help with planing boat

[dc chopper]

I have a 17 ft procraft, 115 merc. 3 blade prop. It seems to take forever for the boat to plane. I tried a stablizer and don't really know if it helped. Once up, she flat out gets with it. anything I can do short of buying a 4 blade prop? Am I doing something wrong? It's my first bass boat and I'm learning as I go. Also, it has a sputter at half throttle which I've been told is a carb problem, going to put in shop next week. Can that be an issue for planing? Thanks in advance.

[pastorbass]

How are you trimming up the motor - you may want to try to do it a little quicker. I got my first boat last year and it took me a while to figure out how to trip it up just right.

[BanditMan]

If you have power trim make sure you have it trimmed all the way down at take off . Then just bump it up from there.

[wtucker]

You have plenty of motor to get up on plane. A 4 blade shouldn't be necessary. I would get the carb problem fixed first. If it is sputtering at half throttle, I am confident it is probably affecting the ability to plane off. If a hydrofoil didn't make a difference, I would say once you get the fuel delivery taken care of, you will be fine.

[dc chopper]

once on plane, I trim it slowly, it seems to want to skip/jump when I do it quick. It acts like a porpoise if I trim it up fast. Thanks for your help guys, I really appriciate it. By the way, the fishing saturday was awful 4 dinks to show for a 7 hr trip

[tr186man]

After getting the carb problem taken care of, you may want to check a couple of things. Do you have a jack plate? If so, the motor may be setting a little high. Generally, higher the motor sets the better top end speed and less hole shot (planing off). If you have a jack plate lower the motor by 1/2" at first and see what that does for you. Then go by about 1/4" at a time until you are satisfied with hole shot vs. top end speed. Second, rather than go to a four blade prop, you may want to look at dropping the pitch of a 3 blade. Less pitch will spin faster thus getting you out of the hole. You will turn more rpms so if you are not "limiting" out on revs, you may want to look at this.

Remember always trim all the way down when taking off. Put the throttle all the way down until she gets up then back off some. Porpoising (bouncing up and down) generally occurs when you are running to slow for the amount of trim you have. You should be able to give her more throttle or reduce trim, and she should calm down.

If you are still having problems, just let us know a little more info like motor height, rpms at top end, prop pitch, etc. and we can go from there.

[dc chopper]

yeah, I found out through trial and error that when it starts to jump to trim it back down some or ease the throttle back a little. Boat doe's not have a jack plate. To be honest, I don't really care much for speed, I have only topped it out one time, the rest of the time i only run around 30-40 mph. I have never seen a bass catch up to a plug above 40 mph! Will the dealership know the pitch of the prop I have, I sure have no idea. I will start with the carb first then work from there. I pulled the hydrofoil off, should I put it back on?

[Rowdy]

After it breaks over, trim it till the steering wheel does not pull either way that is all the trim you need.
Rowdy

[Devils Horse]

Sounds like the engine's not right. One thing to remember, if you're full of fuel and the livewells are full she may be a little sluggish with the 115, especially if you've got someone else and their gear in there too. Should probably make sure the motor's okay and get some seat time in first, then if speed's not an issue reprop to get it out of the hole faster if you still want to.

[billm_usa1]

I too have a 17' procraft with a 115 johnson. I have experimented with props a lot.

17" pitch comes out of the hole very quickly
19" pitch starts to get sluggish though runs great once it's up
21" need some help (throttle control) to get up. it runs great once it's up

Stainless is better than Aluminum and may buy you an extra 2" of pitch.
You can get some cheap prop deals to try out on ebay. An Al 17" went for $20 on sat.

Porposing is just trim and throttle control.

[dc chopper]

Thanks for the info. Will start with the carb then go from there. good advice on seat time. the more I'm in it the more I learn,especially how dumb cabin cruisers and jet skiers are

[stoner]

Thanks for the info. Will start with the carb then go from there. good advice on seat time. the more I'm in it the more I learn,especially how dumb cabin cruisers and jet skiers are

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