Doggy Mercury 60 4-stroke on my 1600 fish hawk sc??

[somann]

Does anyone own, or know anyone who owns a Crestliner 1600 SC fish hawk that I could compare notes with? I bought this boat new last year and it came pre-rigged with a 4 stroke 60 hp outboard. It seems to me like this boat is a slug with this motor. With two adults in the boat, this thing works and works to just get on plane. Put a 3rd in, then hope you have about a quarter mile of water ahead to actually finally have enough ummphhh to get on plane and moving. Is this normal?? This is a relatively light boat at under 900 pounds dry. I would have thought even with 3 adults it should hop up onto a plane without too much effort. This boat is rated up to 75 hp, so its not maxed out, but its not the 50HP motor that alot of them come pre-rigged with either. My god if the 60 is this bad, I can't imagine the 50 hp would even have enought to even attain plane with 3 adults in the boat. Once it finally gets planed out, it goes alright. I think at full throttle I see about 28mph on the gps. The prop is stock and is pristine. Is there something wrong with this motor or is this just the way it is?? When I am in the boat, it gets onto plane without too much effort, but nothing too impressive. Does this sound right?? I guess I expected a little more of 60hp on this boat. Any info or suggestions would be great. I know I could look into props for better low end performance, but I'd like to first rule out that there isn't something wrong with this boat first. How can one know, or determine if an outboard truley is making the power it should? Any other factors that can be a problem? I question the mounting position of the motor on the transom, because I get alot of back spray into the boat when the motor is trimmed down a little too far when its at the top end speeds. Seems a suspect to me that I have to have it trimmed up so far to prevent soaking the back of my boat. If anyone else owns one of these boats, I'd love to talk to you.

Thanks for any and all suggestions. This is my first boat (other than a 12 foot lund with a 6hp motor when I was a kid) therefore I dont really have anything to compare this to... to determine if this is normal or not.

Thanks

[Surface Tension]

Assuming the outboard is running alright and your trimming in to get on plane and trimming back out once on plane.

What are your RPMs at WOT? If your in the upper range then thats where you want to be.

I'm trying not to jump way ahead here but when you said your getting spray I can't help not thinking your outboard needs to come up in the transom.

Where is the cavataion plate in relation to the bottom of the transom?

[delcecchi]

It sure sounds like it is propped wrong to me. Or maybe mounted too high? I can't picture how having the motor too low would cause spray on the back of the boat.

[fishingishot]

I would guess without looking you are running a 13 pitch prop. I just picked up a 2003 1675 Lund Explorer with a 60 HP four stroke Mercury and was having the same problem. The prop was a little beat up so I took it to Formula Propeller in Brooklyn Park just north of the Crystal airport on County Road 81. I was going to get a prop fixed and buy another one for a spare. I asked if this was the right prop for this boat. John at Formula said he runs the same boat and hauls a lot of weigh. He said he was running an 11 pitch Stainless prop. I ender up buying one with the understating that if it didn’t work, to bring it back. Now with 2-3 people and gear it gets on plane quicker and runs 33 mph on the gps. John said the problem with four strokes they don’t get the rpm’s up to get on plane and the 11 pitch prop fixes that. I am keeping the stainless prop and didn’t fix the existing prop for a spare.

[Hoffer]

I was looking at a similar outfit with a 50HP 2 stroke. I thought the boat was under horsepowered but the salesman told me that a 50HP 2 stroke would get going better than a 60HP 4 stroke...

Even so, the 60 HP should get on plane faster than that and also achieve a higher MPH as well. I currently have a lund rebel 16 foot with a 40HP. I did some mods to the interior so it is a lot heavier now - but even with 2 people I can get on plane and get going about 30 to 32 MPH. The motor shouldnt back spray like that and even if you changed props I wouldnt think that would help the backspray???

[marine_man]

Can you tell us what you're running for RPM's at WOT?

Also, do you know what pitch prop you're running?

Take a look at the hub of the prop on the outside of the prop. Rotate it slowly and see if there are any numbers stamped on it. You're looking for the 2 digit number before the P, or for something like 11 X 13, etc.

marine_man

[LEECH21]

I have a new 2007 FishHawk 1600 with a 60 Hp Mercury 4-Stroke as well. Mine is a tiller however. I get the back spray as well. Seems to go away when a adjust the trim. My boat seems to get on plane pretty quick, even with 4 adults on board.