Top Speed Waco 2050-16

[Bob La Londe]

What height to do mount your outbaord at for best speed? Are there are a lot of jon boat owners here. I am running a Waco 2050-16 jon boat with the console and high transom for a 50HP rating. <br /> <br />Waco 2050-16 MFG Page <br /><br />The one in this picture has the low transom and is only rated fro 35HP, but it works for illustration purposes.<br /> <br />

<br /><br /> <br />I am mostly referring to the height of the cavitation plate relative to the hull. <br /><br />I also wonder if it would be worth adding a bracket and moving the motor back 4 or 6 inches from the transom. <br /> <br />Any idea or suggestions are welcome.<br /> <br />With a whale tail I get from 29-31mph (27-28 with a full tournament load) out of it with a 1990 Force 50 right now, but I have been told people are getting 35-38 with a good load and a 50HP motor. <br /> <br />If anybody is interested I can post some pictures of mine as rigged.

 

[Bob La Londe]

Re: Top Speed Waco 2050-16

I think I'll try a manual jack plate and getting rid of the whale tail and going with smart tabs instead.

 

[Bob La Londe]

Re: Top Speed Waco 2050-16

I just went out and measured the distance betweent he bottom of the hull and the cavitation plate. Two and a half inches. I think I can gain some speed by putting the motor up to the correct height.

 

[Bob La Londe]

Just to give you guys a heads up. When I raise that Force I got 34-35 pretty consistently. I set the cav plate as close to the bottom of the transom as the existing holes would allow.

I changed out that old Force 50 to a Mercury 50 ELPTO with a jack plate in 2005, and once I got it dialed in I hit 46.2 MPH on the GPS with 2 guys in the boat and 8-10 inches of chop on the water. I repeated that speed a couple times in different directions. It ran over 40 with almost any load after that. Screaming fast for a flat bottom jon boat without exceeding its rating. Sadly a few years later the boat came off the trailer and had to be repaired. Its never run over 40 since. Now I'm looking for a new one. Figured I'd scrap this one and transfer all my rigging over to a new one if I can find one. Well for now I am still fishing out of it. My welds are holding. LOL.

I just decided to post this update to help somebody else down even though nobody ever helped me. Best of luck future reader who stumbles across this old post.