Some pics and some setup questions

[aj06bolt12r]

97 2003 XB, No lip on pad
JSRE Promax 7200 REV Limit, Brucatto ACU
14" Setback, Hydraulic Jack Plate, Stock Sportmaster, 27p Hydromotive 4 Blade
Hydraulic steering with very little play
Minn Kota Maxxum Trolling Motor, 2 batteries in front of gas tank one on each stringer, fishing rods and tackle, small cooler, 25lbs of ballast on port side
Balances on pad well.
Top speed WOT trimmed past point where trim = more speed is 85MPH at 6800RPM. Very little rooster tail. Prop shaft even with the pad.

Long explanation.

So, I'm a rookie pad pilot, this Allison is my first pad v boat. I've only been able to drive on pad for about 2 trips out now. Maybe have 8-10 hrs seat time? ISH? So my butt gauge may not be very well calibrated yet but I'm going to try to explain what I think is going on.

P.O. was running prop-shaft above pad with light load in boat, 1 battery, no troller, no fishing stuff.

Since I'm a newb and trying not to hook myself into 40* water and because I have added weight to the boat I have been trying to learn to drive with the propshaft about 1/4" below pad. I finally got the hang of balancing on the pad consistently and can run WOT now. With the prop shaft 1/4" below the pad and trimmed what I think is optimal I can run 85 MPH and feel pretty stable at WOT. Looks like 6500-6600 RPM I think.. Very little rooster tail. Boat running almost level. I didn't try any more trim with this set up. Ran out of daylight and put it on the trailer happy with my new PB speed.

Next time out I tried raising the jack plate to even with the pad and trimmed to what feels like optimal to me. Still very little rooster tail. Now when speed approaches 80mph I can see and feel the bow running lower as speed increases. Still top speed of 85mph. Next run I decided to try more trim. So got it back up to 85 holding it wide open and bumped the trim up 3 good times. I didn't gain any speed or bow rise but boat felt less stable in ass end and got all crazy on me when I went to slow down, washing decals and all that good stuff. Probably my fault. Looked like about 6800rpm before I let off. Is it possible I turned 2-3 hundred more RPM without gaining any speed?

I'm also getting some of what I think is prop walk going on too. Meaning that when I am running flat out and balanced the boat wants to turn gradually to the right. It takes steering to the left to go straight which means I have to "drive" more to stay balanced on the pad.

I'm thinkin I am either maxxed out for this setup or I need to go back down with jack plate and try more trim with what should equal more prop bite?

What say you?

Attached some pics from last trip out... because, we all like boat pics right?

 

[Rick Propst]

i had the same experience with my xb2003 no lip this is what i discovered for me, when i was 1/4 below the boat was not getting on the pad and my water pressure was almost 30 pounds so i have talked to a few people that have run these boats with no lip at all, was told to run 1 3/8 above pad as soon as i did that she started getting on the pad and now my water pressure is 16psi,, when you said you went up with motor and she got out of shape on you and you let off and it got worse thats when she was running right, when she is on the pad you will have to keep pressure on the wheel to the left and the small inputs to the right to balance her, when letting off let off slowly and put even more pressure to the left (almost like you are turning) and slow down,, my advice is get someone down there that has the same boat and ride with you or you ride with them,,

 

[stuart gary]

sounds familiar , I was 2" above pad and boat would not respond well at all. slowly went down and found that 1/2" above pad had really good control and response. running 16" set back with 26p 4 blade hydromotive 6400 rpm 82mph changed prop to 26p 3 blade mercury chopper and gained 3-4mph and 400 rpm. running with trolling motor and without is a completely different animal. seat time is usually the best fix

 

[aj06bolt12r]

sounds familiar , I was 2" above pad and boat would not respond well at all. slowly went down and found that 1/2" above pad had really good control and response. running 16" set back with 26p 4 blade hydromotive 6400 rpm 82mph changed prop to 26p 3 blade mercury chopper and gained 3-4mph and 400 rpm. running with trolling motor and without is a completely different animal. seat time is usually the best fix

Just for clarification here, are you saying that you had the boat running well at 2" above the pad... Then you added a trolling motor and to get the boat to run well with the added weight on the bow you ended up at 1/2" above the pad?

Just trying to get an understanding. I have read many times that these boats with the lip sanded off want the prop shaft above the pad, but then again I don't know what effect adding weight to the bow has on that either. From reading about other peoples set ups it would seem like I need to go up with jack plate for sure.

But going from 1/4" below to even did nothing good for my set up. Less responsive to trim. Rear of the boat seems like to wants to skate around more, mostly to the left which steers the boat to the right. It's not rolling on its side mind you, I can keep it level with a little steering input but the boat wants to pivot clockwise which is kind of unnerving.

But if the consensus is that I need to keep going up with the jack plate I will give it a shot, just don't want to get wet. I don't think water pressure will be an issue at 1/4" above the pad.

I also have a 3 blade 28p hoss cut chopper I can try, but from what I read it should be less forgiving to drive.

 

[stuart gary]

boat DID NOT run 2 inches above the pad and blew up the motor. try everything once before doing more than one thing at a time. too many changes at one time doesn't point to what the fix would be.

 

[Wickpan103]

put .030 of pencil roll back on and start at 1/4" below pad. hydromotive 4 does not like to be out of water. are you after 100mph are you fishing with a tournament load?

 

[Wickpan103]

give me a call 3304885155

 

[aj06bolt12r]

Thanks for the help guys... I'll take a straight edge to this pad and see exactly what I have going on. I'd like to be in the 90's with a fishing load.

 

[aj06bolt12r]

So to add to this story for anyone who is curious or has found this thread trying to set up their own ride.. here is what I have found.

First I was not actually dealing with no lip. On closer inspection I was dealing with a small lip that someone had attempted to repair and did not get perfect. I took a block to it with some sandpaper and removed all of it and got it as perfect as I could.

At the same time I noticed that the Allison/ TH marine hydraulic jack plate had a ton of slop in the slide pins/ bolts. So I decided to tighten the bolts down to remove all of the play and just back them off if I want to adjust engine height for now.

I'm also running the 28 chopper with the hoss cut now.... Man this thing is a whole different boat. So much easier to drive and so much more forgiving on pad. I can actually drive in the upper 80's without being lazer focused on steering inputs and can actually look around at my gauges and such. Huge confidence boost.

I still need to get the engine higher I think to get any more speed. I'm currently running 88.6mph at about 6500rpm with 2 people. About 25psi water pressure. Somewhere close to 1/4" above pad.

 

[GotMyAlly]

Just curious, why the desire to run no-lip at all?

The lip is there to raise the stern of the boat and carry the load with less hp. Unless you have too much stern lift, or big power (ie., 300 drag) that is capable of pushing the boat well into triple digits, I've found some lip to perform better on boats set up to fish.

 

[aj06bolt12r]

I don't necessarily desire to run no lip. But up until now I had been running a poorly repaired lip... and that was more of a problem than I knew. I just thought I was bad at driving because I never had a pad-v performance hull before.. I did my research and knew there was a learning curve so I expected to face some frustration.

But now, with it totally gone and therefore at least even and uniform.. the boat drives so very much better. The stress level of waiting for the boat to bite me for what seems to me like no reason is virtually gone. I'd really like to drive another '03 with a perfect factory lip for a few hours and see what that is like.

It is also true that the slide pins/bolts in my hydraulic jack plate had a lot of slop in them. I tightened them down to remove any play at the same time as I removed what was left of the lip... So I cannot 100% attribute the newfound drivability improvements the lip alone.