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transomstand wrote:I've not asked Rich yet, but my guess would be Oct 17th for the River Run. No serious incidents in a number of years now, just the usual broken stuff.

That is Ronnie's old brown Viper, he has one now in a better color.

Hopefully I can make it this year. The last time I went there was one black Viper from CT that really stood out to me. I talked with the owners for a bit, but at the time I had just picked the boat up from NC and hadn't even driven it yet...I didn't really know what questions to ask. Now I have tons!

Ask away

transomstand wrote:Ask away

Sorry, I was in Michigan for the past few days and was not able to check the computer.

Unfortunately, the questions I have arise when I am driving the boat...Where should the jack plate be, should I continue to steer through the chine walk and continue to give it gas or should i let off the gas a bit, how high can I trim it up before it's too high?, ect. I guess these are questions I kind of have to answer myself, though, through experience.

put both your jack plate and motor on their highest holes ..
it walks less higher the engine
accelerate slowly, taking off full bore will be hard to control the walk off the start
as you accelarate trim your engine you only have a 115 i'd say trim all the way up
you'll feel the boat lift keep going till you lose it too far with the counter steering
calm water would be what you want till you get used to it

I believe you said you're not running a nose cone, so I can't recommend going to full height, although higher propshaft heights can help handling.

I think you have dual cable steering, let's make sure it's adjusted correctly. Grab your engine, and see if you can shake it side to side (you should not be able to). If you have zero play in the steering, next, address prop shaft height. Tape a string to the front of the V in the hull, run the string down the length of the bottom, just touching the rear of the pad and extend the string past the lower unit and tie it off to something. The string along the bottom should reveal a pronounced hook in the bottom of the hull, that's normal. With the prop off, level the prop shaft with the string. Adjust the jackplate/engine bolts until the prop shaft is about 2" below the string(if you had a cone, we would want to be higher).

At this point, your propshaft is 2" below the bottom, and your trim angle is neutral. Hop in the boat and sight the engine, noting the trim angle, this is the way the engine should be set while your learning. You need a water pressure gauge to insure you're getting enough water to the intakes, if not, you may have to lower the engine a bit.

Do you have a foot throttle?

transomstand wrote:I believe you said you're not running a nose cone, so I can't recommend going to full height, although higher propshaft heights can help handling.

I think you have dual cable steering, let's make sure it's adjusted correctly. Grab your engine, and see if you can shake it side to side (you should not be able to). If you have zero play in the steering, next, address prop shaft height. Tape a string to the front of the V in the hull, run the string down the length of the bottom, just touching the rear of the pad and extend the string past the lower unit and tie it off to something. The string along the bottom should reveal a pronounced hook in the bottom of the hull, that's normal. With the prop off, level the prop shaft with the string. Adjust the jackplate/engine bolts until the prop shaft is about 2" below the string(if you had a cone, we would want to be higher).

At this point, your propshaft is 2" below the bottom, and your trim angle is neutral. Hop in the boat and sight the engine, noting the trim angle, this is the way the engine should be set while your learning. You need a water pressure gauge to insure you're getting enough water to the intakes, if not, you may have to lower the engine a bit.

Do you have a foot throttle?

Thanks for the help...this is really good information.

1.I have dual steering cables. If I go to the back of the boat and move the engine, there is about one inch of play before I can't move the motor. But, if I go in the boat and move the steering wheel, there is about 3 to 4 inches of play until the motor actually moves.

2.I do have a foot pedal, and you are correct, there is no nose cone.

3.I have a water pressure gauge and trim gauge.

4.I think we are going to have issues with the position of the motor. I put the jack plate all the way up, did the string thing, and the center of the prop shaft is only 3 inches below the line. It seems that I will have to have the motor re-mounted at least one inch higher so that I can get to the minimal 2 inch mark.



If you look at the picture, you will see a piece of tape marking the prop shaft. The top of this piece of tape is the center of the prop shaft. There is a second horizontal piece of tape and the bottom of this piece of tape marks the transom string line. You will also notice a third piece of tape going vertically. The top of this tape is two inches above the prop shaft. As you can see, there is an inch space between the top of this piece of tape and the string line. So, if this two inch setting you have explained to me is the average/training level setting, then I am going to have to substantially raise the mounting position of the motor.

Here is a close up of the tape and string line:



The next picture shows a close up of the motor and how it is currently mounted on the jack plate. Notice the lowest of the 5 bolt holes. If i didn't have a jack plate, I would not be able to mount this motor at the correct height (two inch level) because the lowest bolt hole is higher than the transom. I don't know what this means, but it is extra information.

This picture shows the current motor mounting:



Thanks again for the help.

The 2" below is not critical, just a good starting point. You could easily go up a couple sets of holes on the engine height to get what you need. If pressure is still good, you can move up 1/4-1/2 inch at a time until pressure starts to drop.

The big deal is to get that steering adjusted. The best driver in the world can't drive it like that

I'll sort these two things out and keep you posted.

Thanks again and maybe I'll see you at the CT river run.

if you have a problem with the pressure you can plug the top 2 or 3 holes
helps a bit
i love the string idea
nice rig by the way,
close up shots look nice

transomstand wrote:I believe you said you're not running a nose cone, so I can't recommend going to full height, although higher propshaft heights can help handling.

I think you have dual cable steering, let's make sure it's adjusted correctly. Grab your engine, and see if you can shake it side to side (you should not be able to). If you have zero play in the steering, next, address prop shaft height. Tape a string to the front of the V in the hull, run the string down the length of the bottom, just touching the rear of the pad and extend the string past the lower unit and tie it off to something. The string along the bottom should reveal a pronounced hook in the bottom of the hull, that's normal. With the prop off, level the prop shaft with the string. Adjust the jackplate/engine bolts until the prop shaft is about 2" below the string(if you had a cone, we would want to be higher).

At this point, your propshaft is 2" below the bottom, and your trim angle is neutral. Hop in the boat and sight the engine, noting the trim angle, this is the way the engine should be set while your learning. You need a water pressure gauge to insure you're getting enough water to the intakes, if not, you may have to lower the engine a bit.


Do you have a foot throttle?

Thanks again for all of the help. I called Teleflex and they explained to me how to get play out of the steering mechanism. The play at the back of the motor is down to zero (was 1 inch) and the play at the steering wheel is around 1.5 - 2 inches. The Teleflex guy said 1.5 inches to each side is normal.

This week I am taking the boat to have the motor raised up on the jack plate. I am a teacher and school starts tomorrow, so hopefully I will be able to get out on the water before the end of the season.