Pontoon prop depth

[bunk02]

I have an older Harris Flotebote that has an adjustable transom. For those not familiar with the set up, essentially the motor is mounted on a bracket/rear of the transom which pivots up and down by raising and lowering a large handle into one of 5 or so slots. I've tried it in the lowest (deepest prop depth) and the highest and everywhere in between but cannot notice a big difference. The lake I am in is shallow so I know that raising the mount is good when I start kicking up muck, but when I have it wide open where should it be set? I have noticed that it seems to back blast a lot of water onto the battery plate mounted on the rear toon as well as the back side of the motor when "flooring it" I haven't noticed other peoples tooners doing this but then again its not like I am tailgating anyone to check it out up close.

 

[rogerwa]

Re: Pontoon prop depth

I would say you would want it as high as possible without ventilating the prop. This leaves the least amount of drag in the water so you get more speed. There is no benefit to having it deeper in the water.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Pontoon prop depth

That theory works fine for planing hulls. Pontoons have very turbulent water where the motor needs to run so "trim settings" and "prop depth/engine height" are two entirely different things. On a pontoon you want the engine MOUNTING full down so the engine sits right on the pod. The least turbulent water the prop can find the better. As for trim, that works the same as on any other boat but has much less effect on performance that on a planing hull. Obviously the amount of HP available affects how trim works.