Finally got back into Allison need help with my XB21

[R2SNinja]

Not new to Allison's but first time in the new forum. I learned to drive a boat in a XB2002/260 SS. I drove that to the tune of 100.3mph and that was fast enough to make my butt pucker up...so i decided I wanted to fish a little more tournaments and I could afford to sacrifice some speed. I sold the XB2002 and I bought a champion and then a Ranger and hated both them. Sold those and finally, i am back in a Allison XB21 and I couldn't be happier. Its loaded! It only has 3 hours on the stock SHO. still in break in mode so 55 mph so far lol. I am hoping to get to high 80 or low 90, Eventually. I was wondering if maybe you guys could help me out. The previous owner of my boat put the transducer on the planer (see picture below) right in front the the motor...so far it hasn't caused any issues but i have only been doing 55 mph.

• What about at higher MPH?
• Will it cut water pressure to the lower unit in the SHO?
• Do i need to move the transducer? and/or get a new planer?
• Will adding a hydrofoil help the SHO?
• As far as set up goes i haven't searched the forums yet but i will (don't worry Jon i read how to use the search option will tomorrow) but any input on that front would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks ahead of time and hopefully one of the days ill get to come hang out with everybody for WAR 2018

 

[BigRWater]

Your 1st and your current Allison are both beauties!
Congratulations.
You must be doing something right.
I have been preparing to order an XB 21 and I was going to see about Allison mounting a transducer on the planer.
Allsion won't factory install Humminbird electornic heads any longer, My hope is they will still install the Humminbird Solix tansducer for me.
Anyway welcome & congrats!
The Allison owners that have them on the planer will be along shortly.

 

[dubmoney]

Tim Powell will probably chime in on this issue. He is probably one of the best guys to talk to when it comes to set up, or fishing, or electronics, trolling motors etc. He had some issues with the transducer mounted on the skid planer. Depending on how low it sits, the ducer may disturb water flow to prop, possibly resulting in broken blades.

 

[dubmoney]

Cool I just saw that you are in Sacramento, I hope to see you at Shasta May 13th, to 19th. One notable difference is that you are running Yamaha, with the different shape lower unit, I think your set up will me more of a trial and error, which in my is what it comes down to anyway, because I believe that no two boats are the same, hulls are different out of the same mold, the lip on Allisons tend to run different etc...

 

[R2SNinja]

Your 1st and your current Allison are both beauties!
Congratulations.
You must be doing something right.
I have been preparing to order an XB 21 and I was going to see about Allison mounting a transducer on the planer.
Allsion won't factory install Humminbird electornic heads any longer, My hope is they will still install the Humminbird Solix tansducer for me.
Anyway welcome & congrats!
The Allison owners that have them on the planer will be along shortly.

Thank you. XB21 is the real deal. I love mine, I am really glad I bought this boat.

 

[R2SNinja]

Thanks for the response! I don’t think I am going to make it up to Shasta I am fishing the Bass pro shops open on Folsom lake the 19-20. Hopefully, for next years war I’ll make it to wherever they have it. Maybe by then I’ll have SHO dialed and running a little better than 55 mph.

 

[SLOmofo]

I will second what DubDub said...first thing I thought was the transducer is in the water flow before the prop. You need to make the WAR if only to let me drool on your boat.

 

[RiverRocket]

Beautiful boat and welcome to the club. I will be in Sacramento in a few weeks, if you want I can stop in and we can talk setup.

I would move the transducer to the side of the jackplate to get it out of the way of the water flowing to the lower if you are going to run your motor high and run it hard on the top end. To that end, (others can add more here) but I'm not sure anyone is running the yamaha lower in the 90's on an XB21. The few I have seen all have the sportsmaster. I'm not sure how high you will be able to go.

To give you an idea, the 250 mercs are running between 85-95 depending on load. A few are pushing beyond that.

On Mercs, the motor height is generally 1/4" over to 1" over depending on setback. My boat is a handful to drive if my motor is below the pad. I do all my running at 1" over and never touch the plate. The boat drives well at 1/2" over, but any lower and its not fun to drive. I have run 8", 8.5", 10", 10.5", and 12.5" of setback.

Balance side to side will be the key just like your 2002. I will say my boat runs right up into the high 90's with +/- 40lbs side to side. I believe engine height has a lot to do with that. When I run lower the side to side balance has to be closer. Load the boat up, they do an incredible job of handling weight. My fastest runs over 100 have all come with the boat loaded up.

I would keep your existing planner, no need to replace. I believe you have the original long version. I have the same one on my boat. The new ones are shorter. The cut out in it shouldn't hurt anything. The new ones have a similar cut out.

I have a foil on mine. It will help in certain situations. Do you have to have one, no. The skid planner does a lot of work and you motor is a beast out of the hole.

I texted Tim, he may have more to add. Tim owns Fastbass Marine and has a lot of experience with setup on your particular hull. https://fastbassmarine.com/

 

[JWolff]

The transducer looks like it would prevent you from trimming all the way under. Transducer shield makes a bracket that mounts that old style si transducer to the side of the jackplate. About $130 for adapter and bracket.
From what I remember about stock SHO lower units they can only get to about 85mph before blowing out. If you want more speed it will cost you for upgrades, like buying a sportmaster to put on your SHO. Speaking of upgrades, doesn't take much to turn that motor into a 350ish hp monster. A guy on here did it but he had a sportmaster for the high 90's speed. Look for Steve N Becky Jarrells (SCJ on here?) on facebook. He had the one I am talking about. He can answer your sportmaster questions.

 

[Tim Powell]

Congrats!

First off, you need to remove the transducer from the skid planer. It was brought to my attention by Lee Sanderson, I removed mine per his recommendation and I picked up water pressure, handling, and most importantly I stopped cracking props. Todd at Hydromotive kept saying that there was something in the harmonics that was causing my props to crack in the exact same way each time. I removed the transducer last spring and I haven't cracked a prop since. I have put well over 2,000 miles on the boat since removing it... before I couldn't go 2 months without cracking a prop or slinging a blade

Also it's my understanding that the stock SHO gearcase haa been proven by Allison to blow out at 85 pretty regularly. You will need a Sportmaster conversion to run above those speeds.

I had major problems when running a foil and a Hydromotive X-O/B. I lost 6 mph and the boat became a handful to drive. I removed the foil and gained 6 mph back and all of my handling. I will say the foil did not cause any issues with a Promax and my 29 labbed promax ran it's best number with the foil on. I just like the X-O/B's, Todd is a great friend, and they do exactly what I want so i took the foil off and gave it to a friend with a Bullet.

I also went from 8" setback with 1/2" wedge to a 10" jackplate with no wedge. I have the stock lip and my boat seems to really love the 10" setback. Itll carry the heck out of a tournament load. I can carry 2 fat boys, all our crap, full fuel, and full livewell at 95-96 in the heat of the summer.

Geoff (River Rocket) is a wealth of information because of all of the data logging he does.

 

[R2SNinja]

Wow. Thanks for all the information, I’ll have to check into moving the transducer and getting the set up just right for what I got. I need to get my power poles mounted too. Look forward to meeting you all at some point in time. Maybe WAR 2019 will be in the cards for me. Riverrocket if you want to come and give me some pointers while your in sac I could PM you my contact info. That would be great! Thank you!

 

[SLOmofo]

Just how far is it to Shasta from Sacramento. Sounds like a day trip to me.

 

[R2SNinja]

Just how far is it to Shasta from Sacramento. Sounds like a day trip to me.

I wish man 3 hours drive in my rig is to long for day trip lol.

 

[SLOmofo]

Next year.