help with new boat

[Bryan Fary]

i have just purchased a 2000 nitro nx882sc with merc. 150 xr6 motor. when i test drove the boat, it had very little gas in the tank and hopped right out of the water. i put 3/4 of a tank of fuel and when i gave it throttle, the nose rose up and i thought the boat was going to flip over on me. it finally got up on plane and ran great. the original owner changed the standard prop. with a 24 pitch 4 blade prop. my old boat is a 1998 pro team 185 with a 50hp on it that always jumped out of the water. am i just imagining that something is wrong with my new nitro or what?



thanks,

bryan

 

[Texas Transplant]

You are experiencing several things, most notably, learning a new 'ride'. I am going through it myself.



Yes, if you test drove it with little or no gas in it, minimal gear, no live wells full, it will likely respond differently. Since the gas tanks are in the rear, loading one up (not sure how many gallons it has) at 8lbs per gallon, will make a difference.



Also makes a big difference 'how' you put it on plane, and how the individual boat does. My new Stratos (95 w/150hp Rude) operates much like you described if I try to 'ease it up on plane'. However, if I stick my foot in it, it jumps right up and gets to 20mph + very quickly.



As others have commented to me, it takes 'seat time'.



Best of luck and congratulations on the new ride.



Tex

 

[Bryan Fary]

If i stand on mine, it seems to struggle more getting on plane. If i slowly ease into the throttle and get it going then get into the gas, it seems to do better, but it is still fairly slow. I have been reading about jack plates and all that, but didn't want to mess with anything until i do some good research. Just kind of scares the wife and kids when the nose shoots up in the air when you aren't used to it.

 

[Jim B]

tex is right. I have the same boat as you and you do need to mash the throttle to get it on plane quickly. I run a 23 tempest on mine and believe it or not i find it planes much better with the tempest then it did with a 4 bladed prop.

 

[Texas Transplant]

Bryan,



The first time out with the boat, my wife just about got out and walked. That 'bow rise' really freaked her out. Didn't do much for me either.



Others here, with more specific experience with your boat/setup, will chime in here. Take it out by yourself, and try different routines. Also, talk to the previous owner. He probably has more insight that he's willing to share that will be beneficial.



Tex

 

[Kenny Lively]

Bryan,



That prop seems to be a little much for a 150, a lot of the bigger engines (200's & 225's) are running 25 3 blades. and a 24 4 blade may be to much for the engine. probably a 23 tempest would do great on it. What is your wot, full trim, RPMs? Also if your prop has some plugs you might try removing 2 of them, this will let it ventilate and allow the prop to turn more R's on take off.

 

[Not_Scott S.]

Bryan, sounds like the previous owner had the boat set up incorrectly. I am by no means an expert, but I've experienced the same thing. I have a simiar ride (Savage 884 w. 150), and the previous owner had it overpropped with a 25P Tempest, and motor height was way off. Mine did the same thing you're describing. I tried all kinds of props, and what Jim B. says is right on the money. The Tempest was the best performing prop (23 pitch). For the money a jackplate can't be beat. I'd highly recommend adding one. It'll effectively lengthen your boat by 6", and give your motor better leverage. You might also check your motor height. A good place to start is with the motor shaft 3.5" below your pad. To measure this, level your pad, and trim the motor so your cavitation plate is level. Measure from the ground to your pad, and from the ground to the center of your prop shaft. I've messed with every setting imagineable, and this height performs the best on my setup. Of course, without a jackplate you won't be able to easily adjust, but I'd measure to see where you're at. Moving the motor up or down a bolt hole might help.

With my existing setup (6" Pro Hijacker, prop shaft 3.5" under pad, and adding a T&H hole shot plate (best $30 I've spent), I'm usually on plane in 3-5 seconds). You have a lot of considerations, but I'd look 1st at your prop. Good luck.

 

[Jim B]

fyi the nx 882 should come with a 8" plate standard from the factory. the propshaft should be 3" below the pad, on my 882 that was on the lowest hole in the motor and the lowest hole on the plate. with that setup my 882 just flies out of the hole if im alone. I had some prop blueprinting done as well and the motor is now as high as it will go and the holeshot is even better.

 

[Michael Snow]

Bryan, if you decide to dump that 4 blade (assuming it's a trophy plus), shoot me an email. I need one of those. I haven't come to grips with paying $380 for a new one yet.

 

[Kraig Clement]

I have a 882 with a tempest 3 blade 24 w/ a efi 150 and my boat has a great hole shot and runs mid 60's gps

The 4 blade seems to be to much for the motor.... at full throttle with full trim up, how many rpms are you turning.... next time your out take a few notes!

Also try to trim it down a bit more for the hole shot.



Kraig

 

[Bryan Fary]

at wot, trimmed up as far as it will go, the boat runs about 5700 rpms. who knows how fast that is, the speedo isn't working....which leads to my next question? how the heck do you clean out the garbage out of the speedo input? i have cleaned out as far as a small drill bit will reach tried to blow air backwards from the speedometer in the dash. still no speed readout. any suggestions?



thanks,

bryan

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Bryan,



First off "at wot, trimmed up as far as it will go", is not proper use of the trim. For my best performance (a 929), my trim indicator reads less than 1/4. If you are trimming all the way up you run the risk of blowing your motor. Not being critical but you can't run like that.



TOXIC

 

[Jim B]

Tox why not trim out all the way? Trimming alone isnt going to blow the motor, as long as there is water pressure and its not grossly overeving it should be fine. On my 882 if i dont trim it all the way i dont get enough bow lift and its slow. Im running right about 5600rpm and i get 25# of pressure. My motor has over 100 hours on it with no issues. Believe it or not if you lug or bog the motor its worse then overreving it because it puts a lot of load on the crankshaft. If trimming blows motors i should have cooked my old evinrude 10x over on my old champ. I ran that thing 6k all day long trimmed to the max and never had a motor problem, ever. The guy i sold it to still runs it the same way and it still runs like a swiss watch.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Jim,



I'm just saying that "all the way up" on my 929 would not give me the best performance. If you trim too far up you will get low water pressure and "blow out" your prop. Maybe "all the way up" needs to be defined. On my 929, all the way up is at the 1/4 mark any furthur and bad things begin to happen. I'm not lugging either. At 1/2 trim, I would not be able to steer and would have very little water pressure. at 3/4 I would be shooting a 30 foot rooster tail and would more than likely blow my motor.



TOXIC

 

[Jim B]

Wow tox. thats strange. on my 882 i can trim up until the motor will not trim anymore. My prop bites and i dont get any blowout at all no matter how far i trim. at full trim and wot i get mabye a 3' rooster tail thats it. My prop has been blueprinted but it was like that stock, it just bites better now at all speeds and cornering. I dont know about your motor but mine will trim out until the end of the two small rods at max trim and mo more at anything over 2500rpm, with it trimmed out that far i get 25# of water and about 5600 rpm. my old boat was much the same way, im not sure if its something not allowing it to trim or the tilt rod isnt strong enough to go any further but it wont. i dont know what the gauge reads, I dont bother to look at the gauge because mine isnt too accurate anyway.

 

[Dan J.]

Tox - Uhhh, you sure 'bout that? (LOL!) I think you're confusing your in-dash indicator with the trimming of the motor. Properly trimmed, your needle should look about 1/3-1/2 up from fully tucked in. Does this make sense?

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Dan,



That's what I'm saying (I think). Last time I checked, my in dash was an accurate measure of where my motor was in trim. My needle is at 1/4 for maximum operating. I assumed when they were talking full trim "as far as it would go" would be above that.?.?.



TOXIC

 

[Jack Long]

Tox, My 929 runs best at 1/4 up on the trim, just like you said, but when I had my 896 with a 200, it would run best at full trim, as far as it would go. Every boat and motor is a little different and you just have to play with them to find the best combination. Later<>< <>< <>< <>< Jack

 

[Kenny Lively]

Tox,

Full trim is all the motor will go at high rpms.



WOT, full trim seems to be the benchmark for proper prop selection and setup. To be properly setup one wants the engine to be turning in the high rpm range recommended by the maufacturer at WOT full trim. Grant it some rigs perform better w/ the engine tucked a little. But to be efficient you need to be as fast as you can, as close to the max reccommended rpms.

I had to lower my engine 1 1/2" lower than it was from factory to get most efficiency. I too was blowing out and turning to many R's at first, at WOT full trim, lowered 1 1/2" gained 3mph and full use of my positive trim. Positive trim along w/prop is what creates bow lift, more bow lift the faster you go less boat in the water, thus more efficient. In fact I put trim extenders on my new 225 to get a little more positive trim. I don't think the newer Mercury's have enough trim. Just my $.02 worth.

 

[Carlos Hathcock III]

Tox,

I have a 170Tf and cannot trim past 1/4 needle or I also get prop blowout. Runs best at just below the 1/4 mark



Carlos

 

[Staci Matheis]

Cover that trim gauge up.....

Go by how the boat feels.....

Let The Force guide you, Luke Skywalker!

 

[Bill McElroy]

ummmScott,...it's,.."Chinewalker,.....Luke Chinewalker!"..

Darth Wader

 

[Staci Matheis]

ROFLMAO!!!!!

Mac, you are warped!

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

So I guess they were talking about all the way up as in Holeshot and the motor tucked all the way up in the "down" position? The termenology was eluding me. When I take off I have to trim DOWN..... all the way DOWN.....then bring it UP until I get neutral steering and max RPM's. I go too far UP (thet's what the arrow on my throttle handle says LOL) and I get blowout and blown motor......



TOXIC

 

[Dan J.]

Tox - If you can over trim your motor to blowout point @WOT you might want to consider re-adjusting your plate. AT WOT trimmed all the way up on that hull you should hold a min. of 12-15psi. (Granted, after full trim @ WOT, I bump up and down with the motor and the jackplate until it "feels" right to me, always watching my PSI.) If you can trim all the way up, creating chine-walk, loss of water pressure, and over-revving, it sounds like you might want to spend a little time putting her on and off the bunks to set the plate closer to factory recomended operating spec's. Although your configuration can do 70-ish properly set up, you will gain all around performance and economy, setting your rig to peak, even if you prefer running at lower, more comfortable, RPM's. Just my experience with these hulls.

 

[Texas Transplant]

Great comment Mac! Congrats on the 'signing', whatever it is. We'll be waiting to here. We live through others successes!



Tex