stern sits low in water

[tscott]

'91 Stratos 290 s/f.<br /><br />This boat has a '91 Evinrude 200 Xp. Two,20 gallon fuel tanks in bilge,2 trolling batteries,1 cranking battery and vro tank all in bilge area.<br />I always have to feather the throttle and baby this boat when I come off of plane or water will surge over the transome and down into the bilge and my automatic bilge pump kicks on. Looking at the boat in as close to calm water as I can get, It looks like the water line is 2-3 inches below the top of the transome.Just below the drain hole for the splash well.<br /><br />Is this common for this type of boat?The stern slopes down because it has small swim platforms on either side of the transome for swimmers to get in and out easier but the stern sits so low in the water that It really makes me nervous at times and was wondering if anyone had any ideas.<br /><br />This is a link to 2 photos of some small cracks on the top of the transom.I filled both with a marine type sealer/epoxy.(Just to see how it does and if it tries to crack anymore)Here is the link:<br /> http://photos.yahoo.com/electrified292001 <br /><br />Sorry for the long post.Let me know if anyone has any ideas.

 

[KenOhki]

Re: stern sits low in water

Sounds like you are dangerously low in the water if you have only a few inches of transom above the water.<br /><br />Perhaps you can shuffle some weight forward,or Install a splash guard on your transom.<br /><br />Good luck

 

[tscott]

Re: stern sits low in water

The question is:why is it so low in the water??<br />Is this the way the boat is made?It really slopes down hard after the casting deck.The splashwell and transom sit lower than the swimmers platform.<br />I would think Stratos would have taken this into account when they built the boat.It seems to ride high in the bow and will porpoise pretty easy unless I trim the motor way down. There may be nothing to be done about this but I thought I would post the question.<br />Thanks for your response.

 

[Solittle]

Re: stern sits low in water

Lets see - you got 900 to 1,000 pounds of motor gas and batteries sittin on the back. Maybe add 150 pounds of someone climbing up the swimmers platform and just for the heck of it lets throw a 175 pounder helping the swimmwer. If you are anywhere near the back you gotta add your weight. What is the total???? - - You got your answer.

 

[wezie]

Re: stern sits low in water

Just thoughts. <br />Might check to see if the double bottom is full of water.<br />Is the boat rated for this HP?<br />The cracks look to me like they are the result of some stress.<br />Might think of a way to check if there is any water in the transom. Remove a screw or bolt or something. <br />Take Care.

 

[tscott]

Re: stern sits low in water

Boat is rated for 235hp.It has a 200 on it. I'm planning on drilling a couple of small holes in the bottom of the transom just to see if any water comes out.It could just be that there is too much weight in the stern,as SoLittle said, but nothing has been changed from factory setup.