Tracker 2072 Cc Sportsman - Adding Manual Jackplate

[zwlexington]

Hello all!

I have a 2018 Tracker 2072 CC Sportsman with the Mercury 150 4-Stroke and love the boat, but during the summer it can be a wet ride in choppy water. With 1000lbs of bow fishing deck and lights on the bow it seems to push the bow down and into the waves.

I was wondering if adding a 8-10” manual Jackplate to the back of the boat would change the balance of the boat and give the bow more lift to cut through the waves instead of plowing through the waves. Is anyone running a similar setup on their sportsman or boat in general and can say that they have seen an improvement in the ride by adding a setback plate?

 

[Larry Williams]

My experience with this tells me that you will not make any improvement to this issue with a jack plate. There may be a wedge plate that you can install that will increase the angle of the motor so that you get some extended trim angle. That might improve your ride by holding the bow slightly higer. A Jackplate won't increase the thrust angle that you need to improve performance. When you suggest an extra 1000 pounds- that's an extreme weight to deal with- if that's out front on the boat, I don't think you can offset that any way...