Plane faster?

[semojetman]

What are some tricks or tips for getting a boat to jump on plane faster?

Current setup: 1856 Blazer SS with 60/40 4 stroke.

Battery and fuel tank in rear. 4 ft. Deck in front

Any ideas for a little quicker planing would be appreciated.
*Trim tabs
*More weight up front
*Whales tail
*Never slow down

 

[Darkside]

Move some of the weight forward. You don’t want a completely balanced boat, but weight too far forward or too far back is killer to take off. If this doesn’t fix the problem there are two things you may consider doing.

Option 1. Weld 4” wide Trim Plates/Trim Tabs to the hull’s transom. I am not well versed in Blazer crafts and what I know about them is that the hulls are usually lighter (thinner) gauge aluminum than we use here out east. Regardless, you could take two 12” by 8” pieces of .125 5052 aluminum, round off the edges with a 4” hand or bench grinder and break/bend the two pieces a slightly over 90 degrees so you have “L” brackets that are 12” long. 4” to weld and 4” that extends beyond the boat. Weld these to the transom (all 4 sides is best IMO) so that the bottom of the bracket is “exactly flush” with the bottom of the boat. Then you’ll want to bend the far ends down 1/8” to 1/4“ They will bend with a pair of 13” adjustable wrenches. May take a time or tow to get it just right but these will drop the bow and also manage bow-bounce. Almost all of the higher performance jet boats around her have them. Most are built right into the hull.



Option2. Order a set of Jet Wings. Jet Wings are designed to help "aft-heavy" crafts plane quicker. So if from a static position, you drop the throttle and your line of sight is lifted above the horizon (BOW High), then the addition of a Jet Wing will help plane the bow quicker. Jets are fussy- and it is not as effective as a prop that you can adjust the trim as it comes on plane. Balancing the layout is more important in a jet than a prop. Again, it doesn't have to be perfect, and a little a$$ heavy is actually ok. Consider that most mass produced boats have helm seating that is rearward placing the driver, outboard, battery, fuel and even a passenger near the rear of the craft. In a true 'jet designed' craft the helm position is almost always forward of the center of the boat to better balance the craft and to create a line of site that is always on the rocky nature of the river. The wing helps ‘less than ideal’ balanced jet crafts get on plane quicker.

https://www.jetwingllc.com/

Hope that this is helpful. If you have a good Jet or Weld Shop near you, they would likely suggest the same. The 5052 is important to Option #1. You want an alluminum alloy with good bend properties. Harder aluminums "crack" over time. Again, a good weld shop will already know this.

 

[riverrunner63939]

get a bigger motor!!! In my opinion...that's a lot of boat for that 60/40

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

That 60/40 just doesn't have the *** to pop the boat up on plain quickly. I'm not sure if adding devices like trim tabs will help or satisfy you. Adjusting the weight distribution would be my first step.

 

[semojetman]

I agree all 100 times youve said it riverracer. More HPs would be awesome, but i love my 60/40 4 stroker.

It works well for what im doing with the boat and it was in budget.

I am satisfied with the top end, still my only complaint is getting on plane.

And yes, all my other boats have had forward positioned consoles and were alot easier to plane out. But it looks retarted when the console is too far forward.
I might try some weight distribution and maybe some trim tabs

 

[Scottinva]

If you do add the trim tabs,you may have to tweak the angle to get your boat to perform properly. It is amazing what a difference a few degrees makes on those things. Dark side helped me out figuring that out!!!!

Scott

 

[Darkside]

Not to knock the power suggestions- but I thought you were asking tips and tricks. On a list of expense, I would imagine that the engine would be hardest on your wallet, the forward mounted console is another great idea but likely pricey as well.

Lifting the bow creates a lot of drag, slows the time to plane. If you can move some weight forward and follow a few of the tricks and tips offered, you may find a working solution.

Don't fault the guys suggesting more power, it will likely help too, but more weight back there isn't the sole solution with none of the other efforts. Still likely to bow ride.

1. Balance the hull as best you can. If it is in the budget and workable in the layout, consider moving the helm. Cables and Harnesses are not cheap and neither is the console move in most cases.

2. Planing assistance in the wing or the plates works. It isn't super expensive and if the wing doesn;t work, the cost was likely worth the try.

Let us know what you end up doing.

 

[catmansteve]

If you're satisfied with top speed, I would try moving as much weight forward as possible, then try trim tabs if you're still not satisfied.

I found out the hard way how important weight distribution is with my first jet. My first trial run I couldn't get my 40/28 Johnson to plane a 1438! Moved batteries, gas tank, and console as far as the cables would allow, now it jumps right up.

 

[semojetman]

Im going to go ahead and put my trolling batteries up front, my anchors, and a few other things and see if it changes anything.

A couple people have looked at it and they think the motor might be set to high.

I will likely try trim tabs becuase i have always thought they were neat and would like to fine tune em.

I will let you know what i try and what works.

 

[susqyg3]

Not sure if you have power tilt, but I have a standard production center console hull, fuel in the back, 90/65 four stroke, and it tends to squat when I take off. If I tilt the motor all the way down at hole shot it takes off much more level, and slightly quicker. I just have to raise the motor a touch once on plane.

 

[shallowminedid]

what about pods? adds like 200 lbs of lift to the back

 

[semojetman]

Yeah, i have power trim.

And i feel like it does trim down far enough.

All my other boats trimmed down further and then when on plane i raised em just a bit.
This boat, i start with it trimmed all the way down and once on plane and going if i try to come up any it looses speed.

 

[PSG-1]

Moving weight forward would be my suggestion. It seemed to make a big difference with my Triton 1650 rigged with a 50 HP merc outboard.

 

[semojetman]

So, we moved the motor down half a hole on the transom and removed the factory trim stops and it jumps on plane in about a boat length.

Big improvement.

And it GPS'd about 5 mph faster

 

[AllOutdoors]

Seems like a great improvement. Congrats.

 

[lowe1648]

Where did the front of your shoe end up now? Picking up 5mph makes me want to try moving my up or down to see if i can pick any speed up. My motor claps on over the transom and bolts on. I set it right on the transom and the front edge of the shoe was even with the bottom of the boat and ran good so i never tried moving it.

 

[semojetman]

According to the Outboard Jets website when your motor is trimmed all the way down the front edge of your shoe should be even with the bottom of your boat.

When we stuck a straight edge on the bottom of my boat, it would hit the grate over half way down the shoe.

We dropped the motor til it was even and now it runs great.

 

[Lil' Blue Rude]

Glad to hear you got it fixed.
That's why I always talk about slotting the tilt trim bracket for fine tuning. You can get some big improvments getting the motor set just right.

 

[rockdamage]

next time call your dealer lol

 

[Lennyg3]

I thought you were putting some big honking LS smallblock in your boat? Where did all this nonsense of a 60/40 come from?