tiller stearing on my jon boat question.

[trolling4king]

I got a jon boat over the summer, Its flat bottom with v looking hull "Mirror Craft Brand Name" It has a Johnson 15 hp 1987 on it. I have never owned a jon boat and need some info ohh yeah its the tiller stearing also. Ok when i get it on plane the stearing get's very hard when turning, now if i move the pin up for plane setting it stears fine but its like riding in the ocean but the water is not rough. Only when i get it to ride smooth is when the thing stears hard....Is it something else i need to try to fix this? Thanks

 

[erwinner]

Re: tiller stearing on my jon boat question.

I've got a 14' semi-v with a 15 hp and I think when the bow is up as you're going slowly there's not a lot of force going around the hull, making it easy to turn, but when you get on plane and the bow goes down the keel has a lot of pressure holding it in line, making it harder to turn. Mine does about what you've described and I don't mind one bit! You don't want to turn too fast in these little things unless you want to do a flip! If I need to turn more quickly I cut the throttle down.

 

[DuckHunterJon]

Re: tiller stearing on my jon boat question.

Sounds like you are at the sweet spot between porposing and plowing. I don't think there's much you are going to do with trim. Possibly a different prop, but I'm not sure.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: tiller stearing on my jon boat question.

hard steering may indicate you are plowing. Try shifting things around in the boat to get the bow up a little. As you altready tried, moving up one hole is too high and you porpoise.
Or set it up one hole then move the gas tank forward to eliminate the porpoise. Can you also change where you sit? I assume you don't have a battery.
How long is the boat?

 

[kfa4303]

Re: tiller stearing on my jon boat question.

You may also want to try adjusting the height of your motor such that the anti-cavitation plate is level, or even slightly higher than the keel. The anti-cavitation plate should actually be just barely out of the water when you're on plane. You can adjust the height of the motor by loosening the transom clamp, then raising the motor to the desired height, then tightening them back down. The transom clamp doesn't need to rest on the transom to do it's job properly. Give this a try along with the other selections and let us know what you find.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: tiller stearing on my jon boat question.

good advice, which reminds me: tie the motor to the boat, too.