Engine To low?

[hondarider188]

my 1985 Evinrude 140hp has a very hard time getting up on a plane to where it takes everyone in the boat to get in the bow to plane it out then it also has a hard time with a idel but i dont know if that has anything to do with it. and from what i have read on other forums i think that the engine is sitting to low or even to high but i am not sure?It also has those Hydrofoil stabilizers then i think i read that the Ventilation plate had to be 1 inch above the bottom of the boat. but what is the ventilation plate and what is the very bottom of the boat because the boat this engine sits on is a 1984 Ranger 330-V and what appears to be the very bottom isn't and below it is the very end point of the shallow V of the hull and on that very bottom is where the plug goes in and livewells drain and fill but which be would used to to measure the height of the engine? and where should it sit in corrspondense with the boat

 

[Tig]

Re: Engine To low?

The anti-ventilation plate is where the hydrofoil stabilizer is bolted to. The bottom of the boat is the keel. The height recommendation is really a general starting point. 1" above is a bit high for my boat yet my buddy runs several inches above the keel with his 120hp.
From you pics, you are in the ballpark. If your prop is SS you can move up until ventilation is an issue.
What you really need to do is read the sticky at the top of the prop forum and gather the information to evaluate your current setup. Once you post that, the experts will drop by and comment.

 

[SparkieBoat]

Re: Engine To low?

get your self a set of trim tabs

 

[hondarider188]

Re: Engine To low?

What are trim tabs and on top of that what do they do and where do they go on??

 

[SparkieBoat]

Re: Engine To low?

try google

 

[hondarider188]

Re: Engine To low?

Well from what I know now from TIG and from other topics the anti-ventilation plate sits just barely below the water to where it is just skimming the top of the water when at wot in a plane but when not in a plane it sits all the way down and has the bow up. And I lowered the engine about 1 inch from the top which was where it was before, and it lifted the bow up even more than before, but was a little easier to get on a plane than before but we still had to stand on the front with two people but once we did it immediatly started to pick up more when we tested it tonight. And my dad turned up the idel a little bit and it did a little better but it still had a real hard time without the engine trimmed up a little bit, but would a new prop fixed all of this even the idel?the prop on it now is a
13 1/4"X 19P or de we need to bring the engine back up about maybe 1/2 inch. and the pics above in my first post are of where we moved it down about 1 inch on the Jack Plate in the third pic.

 

[Tig]

Re: Engine To low?

Tell us about the boat? Make and model? How big is it? What does it weigh?
Is your prop aluminum or stainless?
Any idea what the rpms and gps speed are at WOT (wide open throttle)?
Any info you can get will help us figure this out.

 

[hondarider188]

Re: Engine To low?

Sorry for the lack of info still a little new here but the boat its on is a 1985 Ranger 330V its 17ft with and average load of 2 people and 1/2 tank of gas out of 18 gallons then just all safety stuff and fishing gear with a trolling motor also. the prop is stainless 13 /4 X 19P for the rpms and speed at wot the tach. meter is currently down so i dont know and the speed i forgot to measure when we took it out yesterday. but I think we will try taking the engine back up about 1/2 inch and try it.

 

[Tig]

Re: Engine To low?

I think you are on the right track. Stainless props that have no damage can run high. Raise it a half inch at a time until it ventilats when trimmed up at speed. Let's us know how this affects the hole shot.

 

[hondarider188]

Re: Engine To low?

well sorry for the long reply back, but anyway i ordered o new prop this time a 13 1/4X17 and it it still made no difference bu we fixed the idel just needed some new spark plugs to run good that low. but when we took it out with the new prop and it was perpoiseing at wot, and the hole shot was still bad to where we had to go up into the bow until it planed out then we were fine until we brought the throttle back down. then i think the prop was slipping bu i am not sure what is mean is that it would run really good then it would kind of like buzz or something and you could here the rpms dropp a little but is that the prop slipping or is it something else it has only ever done this with the new prop. and by the way the new prop is aluminum where the old was stainless steel. and i am not sure if i mentioned this before or not but it came from missouri and before that was Arkansas and if the travel to arkansas to missourri nothing was never changed for the altitude and it now is in utah with about a 4,000ft difference than missouri, and utah is at a higher elevation. and another thing is if everyone gets into the bow of the boat to plane out wouldnt that be raising the motor out of the water a little bit more? so would the motor need to bee raised up even more? and wouldnt that increase the rpms?

 

[John_S]

Re: Engine To low?

Have you trimined the motor in for takeoff?

 

[hondarider188]

Re: Engine To low?

well thats the thing it has to be all the way down because of the power the motor is letting out the cylinder can push it back up. but once on a plane we can trimm it up for best performance. thats why i think its not letting out enough rpms to get on plane and raising up the motor bring it up out of the water a little more which also increases the rpms.

 

[steelespike]

Re: Engine To low?

Have you checked the boat for water in the foam under the floor.
You could have 200 or 300 lbs of water right near the stern it would make planing
difficult. Are you sure its running on all cylinders.You wouldn't be the first to not realize a 2 stroke was missing a cylinder it would seem normal except for a lack of power.
In my opinion a 17 footer with a 140 and a 17" prop should all but jump on plane with only 2 aboard.

 

[hondarider188]

Re: Engine To low?

no we never have look under the floor do you know if there is a way to look under it without tearing it all out. and the livewells do fill up but only little bit but i dont think its enough to make a differnence. and when we pull it out from the lake there is a lot of water that drains out not counting the wells. and everything is in the back though to gas tank, 2 batteries,storage for small tackle box of tools, life jackets could that all be weighing it down to

 

[SparkieBoat]

Re: Engine To low?

as satated earlier..raise motor until the prop ventilates, then lower it about 1 inch, a set of trim tabs would make you real happy.

 

[hondarider188]

Re: Engine To low?

well i think i am going to raise the motor up all of hte way which is only another inch or two but the jack plate is up all the way and the only way i can see to raise it is to mount the engine to the jack plate on the lower mounting holes on the engine to go up. but it might be a while until i get it done.

 

[bouttime007]

Re: Engine To low?

All the weight from batteries/gas tank/tools/gear in the stern isnt helping you get on plane, thats for sure.

Alot of water comes out when you pull it out of the lake huh? You most likely are lugging hundreds of pounds of wet foam around the lake.

 

[hondarider188]

Re: Engine To low?

it isnt a ton of water but it does run for a couple of minutes. but if the foam is full of water then if when i stop to fish and just sit in the water wouldnt the back end (if full of water) be sagging and the front end be lifted up? but the boat sits level in the water when just sitting in the water. but i dont think i mentioned this before but when i say i wont come onto a plane the engine isnt giving out the power to do it. like it just boggs around the lake until everyone gets in the front of the boat then it slowly raised in rpms until it takes off. so the rpms are far to low to get up on plane until more wight is added to the bow.

 

[hondarider188]

Re: Engine To low?

and also i dont think i said what the new prop said. i went to a 13 1/4X19 to a 13 1/4X 17 and it made no difference.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Engine To low?

Dumb questions ..........

What are your WOT rpms??

What is your speed?

The Ranger's are hard planing (I had one with a 150 Mariner) and have to be hammered to start out.

Are you running a jack plate?