Setting up your outboard?

[Eug]

I'm hoping this can be a bit of a brainstorm thread/guide for new owners like me and maybe get some input from the more experienced members. Depending on how this thread goes I might start another one on trailers (i.e. center rollers take the weight for aluminium hull and the skids merely align whilst taking a little of the weight), steps in setting it up correctly, little handy hints, etc.

So whether purchased from the dealer or second hand we all pretty much assume that our hull and outboard package is set at optimal. Usually this is far from ideal and often the package can be better optimised. So what are the dos and donts?

- Quite often I hear people suggest lifting the outboard one hole. My manual says that the anti-cavitation plate should be just below the water surface when running at WOT (I'm guessing trimmed out).

- Solas props are usually suggested as well, when should you start looking at these? To get better holeshot? To get better top end? To get better fuel economy? Stainless? Aluminium?

- Hydrofoils often get a mention, I recently put one on but have yet to test it out. Greg (and others) have mentioned possible handling issues such as barrel rolls on particular hulls.

- Trim tabs for bigger boats to help with porpoising.

- Mick has previously suggested fiddling around with air restrictors to get a bit more flow in the intake.

- Etc.

Basically in what order should we approach things? Moving the hole up/down first? Then prop? Then hydrofoil/trim tabs?

I hope the hydrofoil will improve my holeshot for bar work, I know I'll lose a bit of top end speed but I hope to rectify that with a new prop. Or will that negate my hydrofoil?

Discuss away!

Cheers

Eug

[Bommie]

Eug here is a link to suzi marine with a pdf on props. which may help to explain how they operate

/>http://www.suzukimarine.com/Accessories/~/media/Marine/Accessories/Suzuki%20Propellers/propellers_PDF.ashx

go to Accessories, scroll down to the bottom and click on propellers pdf

[Malcolm]

I have just put on a solas prop stainless steel and went from a 13"pitch to a 14"pitch it has lowered my revs from 6400rpm to 6100rpm and gave me an extra 4mph top speed but the best part is the control I now have with trim.

[shortie]

just remember Mal outboards start a lot easier when they are in neutral.

[Luc53]

There are different types of foils you can fit and you need to find the one that is best for what you're trying to achieve. Some look like wings and other look like a plate.

I looked at many and ended up fitting a permatrim to my boat as it was bum heavy and I couldn't re-distribute weight to overcome the problem.

The main benefit I got was getting on the plane sooner with very little nose lifting. Also got lower planing speed and did not notice / experience any steering problems.

I did have to raise the outboard 2 notches which the literature said I may have to do.

Compared to other foils. I liked the permatrim as its a solid aluminium plate rather than plastic wings. I've see pictures of the wing types that broke under load during a turn including one where one side of the outboard plate was snapped off.

[mick fillet]

its all about the balance.really there should be no need for hydra foils if the boat is balanced.

a little nose heavey at rest is actually good. if it is stern heavy the hull will want to wollow around at times

if your transom has minamal deadrise,so there isnt much angle on the transom not allowing the motor to fully trim under.you might wana look into motor wedges to wedge the angle of the motor out away from the transom and allow under toe. i like to be able to make the bow of my boats nose plough if i want them too.having total control of what the bow of the boat does.knowing you can pull the bow down at the flick of a trim button to gain total control of what the bow does is important. its all to easy to control the bow and make it stand up but to use the trim to make the bow plough to gain control is a good thing to have ,having good under toe of the skeg can assist keeping the hull level for good out of the hole / in rough conditions and in high winds will make the hull track and it will make the bow split the chop (like an axe) and will minimise the drop outs and hard shudering thuds. some boat hull designs will sit on top of the chop and will ride really nice but this requires speed to do this,so the more air the skipper can get under the hull the more the lift and the smoother the ride,not always can you go fast in certain chop so even these type of hull configurations need to be able to plough the bow.

so step one get the bow to plough if you cant do it through a trim buton some motors dont have elec trim use wieght up the front or distribute the wieght in the boat evenly. and perhapse look at the use of wedges.

just a note:- fast eddie has 70kg of lead in the bow of his boat and the balance of his boat is really good in the water. just shows ya how much wieght can be added to get the balance perfect.

using wedges not only changes the angle it gets the outboard further back away from the transom.the further away the leg sits off the transom the higher the skeg cav plate can sit in relation to the V of the hull.

step two choose a prop- three blades like to be about a inch below the V of the hull

-four blades can run alot higher i run the tip of my 4 blade about 5mm-10mm under the V of the hull which puts the cav plate about 15mm -20mm higher than the V of the hull.

[Do$tylz]

Have turned this thread into a sticky... Very good info around outboards and how to set them out. Doesn't mean I understand what has been written (particularly Mick Fillets post) but I know it'll be useful for people.

objections?

[rosstralia46]

No objection Henry good idea and well done not to lose the post :silly: agree with you on the mick part may have to read it alot of times but great info cheers mick

[Eug]

Cheers Henry.

Thanks Mick some good info there, I think I get what you're saying in general. So you are saying to trim down a little more when in chop?

I've tried to move more weight forward such as putting my deep cycle right up at the bow and often put my spare fuel up between the driver/passenger. However esky and my rear casting deck has meant that it takes a bit to get on the plane now. Even slower when 3 or 4 aboard.

I cruise comfortably (flat day) at 24 knots prior to the foil but these days are not often and mostly on lakes/dams. So I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of top end for lower planing speed and holeshot.

[crazywalrus]

its all about the balance.really there should be no need for hydra foils if the boat is balanced.

a little nose heavey at rest is actually good. if it is stern heavy the hull will want to wollow around at times

if your transom has minamal deadrise,so there isnt much angle on the transom not allowing the motor to fully trim under.you might wana look into motor wedges to wedge the angle of the motor out away from the transom and allow under toe. i like to be able to make the bow of my boats nose plough if i want them too.having total control of what the bow of the boat does.knowing you can pull the bow down at the flick of a trim button to gain total control of what the bow does is important. its all to easy to control the bow and make it stand up but to use the trim to make the bow plough to gain control is a good thing to have ,having good under toe of the skeg can assist keeping the hull level for good out of the hole / in rough conditions and in high winds will make the hull track and it will make the bow split the chop (like an axe) and will minimise the drop outs and hard shudering thuds. some boat hull designs will sit on top of the chop and will ride really nice but this requires speed to do this,so the more air the skipper can get under the hull the more the lift and the smoother the ride,not always can you go fast in certain chop so even these type of hull configurations need to be able to plough the bow.

so step one get the bow to plough if you cant do it through a trim buton some motors dont have elec trim use wieght up the front or distribute the wieght in the boat evenly. and perhapse look at the use of wedges.

just a note:- fast eddie has 70kg of lead in the bow of his boat and the balance of his boat is really good in the water. just shows ya how much wieght can be added to get the balance perfect.

using wedges not only changes the angle it gets the outboard further back away from the transom.the further away the leg sits off the transom the higher the skeg cav plate can sit in relation to the V of the hull.

step two choose a prop- three blades like to be about a inch below the V of the hull

-four blades can run alot higher i run the tip of my 4 blade about 5mm-10mm under the V of the hull which puts the cav plate about 15mm -20mm higher than the V of the hull.

Wedged my motor about 6 weeks ago and it is a new boat - A lot more control and rides a lot better.

[Eug]

interesting point on the wedges. i find that from the fully trimmed in position i need to trim out just a bit to get the best holeshot. in my case i don't think the wedges would help?

[mick fillet]

HHHMMMM ok

ill compare my statment to car tyres

umm what iam tring to say is first you buy the tyres to suit the every day conditions you regulary drive in yet the tyres selected must be able to perform in other harsh enviroments stoping in the rain gravel etc. then you get the wheels balanced and an alignment done.

geez good thing i didnt metion jacking plates

[dhess]

Wedged my motor about 6 weeks ago and it is a new boat - A lot more control and rides a lot better.

Did you do it yourself? Was it easy/difficult?

After riding in your boat before and after I think mine could benefit as well.

[shortie]

Did the wedges effect rpm when fully trimmed out.

Did it have any effect on speed

[rosstralia46]

What is a wedge and how does it work guys thanks

[e-fish-n-sea]

i had to wedge my outboard to max the trim i could use it made the boat quicker out of the hole didnt notice a change to the speed .it also made the bow easier to control with out using weight

[regulated]

My tip would be make sure you have a fuel filter/water seperator close to the engine, fitted with your pick of quick disconnects and a spare backup fuel tank and fuel line. If your tank becomes contaminated or you run out of juice you can hook up the backup tank and get home.

It also gives you some extra filtration if using jerries to top up. Can get buildup and debree in them very easily.

[crazywalrus]

What is a wedge and how does it work guys thanks

This is a wedge on my boat - Aluminum block between the motor and the nylon.

[rosstralia46]

Okay thanks Ted thought it might be something like that cheers

[crazywalrus]

Wedged my motor about 6 weeks ago and it is a new boat - A lot more control and rides a lot better.

Did you do it yourself? Was it easy/difficult?

After riding in your boat before and after I think mine could benefit as well.

I did not do it Dom - Would need some way of supporting the motor while doing it.

Did the wedges effect rpm when fully trimmed out.

Did it have any effect on speed

If you trim down at the nose it does effect the top speed and the top revs but the ride is awesome. before it would tend to porpoise

[Eug]

ted so it basically allows you to trim down a little more? when are you using this trim position? bar crossing, chop, etc.?

can i say i like where this thread is going, just a few experiences and ideas that most of us wouldn't have considered.

[crazywalrus]

ted so it basically allows you to trim down a little more? when are you using this trim position? bar crossing, chop, etc.?

can i say i like where this thread is going, just a few experiences and ideas that most of us wouldn't have considered.

Yep that is correct Eug. I can punch the nose right into the chop if i like. The boat was rough before. I am not experienced enough to talk about the bar crossing but I do tend to trim it down while going out the bar. (not sure if that is correct) When in chop rather than lifting and banging over the chop i can trim down and cut through the waves. When outside I trim down to reduce the slap over the swell.

[mick fillet]

My tip would be make sure you have a fuel filter/water seperator close to the engine, fitted with your pick of quick disconnects and a spare backup fuel tank and fuel line. If your tank becomes contaminated or you run out of juice you can hook up the backup tank and get home.

It also gives you some extra filtration if using jerries to top up. Can get buildup and debree in them very easily.

very good idea there is how ever a couple of tips i give to do with filter systems.i have lernt the hard way.with many an engine not running right which could have been prevented

if engine is a carburetor model the mounting of a the canister filter unit should not be higher than bowl of the carburetor which is located under the cowl .failing to do so could result in the flooding of fuel to the carburetor as a syphoning effect could occur draining the filter canister empty or worst case scanario the whole tank.

it it also very important to know how much fuel your engine uses at WOT before selecting a filter.there are many filters avalable on the market and they all have diferant flow rates. the average marine fuel filter can normaly only filter 40-50ltrs per hr which seems like alot but not if the filter does its job and collects junk and other contaminants and this cloging will reduce the flow of the filter to somthing like 20-30ltrs/hr and this sort of fuel restriction can damage fuel pumps, lift pumps, diaphragm as well reduction in engine performance. if you know your fuel flow rate at WOT quadruple it and find a filter with a simalar hourly flow rate. i now only use parker racor canister/bowl and parker racor filters i use a 250ltr/hr flow rate filter so even if the filter gets half cloged i still got 100ltr /hr + flow rate

also i would like to metion the use of the inline fuel primer hand pump.the black thing every one squeezes the hell out of at the ramp before starting engine. normaly situsted half way along the fuel line. there is no need to pump it to it is like a rock this only puts exsesive and unessisary presure on the diaphragm and infact that much pressure can be created between the one way valves in the hand pump and the diaphragm block,the presure locks the one way valve in the hand pump shut causing slight bruising to the surface of the seat of the valve and over time the one way valve will leak and not work.

[crazywalrus]

Hey Mick - The boat builder said that when choosing a filter you need to get one that is fine enough to filter out water. Apparently some allow water through. Is this correct?

[bootyinblue]

Eug... try your boat with the plate on it before you go packing your motor. With the plate you are now able to displace more water downwards at the rear lifting the stern and pushing down the bow.

I can trim the boat right down and really bury the bow more than what is comfortable.

[mick fillet]

well yes there are filters fine enough to seperate water. but water is heavier than fuel so if you have a canister set up with the glass bowl well that will catch and seperate all water. unless you are accedently running ethonol type unleaded then water will bybass even the glass bowl and end up burning through the engne.

[regulated]

THis might not be 100% correct but a picture tells a thousand words

Water is a small molecule when not joined to anything

whereas this is a pic of the octane molecule

If a filter is fine enough to stop water its probably too fine and will also prevent octane from going through to the engine. A good seperator like the racor as Mick said is the go

[Eug]

Eug... try your boat with the plate on it before you go packing your motor. With the plate you are now able to displace more water downwards at the rear lifting the stern and pushing down the bow.

I can trim the boat right down and really bury the bow more than what is comfortable.

plate = hydrofoil?

pretty sure i can bury the bow now... but will have to see if the hydrofoil will negate that.

[Uthrax]

I think what mick fillet was saying by bury the bow is to make sure the bow cuts through the waves instead of bouncing over them. and I think a hydrofoil attempts to lift the rear of the boat to help get it up on the plain faster and will also have a similar effect

[Eug]

gave the rig a test run yesterday, can't give a full review on it as we were loaded up fully with food, fuel, 4 POB and gear.

- boat handling was more predictable, responsive and maneuverable at low speed.

- increased stability at rest

- planing at much lower speed.

- can't comment on holeshot performance due to more weight than usual but it got up there without fuss.

- coming off the plane was much smoother as the boat continued to ride the wake without getting swamped.

- didn't really test high speed turns (will ease into this one), but feels a little more stable.

- lost about 3-4 knots top speed but will try again with less weight and minus the bimini. any one have further comments on this? i suspect the foil is creating a bit of drag, reducing weight may get it out of the water while on the plane.

- can't comment on fuel economy due to weight but was very happy with 16.9 L for the 32 km we traveled.

- was able to get the bow into the waves and carve through the chop while maintaining a fair amount of freeboard, resulted in a more comfortable and drier ride.

- passengers noticed increased comfort and softening of impact from chop, however this might have been due to a heavier boat.

was hoping to do a proper test run out in the bay today with normal fuel/weight loads, the conditions today would have been great. going to do some rewiring instead as i got some sounder interference (unrelated to hydrofoil).

so far i'm reasonably happy with it. bit disappointed with lost of top speed but will have to see with normal weight. anyone have any cheap effective mods to get some speed? i'd like to hit ~30 knots if possible, 4.2 runabout with merc 40 hp 2 stroke. thinking a prop and removing air restrictors might get me there.

- top speed (normal weight, no foil) - 24 knots

- top speed (full weight, foil) - 20 knots

cheers all

eug

[aussie123]

Losing 4 knots in speed will be a combination of the new foil plus the extra weight you were carrying and possible also the bow being a touch lower in the water.

You won't know the full results until you run the boat again with your normal load that you know the speed results for.

[Bommie]

and minus the bimini

[Eug]

Didn't run the bimini yesterday but still the added weight of two extra people. Topped out at 22 knots (so overall loss was 2 knots). We travelled well over 60km on 25L of fuel, most of it at top speed. Very impressed with the fuel economy and handling characteristics, tried to give it a bit of stick while on a hard turn and didn't feel any of the dodgy barrel rolls some have reported. Every hull will be different but happy with it thus far. Comfort has also significantly increased with the boat seeming to float down off the chop rather than crash down hard as it used to.

Cheers

Eug

[Eug]

Just to revisit this thread... managed to get a lot of running earlier this year and have decided that the hydrofoil is staying put. I can plane easily at 10 knots.

I can adjust trim with the motor height so the hydrofoil just sits out of the water at 15 knots, uses bugger all fuel and consistently got 55-60 km from about 20L (with 3 meter tides). The feeling is difficult to describe but the hydrofoil almost 'surfs' on the hull's wake at this speed.

The only cons are that it can dig only slightly in on a hard turn when the hydrofoil is underwater (i.e. full lock, full throttle from stand still), but I had to induce this situation and wouldn't do it in a normal circumstances.

Also with a bit of playing around I haven't lost any top speed since the foil is now out of the water.

Cheers

Eug