Re: 1990 evinrude 120 4600rpm WOT enough?
I have a 14 x19 stainless 15 spline if you are interested let me know ...
I may just take you up on this. I guess it's the powerband having been drastically moved around, but it porpoised hard with this gearcase and no fins. I didn't notice the first few times out because there was a good bit of chop that week. With the fins put back on it's much better but by no means set up right.
So I went to a prop shop a few weeks ago and the guy said I had two obvious problems-
1, that the motor is mounted too low. My cavitation plate is level with the very bottom of the keel, but look at this picture. It actually rides at that level where the tansom dips back in toward the keel when it's on plane. That's about where it floats, too. I inspected it at cruise speed and it is a bit below the water level and looks like it's really forcing water where it doesn't want to be. It can go up about 3-4" before it gets above there. He tells me this is the main cause of the porpoising. Makes sense.
2, the wrong prop. He loaned me a 14.25x21. With 5 people + the german shepherd it didn't like it. 4100 RPM @ 33mph and 7-10 seconds struggling to get on plane. Just me and 1 passenger and it planed much faster but just 4800rpm, although 43mph. I thanked him and gave it back.
Here's the current situation: me + 1 or 2 people and the 15x17 there is no wait time to plane- you hit the throttle and it just lifts vertically out of the water, no appreciable bow rise to speak of. ~5700rpm at 42mph is the max I've hit. It HATES trim unless the water is flat and it's at WOT. Even then I can barely trim it out at all. It loves dead bottom zero trim at 3800rpm 27mph, and has a gentle but always present bobbing. Not enough to complain about porpoising.
I haven't gotten around to remounting it. Every weekend has been some holiday that requires a boat, out of town guests so I need the boat, etc. Things that just make you think "hmmm it works right now. don't. touch. anything." That and a bit of laziness. Well this weekend there's nothing going on and it's going to rain so by god it's getting remounted.
As for the new mounting, what's a good sealer? I'm assuming no adhesive sealer for this? The two appropriate seeming ones I have on hand are West's polyether caulk and 3m silicone.