Boat questions?

[Fathom]

Since that time is almost near I have few things I've been wondering about

The boat (smokercraft millentia 90hp johnson) I bought last summer as a few things I would like to work out but not sure how

1. Correct plane - It seems the front end comes way up out of the water even with the motor all the way down, it doesn't take long to plane out but it doesn't seem like it is planing correctly I've been wondering if the motor is mounted correctly, any suggestions?

2. Have to keep your hands on the steering wheel or the motor instantly turns to the left, even at slower speeds you need to do this. It is a very strong pull. I've tried adjusting the trim tabs and it didn't seem to help. Is there another adjustment to make?

Thanks for any insights.

[Farley]

I wonder if a hydrofoil will help you plane out better?

As for the steering thing i cant help you there but I can say that in that boat I would definetly wear a life jacket, and hook up the kill switch so when you do go flying out of the boat at least the motor will stop. All it takes is to let go of the wheel for a second and you're screwed. Happend to a buddy of mine, his fishing partners both ended up in the water.

[Tator2k]

2. That's non-hydraulic steering controls. What you're feeling is touque steer from the motor.

[BobT]

Since that time is almost near I have few things I've been wondering about

The boat (smokercraft millentia 90hp johnson) I bought last summer as a few things I would like to work out but not sure how

1. Correct plane - It seems the front end comes way up out of the water even with the motor all the way down, it doesn't take long to plane out but it doesn't seem like it is planing correctly I've been wondering if the motor is mounted correctly, any suggestions?

I'm not sure the planer attachments like Dolphins will help you here. My understanding is that they are helpful when you are underpowered to get a boat up on plane. That doesn't sound like your problem. Your problem sounds more like one I had on my previous boat. I had a Lund Rebel 16 tiller with 40hp. I couldn’t tilt it down enough to prevent porpoising so I loosened the bolts and inserted spacers between the motor and the boat on the top bolts to sharpen the angle of the motor on the mounts. With the 40hp it wasn’t too bad but you might not want to try this by yourself with a 90hp due to the weight involved.

2. Have to keep your hands on the steering wheel or the motor instantly turns to the left, even at slower speeds you need to do this. It is a very strong pull. I've tried adjusting the trim tabs and it didn't seem to help. Is there another adjustment to make?

Take a look at the lower unit and you’ll see an adjustable fin called a trim tab. The purpose of this is to offset the torque from your motor. You may have to adjust this a little to compensate for this torque.

Thanks for any insights.

[gregg52]

not sure why your coming out of the water so high

try moveing some weight around

be sure you dont have a bunch of water in your boat

your bilege pumps working

i believe you will get some prop advice here to

as far as steering you should be able to trim that up and down as you are moving and feel the difference to where it is easy to steer.. might be a slight difference pulling one way or the other

again that could be weight

i use to run a tiller and as i run i would trim it up and down till i could turn it with ease

wave action and wind will make a difference

i learned the hard the way when i first bought the boat i thought my arm was going to fall off a couple times on mille lacs !!!! lol

[FM_Mike]

i learned the hard the way when i first bought the boat i thought my arm was going to fall off a couple times on mille lacs !!!! lol

I too had that learning curve with my first boat.

[Ed Carlson]

What pitch prop do you have on the 90?

[Jim Almquist]

Make sure the stop on your motor trim is in the hole the is closest to the boat.

[Fathom]

Thanks for the ideas.

I am not sure what the prop angle is.

The guy I bought the boat from was a rather large guy so I'm wondering if he did some things to the boat to adjust it for his weight.

Now if the ice would just go away I could get out and start tinkering with it again.

[Ed Carlson]

Jim's point is a good one. 1 hole inward will make a big difference without going any further on props or the like.

The stabilizer fins do a good job if you need to add them. I recommend the style with downwards tapered outside wing tips on the fins to limit the skating effect on corners at speed.

[BoxMN]

Those sylvans and smokercrafts were very light in the nose in general. I think moving even a little weight to the front (I hate doing that in general, and in our boat we try to keep as mmuch weight in back as possible for best speed and ride, etc.) might help some.

But I think the biggest help you may find is to do some experimenting to find the right prop. A Stainless even on a 90 will make a huge difference, but you still need to find the right model and pitch. I would guess a 3 bladed in 18" would be a good place to start. SS just bites better and holds better in all conditions and should hold the hull more steady. If you have to trim all the way DOWN at WOT something is wrong, that is not how boats are designed to run. That would also be a reason why steering is so hard. I might even try lifting the motor a hole before or after trying a new prop, but the prop is going to be key, IMHO. Good luck though, you will find the best way with some testing.

BTW - we have a small fin on a very light alum fishing boat and 50hp and it does help stabilize it, allows us to trim it higher without porposing. Slows it down some though...

[thatoneguy]

I have the same issue with the 16' SmokerCraft I bought last spring (with a 90 Merc on the back). I can see that the outboard now sits one set of holes lower than it did at some point - would having it re-mounted higher like it was at some earlier point possibly help that steering condition?

I'm not exactly sure what the "stop" on the motor trim is (first boat for me, and I've a lot to learn!) - can someone explain that a bit more?

[Esox_Magnum]

Look on the motor mount, theres a series of holes and a rod going through 1 set of them. The rod should be in the set of holes closest to the boat.

[Jim Almquist]

When your motor drops down all the way it should be resting on a bar that is inserted between two holes and is locked in place. In your case you would want it in the holes that are closest to the boat allowing your motor to angle in so that your thrust will cause the bow to stay down when you take off. Hope this makes sense.