. I've looked before by eyeing it and it always appeared even with the boats bottom, so I did not think that this was the problem.
I didn't want to go back to the dealer and lose it for a week. So I cut a V in a flat block of wood and set it on top of my small $20 hydraulic trolley type car jack I had. I made the V to hold the skeg from slipping on the wood. Next I used two transom ratchet tie downs and hooked them onto the top loop of the outboard after removing the cover and hooked the other ends to the boats cleats on each side of the boat. This prevented the outboard from falling back once I removed the 4 bolts which go through the transom.
I had my Daughter hold each bolt head with a wrench while I spun off each nut.
Then it was a simple thing to just pump the jack a little and raise the outboard two holes (one might have worked too but I didn't want to have to do this again if 1 hole was not enough).
Smeared a little 3M 4200 sealer on each bolt (was $5.00 a tube at Walmart on clearance so I bought the 3 that they had hanging to stock up . . . sweet price).
Took it out on a lake today and I was immediately amazed. Hole shot was great. Almost no need to do any trimming now and NO SPRAY. No cavitation or ventilation on sharp turns that I was having before. That spray was so bad before in certain trim positions that if two people were seated in the back they would get their backs soaked. Now NO SPRAY at all!
Just thought I'd post this for people that think some of these dealers know what they are doing. This guy was in business for 30 years too, but the tech's that worked on my boat when it came from the factory last June were clearly sub par!
So I've put up with all that spray and wasted gas for the past 200 hours on the water because I didn't know any better until I read about proper outboard setup in the forum and I trusted them to have known what they were doing as Lund dealers . . . Big Mistake!
Took me about 30 minutes to do the job myself. Cavitation plate now sits about 1 to 1.5 inches up above the boat's bottom and I couldn't be happier with it's handling. It's like I just picked up another new boat
Don't know if it also improved my top end speed until I put the OEM prop back on, but I'm sure it will add another 1 or 2 MPH. I still have the higher pitch prop on it since I was going to have 4 people on board today after I test drove it myself for awhile.
Just wanted to send a thanks out to the board because this is where I get most of my good advice and tips from.
I've always had a lot of spray no matter where I had the trim set.
I just figured the dealer who I bought my boat from knew what they were doing when they prepared the boat and mounted the motor. WRONG!
After I reading some opinions on tuning the outboards setup, I recently read that the cavitation plate can be tried riding about 1-2 inches above the bottom of the boat for possible better handling. So I figured I'd give it a shot to try and move the outboard up two holes "myself" rather than go back to this same dealer a year later.
Holding a straight edge on the bottom of the boat and out to the plate showed it to be about 1 1/2 inches below the bottom edge thus the reason for the spray in most trimmed positions. I've looked before by eyeing it and it always appeared even with the boats bottom, so I did not think that this was the problem.
I didn't want to go back to the dealer and lose it for a week. So I cut a V in a flat block of wood and set it on top of my small $20 hydraulic trolley type car jack I had. I made the V to hold the skeg from slipping on the wood. Next I used two transom ratchet tie downs and hooked them onto the top loop of the outboard after removing the cover and hooked the other ends to the boats cleats on each side of the boat. This prevented the outboard from falling back once I removed the 4 bolts which go through the transom.
I had my Daughter hold each bolt head with a wrench while I spun off each nut.
Then it was a simple thing to just pump the jack a little and raise the outboard two holes (one might have worked too but I didn't want to have to do this again if 1 hole was not enough).
Smeared a little 3M 4200 sealer on each bolt (was $5.00 a tube at Walmart on clearance so I bought the 3 that they had hanging to stock up . . . sweet price).
Took it out on a lake today and I was immediately amazed. Hole shot was great. Almost no need to do any trimming now and NO SPRAY. No cavitation or ventilation on sharp turns that I was having before. That spray was so bad before in certain trim positions that if two people were seated in the back they would get their backs soaked. Now NO SPRAY at all!
Just thought I'd post this for people that think some of these dealers know what they are doing. This guy was in business for 30 years too, but the tech's that worked on my boat when it came from the factory last June were clearly sub par!
So I've put up with all that spray and wasted gas for the past 200 hours on the water because I didn't know any better until I read about proper outboard setup in the forum and I trusted them to have known what they were doing as Lund dealers . . . Big Mistake!
Took me about 30 minutes to do the job myself. Cavitation plate now sits about 1 to 1.5 inches up above the boat's bottom and I couldn't be happier with it's handling. It's like I just picked up another new boat
Don't know if it also improved my top end speed until I put the OEM prop back on, but I'm sure it will add another 1 or 2 MPH. I still have the higher pitch prop on it since I was going to have 4 people on board today after I test drove it myself for awhile.
Just wanted to send a thanks out to the board because this is where I get most of my good advice and tips from.