Boat takes a long time to plane

[Newowner2011]

My 91 19ft Starcraft Eurostar with Mercruiser 4.3 L with Alpha One Gen II takes a long time to plane with just me and a buddy in it and no one sitting in the bow. Do I have to accelerate more slowly ?How can I get it to plane more quickly ?

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Boat takes a long time to plane

Have you checked your floatation foam for waterlogging? Floatation foam can hold a lot of water weight and this can really slow you down.

There also the trim factor, if your motor isn't trimmed all the way down on take-off it will take longer to plane too.

 

[QC]

Re: Boat takes a long time to plane

Do you have any history on the boat? Has it planed better before? Are you hammering the throttle? Propeller pitch? What's your wide open throttle RPM once she does plane off? Trim in as you take off as jg asks? Definitely not about using less throttle. All of this info will help us narrow this down. Good luck!!

 

[Another retired guy]

Re: Boat takes a long time to plane

Some more info would be helpful. Is this a new problem or is the boat new to you? It may be a prop issue - what rpm do you show at WOT?
It may be an engine issue - what it's tune-up history etc.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Boat takes a long time to plane

What is your prop condition and pitch? Have you taken a compression test of the motor?

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Boat takes a long time to plane

im not sure if hes saying it takes a long time to get on plane or with out weight in the front hes pulling wheelies which is causing him to want to back off the gas.....

 

[webrx]

Re: Boat takes a long time to plane

I read it the same way Glenn does, if he has weight in the front it works fine, but without weight it takes a long time, the easiest way to fix this (if I am reading it right) is to trim the engine leg more toward the boat (drop the pin one hole lower if it is a manual adjust with a pin) and see if that helps. If it never planes right, then that is another story.

Dave

 

[QC]

Re: Boat takes a long time to plane

No pin, no hole. I/O

If he is using the trim and throttle properly then the solution is some sort of trim tabs.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Boat takes a long time to plane

I still say waterlogged foam, 22 year old boat...

 

[QC]

Re: Boat takes a long time to plane

Yeah, agree 'dat too ^^^^^^ Sorry skipped past that.