flat bottom / Jack plate

[tee-boy]

Does anyone have any experiences/knowledge to share concerning putting a jackplate on an aluminum flat bottom skiff? I'm contemplating and am not sure if I am doing more harm than good with respect to boat performance.

 

[Dhadley]

Re: flat bottom / Jack plate

A hydraulic jckplate is seldom a bad idea.<br /><br />Shallow water operation, fine tune the set up while underway, run a variety of props etc.<br /><br />Take advantage of all the available torque -- or is it horsepower?<br /><br />I'm sure you'll love it!

 

[tee-boy]

Re: flat bottom / Jack plate

Thanks. I'm just woried that it will make the boat porpoise b/c of the additional weight and offset from the transom. I guess the fix to that would be trim tabs or a souped up hydrofoil (probably custom made). Who ever heard of trim tabs on an aluminum flat bottom!<br /><br />Remember...Torque is good!

 

[Dhadley]

Re: flat bottom / Jack plate

The fins and/or tabs are quite common.<br /><br />Fuel for your other fire -- torque and horsepower intersect at about 5250 rpm's.

 

[ddaigle]

Re: flat bottom / Jack plate

I have a 16 ft flatbottom with a 6 inch setback jackplate. As DHadley says it works well. I havent had any porpoising problems but these can usually be cured with the power trim if you have it. Be sure you dont jack so high you lose water pressure, my buddy fried his motor that way.

 

[tee-boy]

Re: flat bottom / Jack plate

ddaigle, is your flat bottom aluminum or fiberglass?

 

[ddaigle]

Re: flat bottom / Jack plate

Its alum., but its kind of an experiment. I like to mess around with boats and do different things. Its actually an old airboat that I reinforced the transom with aluminum and hung an outboard on, and it also has 3/8 polymer plastic screwed to the bottom. It really scoots and I can run over oysters, trees, rocks etc without hurting the bottom, Also I can slide it over mud flats about 2 inches deep.

 

[tee-boy]

Re: flat bottom / Jack plate

I can tell you fish in Texas. I'm from LA but live in TX now. The bays here definitly warrant a jackplate. What's the purpose of the plastic on the bottom?

 

[ddaigle]

Re: flat bottom / Jack plate

Im from Louisiann too, Houma, but Ive been in Texas for almost 40 years, guess that makes me a Texian. The plastic is what the airboats use so you can run across land , concrete ,whatever, its really slick like teflon, it was already on this boat so I left it on to see how it works. So far I really like it. Only problem is when I go to turn its kinda like driving on ice