Home › Forums › Bass Cat Boats › 2008 Classic setup questions
lreddmann.
I have a 2008 Classic dual console with a 200 Opti, 3 blade 26p Tempest. The motor has approx 6 hours on it and it has a manual jack plate. The best top end i can get is 68mph with 2 adults in the boat. At this speed the boat starts to chine walk a bit as well. I think my rpms are just above 5500, but i would have to check this again. The dealer recommended this prop. Should i raise the motor a bit….? How much? Does anyone else run this setup and what top end do they get? How do adjust a manual jack plate? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read my post. As well,,,what is pro air and how does it work. When i push the pro air button is does not seem to do anything, it does not click.
You need to get the driving part down before you go messing with anything. Yes, you probably can raise the engine 1/4″, but its not going to eliminate the chine walk and it may not increase your top end speed. When you get the chine walking out of the way, the boat is probably going to pick up 2-3 mph and its likely to increase your rpms as well. To adjust the jack plate………….loosen the 4 bolts on the side and turn the center bolt on top clockwise to raise/counter clockwise to lower. I assume you have a pro air button on your touch pad. You may or may not have that, but it probably has to do with an extra livewell fill pump or livewell pump out.
Thx for the quick reply Phil. This is my first bass boat so i had an experienced driver run the boat for me. With him and i in it the best we got was 68 with the engine trimmed all the way it would go and at this speed it started to chine. I read alot of the guys on the board run a 25p Tempest. Is my 26 a bad choice. I believe all of the plugs are in the prop as well.
your 26 is not a bad choice as long as you can turn 5500+. sounds like your experienced driver needs to learn to drive as well. all hp boats are going to chine walk. with driver input none will chine. when chine is eliminated speed increases! By the way, after trimming all the way out, trim down a click or two and see if your speed increases. My bet is that it will!
Once you get a bit of seat time to learn that rig, then you can start tweaking the set up. We would usually prefer a Trophy on an Opti, though some like a Tempest and the hull can work with either. BCB
First thing that catches my eye (again) is “with the motor trimmed all the way up…” That doesnt correlate very well with “experienced driver”. rarely is full trim the best setting. you want the motor perpendicular to the water. If you run a bit nose high, then it might be harder to visually recognize this point, but the motor needs to be vertical with respect to the water, not the hull. The prop shaft needs to be parallel to the surface of the water. Full trim increases rooster tail. And if you are mathematically inclined. max thrust is produced with the thrust line (prop shaft) at zero degrees with respect to the direction of travel. or thrust = cos(propshaft angle to water) * prop thrust. At an angle of zero, you get 100% of prop thrust driving the boat forward. If you change the angle to even 1 degree, then cos(angle) is less than 1.0 and you start losing thrust… Keep it at zero. If you have too much hull wetted, then move the center of gravity rearward rather than using trim angle to hold the bow up.2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200
What Ive found on my Sabre is keeping the trim just above neutral (about 6.3 on the Smartcraft) gives me the best mph and the least chine walk. For anyone driving a cat for the first time, floor it at take off and let it plane when it maxes speeed out at 0 trim, bump the trim up a little more. Keep doing this until the boat starts to chime a little, then a slight bump down from there. The hulls on a BassCat are not like any of the other boats Ive owned. Most other brands will only start to “lift” after you apply lots of positive trim. My Sabre and the PIII I used to own, lift more and more as the boat speed increases WITHOUT adding any more trim. Kind of hard to explain in a post but experienced Cat owners will know what Im talking about. Enjoy your new Cat !
Thanks for your replies. So..i should reach full speed with no trim and then start to bump it up slowly until i feel it start to chine and then bump it down slightly to reduce or eliminate the chine.? From here, should this be the max speed of my boat with its current setup? If Im only getting 5500 rpm on an Opti (when the max is 5750) should i then tinker with raising it slightly on the jack plate?These maybe be novice questions…but that what i am. Thx guys.
assuming your motor is past the break in period, you would not dive wide-open w/no trim at all. Increase trim so motor is about level after coming on plane. I go to about 4,000 or 4,500 rpm trim up more until the rooster tail is just lower than the motor cowling-(as long as the water pressure is good and not decreasing) then increase speed until wide open using your left hand for “chine walk” corrections (which while your learning will happen), if it does trim down first before backing off of the throttle and start the process over. Theres a pretty good learning aid on u-tube from smallmouthguy on driving tips w/video. Always watch water pressure guage, I would have to believe there is no way to trim all the way up and maintain 15psi. good luck. John
I subscribe to what Old Timer said. I got a bubble and seems like my shaft is at 90 degrees when my trim gauge is just slightly to the left of the 1/4 mark on the trim gauge on the trim. I dont have smartcraft. This is the point where I get the least amount of steering torque as well. My inner plate is just a shade below my outer plate on the jack plate and my prop shaft is just a shade more the 3.5″ below the pad. I also run the 26 Tempest and feel it does a fine job. I get some movement that I have to control about 68, but it goes on up to 71 or 72 mph. I am realtivley new at this as well, and may not have any idea of what I am talking about and thought about raising my plate, but I dont tourney fish out of my boat and rarely go over 45. Pops out of the hole like a champ, stays on pad at low speeeds, so why mess with it. BTW, I am getting more rpms than you, right at 5750, maybe it will come when engine loosens up. These guys know alot more about boats than i do, but this has been my experience so far.
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