Getting boat onto plane - am I doing something wrong?

[allbusiness]

Hey Guys,

 

I recently took my new boat out for the first time today to break in the motor and do a little fishing. Now I've never been out on a fishing boat before and have never operated a power boat with an outboard on it.

 

It's the Angler V151 legend with a 25 hp 4/s with power trim on it. I found to get it up onto plane I had to trim the motor down towards the boat to get the bow down and have the motor at WOT.

 

Now when I was talking to the dealer he said to give it enough gas to get onto plane trim it out and then cut back on the throttle and it will stay on plane. He also told me I should be able to keep it up on plane at half throttle

 

I found when I was out today anything less than WOT and the boat would slowly come off of plane, I was wondering if I'm not using the power trim correctly? am I trimming it out too much or not enough? Or am I just going to have to keep it at WOT to stay on plane?

 

again I have close to no experience with outboards or power trim so I'm wondering if I'm not doing something correctly?

 

I'm going to take it out tomorrow again, so any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[Gerritt]

to trim it out you are raising the motor up, once you get the boat on plane.. and it is still popping up? if so.. I would say your under-powered.. that hull is rated for 50hp.

 

G

[misfish]

You want to tuck the motor tight to the back,full trim down. Then push the throttle slowly to full. Then start to trim up. Your not talking a lot of power here, so I dont think you will get a fast plane. Without getting to much into it,the boat is under powered IF YOU WANT TO GET IT ON PLANE FAST. JMO.

[misfish]

Ya beat me G.

[allbusiness]

Yeah it is underpowered, but should it not stay up on plane without me having it wide open all the time?

 

it takes about 7-10 seconds ? to get it onto plane WOT

Edited June 26, 2008 by allbusiness

[workwear]

you could always try out a hydrofoil.....i hear they can be useful in your sitation

[Gerritt]

sit someone fat up front.. or add some weight up there... sorry...

 

Are you trimming it up when you are planed out @ WOT? and it is still coming up? you only have two options.. add weight up front or add HP to your transom..

 

in my best estimation.. you are grossly underpowered.

 

Sorry to bear bad news... but Legend is notorious for selling under powered packages..

 

G

 

Edited... workwear offers a viable solution.. but this is a brand new motor.. save yourself the hassle if you can afford it and upgrade...

Edited June 26, 2008 by Gerritt

[Fisherman]

If you're in the boat by yourself and it won't stay on plane at 1/2 to 2/3 throttle then like the rest said, underpowered, should be at least a 35-40 HP on the back(75% rule of boat power required) If the dealers lips were moving, he is full of _____. Your livewell full of water by any chance?

[allbusiness]

When I trim it up at WOT I still stay on plane fine but I figure (and I was told) that I would be able to stay up on plane at 3/4 throttle and I was wondering if I'm not using the trim correctly to keep it on plane?

 

I weight roughly 170lbs my passenger weighs about 200 lbs and my tackle back weighs about 50lbs so I maybe had about 450lbs on the boat

Edited June 26, 2008 by allbusiness

[charlesn]

Couple things to try for free. Have someone sit up front for the holeshot and then move on back once on plane. Rearrange gear in the boat to find the optimum "load conditions". For most littler boats, having more weight in the back makes it easier to reach top speeds. Also, don't carry every thing you've ever owned on every trip. The less HP you have the more weight sensitive it will be.

 

Couple things to try for a little money. Try a 4 bladed prop in the same size &pitch if yours is currently a 3-blade. Try a different pitched prop if it is already a 4-blade. Hydrofoil might potentially help. Trim tabs help on boat with more HP, not sure if it would suit your scenario, but it's cheaper than a new motor.

 

The only absolutely guaranteed to get you hopping solution - Get more ponies.

 

Good luck with the new boat.

 

Charles

[glen]

What did you have in the boat for a load?? How many people??

 

That boat should be ok with 2 guys, 3 guys maybe. Trim the motor down then get up on plane. Trim up slowly to find where top speed is. There will be a sweet spot you just have to find it. Then you can start to throttle back.

 

I just leave mine in one spot. It costs me 1mph on the top end and it dont plane real fast but it is easier.

[jwl]

I have the 151 Viper...pretty much the same boat, same hull (Viper is a little more decked out)..they are rated for a 50, I have a 40 on mine and can get pretty much 38-42 mph out of it when I tried clocking it before....the 25's are pretty underpowered for these boats.

 

To get on plane quickly...trim the motor all the way down...once on plane, slowly start trimming it up, you should feel the boat smooth right out and go fatser as you trim it. If it starts to bounce up and down adjust the trim accordingly until you get a smooth ride.

 

I know guys with simular boats that came with a 25 and when they where in my boat with the 40 they all said they wished they upgraded the motor because with the 25 they lag.

 

Legend packages come underpowered for sure, mine was being sold with a 25 no power trim ( was told it doesn't come factory installed on anything less than a 30) and it was going to be $800 to get power trim, we decided to go with the 40-oil injected 2 stroke(was 2003 when we got the boat new)..even the bigger 18 footers at the time only came with a 30 for the base package.

 

I am glad I opted for the 40, the boat has great performance with the motor...it's decent on gas, of course sucks it up when running WOT, but planes out in seconds, trims out great and is fast enough for my boating needs

 

If this is a brand new boat..perhaps the dealership you bought it off of would let you trade in that motor on an upgrade...if you are keeping the 25 on it...after the break in period take it for a few hours of screwing around and play with the trim until you get a good feel for it....when it's on plane and well trimmed you should really feel the difference, the boat will smooth right out...trim it up a bit at a time and you will feel the boat go faster, if it starts to bounce, trim it down a bit at a time until it smooths out again, if you feel like it is lagging after that and cutting through too much water, slowly trim it up again until it smooths out....same as when slowing down from WOT, if you are slowing down fast and don't want to feel like the bow of the boat is being pushed up to high and the back "digging in", start to slow down, and trim the motor down at the same time this will really help.

 

Goof around until you get the feel for it...have a blast and a great safe summer with the new boat.

[allbusiness]

What did you have in the boat for a load?? How many people??

 

That boat should be ok with 2 guys, 3 guys maybe. Trim the motor down then get up on plane. Trim up slowly to find where top speed is. There will be a sweet spot you just have to find it. Then you can start to throttle back.

 

I just leave mine in one spot. It costs me 1mph on the top end and it dont plane real fast but it is easier.

 

 

I'm taking it out tomorrow again so I'll give that a shot, I just took it out today to break the motor in and do a little fishing so I could only have it WOT for about 1 minute out of every 10 minutes. I'm going out with the wife tomorrow too so I shoulo be carrying about 100lbs less than today, so I'll see if that makes a difference.

[BITEME]

Get a hydra fin it will help alot

[misfish]

The only absolutely guaranteed to get you hopping solution - Get more ponies.

This would save you alot of time.

Hey chuck,you heading up saturday?

How,s the little/growing one?

[allbusiness]

I have the 151 Viper...pretty much the same boat, same hull (Viper is a little more decked out)..they are rated for a 50, I have a 40 on mine and can get pretty much 38-42 mph out of it when I tried clocking it before....the 25's are pretty underpowered for these boats.

 

To get on plane quickly...trim the motor all the way down...once on plane, slowly start trimming it up, you should feel the boat smooth right out and go fatser as you trim it. If it starts to bounce up and down adjust the trim accordingly until you get a smooth ride.

 

I know guys with simular boats that came with a 25 and when they where in my boat with the 40 they all said they wished they upgraded the motor because with the 25 they lag.

 

Legend packages come underpowered for sure, mine was being sold with a 25 no power trim ( was told it doesn't come factory installed on anything less than a 30) and it was going to be $800 to get power trim, we decided to go with the 40-oil injected 2 stroke(was 2003 when we got the boat new)..even the bigger 18 footers at the time only came with a 30 for the base package.

 

I am glad I opted for the 40, the boat has great performance with the motor...it's decent on gas, of course sucks it up when running WOT, but planes out in seconds, trims out great and is fast enough for my boating needs

 

If this is a brand new boat..perhaps the dealership you bought it off of would let you trade in that motor on an upgrade...if you are keeping the 25 on it...after the break in period take it for a few hours of screwing around and play with the trim until you get a good feel for it....when it's on plane and well trimmed you should really feel the difference, the boat will smooth right out...trim it up a bit at a time and you will feel the boat go faster, if it starts to bounce, trim it down a bit at a time until it smooths out again, if you feel like it is lagging after that and cutting through too much water, slowly trim it up again until it smooths out....same as when slowing down from WOT, if you are slowing down fast and don't want to feel like the bow of the boat is being pushed up to high and the back "digging in", start to slow down, and trim the motor down at the same time this will really help.

 

Goof around until you get the feel for it...have a blast and a great safe summer with the new boat.

 

With the 40 on the viper do you find you have to have it WOT the keep it on plane? I didn't have any problem getting my boat to plane today but if I cut the throttle back to roughly 3/4 (I don't have a tachometer) the bow would slowly start to rise until it came out of planing. I don't have a lot of experience with outboards so is it normal to have it WOT to keep it on plane? or should I be able to cut the throttle back a little bit and still stay on plane?

I was wondering if I didn't have the motor trimmed out properly and if that was causing it to come out of planing when I cut the throttle back?

[jwl]

With the 40 on the viper do you find you have to have it WOT the keep it on plane? I didn't have any problem getting my boat to plane today but if I cut the throttle back to roughly 3/4 (I don't have a tachometer) the bow would slowly start to rise until it came out of planing. I don't have a lot of experience with outboards so is it normal to have it WOT to keep it on plane? or should I be able to cut the throttle back a little bit and still stay on plane?

I was wondering if I didn't have the motor trimmed out properly and if that was causing it to come out of planing when I cut the throttle back?

 

no way, once on plane I can goof with the trim and run it at half throttle no probs at all..when you cut back on the throttle, trim the motor up more, you will see if you play around with it..hard to tell really when you are breaking themotor in cuz you can't really just give 'er and run the crap out of the motor to play around with it..you should not have to have your boat WOT throttle to keep it on plane...or to even get it on plane in the first place, and once on plane , with the trim adjusted well it should stay a smooth ride pretty much until you practically slow the boat right down..doesn't take much to get those boats on plane...the hull itself is only about 700lbs, my boat is probably heavier because it has more decking than the one you have.

Edited June 26, 2008 by jwl

[Gerritt]

not to be off topic... but I thought 4 Strokes did not need a break in period??? was that not one of their virtues extolled by the boat gods on this forum in the 2 Stroke vs. 4 Stroke debate ?

[danbouck]

not to be off topic... but I thought 4 Strokes did not need a break in period??? was that not one of their virtues extolled by the boat gods on this forum in the 2 Stroke vs. 4 Stroke debate ?

 

i believe that was just the Evinrude E-tec 2 stroke

[jwl]

for allbusiness

 

in comparison, here is the differnce in the layout of my boat..they have the same hull, but layout is alot different, you may not have seen at a dealership if you got the boat new in comparison because they don't make this model any more for 2008.

 

I think maybe one of the reasons they took it out of thier line-up was sales...cuz in comparison as well the base price on the Viper compared to the Angler is about $3000 on the base package

 

 

 

[misfish]

sit someone fat up front

I believe he,s state side now.LOL

I do believe ,you are the next FF in line G. I would offer,but I just lost 26 pounds.

[Guest Johnny Bass]

I also think you should get a hydrofoil or dol-fin or whatever its called. It will get you on plane even with a full load of people. It will keep you dry!!

[mikeh]

if exchanging that motor for a bigger one is not an option, I recommend a hydrofoil. You can purchase them at BPS in Vaughn. They should give you a better whole shot plus keep the bow down.

[didoban]

balance the load in your boat and try different pitch prop. I say lower pitch (will get you higher rpm, more punch at take off, slower top speed).

[musky66]

You may eventually find a way to make your boat perform better with the existing motor- but you will be severely limited n the weather and lake conditions you can SAFELY fish in. Mu boat was similar to your in being underpowered and it really hit home one day on Balsam lake when my buddy and I were literally being stopped in our tracks at WOT by a strong wind and waves. It cost me a fortune to upgrade ( compared to buying the correct motor on the boat in the first place ) but it was the best money I have spent on fishing (next to my Beckman net!)