Rooster Tail

Trey · January 24, 2005, 12:49:12 PM

What's the deal with rooster tails? I know they look cool, but I always heard that it means your boat isn't set up properly. Is that true? It seems to me that you have the motor trimmed up too far or the jack plate is too high, and that you are loosing thrust being shot into the air instead of out the back of the boat. I know that racing boats that don't have anything but the lower unit in the water throw a big rooster tail, but what about on bass boats?

Trey

bass1cpr · January 24, 2005, 01:30:17 PM

Your wright Trey if you've got a rooster tail your over trimmed throwing power in the air. The only baots that throw a big roostertail are the unlimited hydroplanes and V-drives. Most Race boats have a roostetail about the height of the motor or just a little above it. Thats where it should be. They do look cool thou but if you check your prop after you've been throwing a big rooster tail you will probably notice the the blade surface looks rough. That's from the boiling water that is pitting your prop.

kevin dahlke · January 24, 2005, 02:19:23 PM

Bass1cpr is right as I just seen a show on TV that walked through setting up the motor on a boat. They said that the rooster tail should be as high as the cowling on the motor. Anything over that, you are catching to much air and spinning the prop over the RPMs. Was an interesting show.

Kevin D

dave the dope man · January 24, 2005, 05:29:14 PM

Look over on one of Rich's boards. there is a thread about proper set up and prop to pad measurement's. I am here to tell you that after I took his advise and raised my outboard, I picked up about 2.5 mph GPS. I am still a little low right now, but happier. Before I didn't have any kinda RT, now I am just about mid-engine high.....Dave

Steve Barnett · January 24, 2005, 10:04:29 PM

That show was the "Strike King Pro Team Journal" and that episode will re-air on May 3 & 8 on Outdoor Life Network (OLN).
A really good informative show on high performance boat set-up.

Steve Barnett
Booneville MS

Trey · January 26, 2005, 09:59:53 AM

So if I don't ahve a roostertail now, does that mean that my motor is too low? Should I keep going up? I have only adjusted my jack plate once and left it there. I still have plenty of water press left.

Trey

The Witchdoctor · January 26, 2005, 11:48:06 AM

General rule of thumb, go up onthe plate till you lose either water pressure or speed( speed usually comes first, then go DOWN 1/4". This should be close.

bass1cpr · January 31, 2005, 08:09:42 PM

Trey what kind of hull do you have and what kind of motor do you have. Witchdoctors got the right rule of thumb for a high performance rig setup with a surfacing type propeller.

TNFISHRMAN · February 01, 2005, 06:21:44 AM

Trey, Listen to the Witchdoctor. He has the right idea.

Trey · February 03, 2005, 11:26:27 AM

I've got a 19' Tidecraft with a 200 Merc EFI. Right now with 1/2 tank of gas and bymyself I can get 70; with two people it drops to 67 or 68. I found that when I bought the boat, the jackplate was set to 6 inches below the pad!!!

I reset it to 3 inches below and gave it a test run. I enjoyed the results, so I havent messed with it. I do plan on tweaking it a little bit now that the weather is getting warmer and the tournament season is starting back up. Might as well get what you paid for out of it!

Trey

bass1cpr · February 03, 2005, 11:37:30 AM

Trey raise er up.

Jitterbug · February 03, 2005, 03:06:57 PM

Trey, always remember when tweeking that the warmer the water the thiner the water. So, if you wait till it gets warmer wheather to tweek your rig you won't be satisfied next fall and its always tougher on the hands in cold weather when wet

BIG PAPA · February 05, 2005, 06:20:51 PM

As a rule of thumb would you say a high roostertail is the result of a too high or too low prop to pad setting. Mine is probably 15 ft. higher than my motor

and I am not likely to give that up

but am curious. I hear people saying if you over trim you lose speed, that may be righ if you are set up right in the first place. But where I am now Full trim gives me more speed than any other position as soon as I touch the trim button down I lose speed. So I must be in the wron position prop to pad.

papa

Trey · February 14, 2005, 09:27:35 AM

Papa,
What kind of boat and motor are you running? How fast are you going at what kind of loads?

Trey

dave the dope man · February 15, 2005, 10:08:55 PM

trey, Papa has been under the weather for a few days (weeks), so it may be a while till he posts. He has a Tidecraft Wildfire with an '03 Merc XR-6. That boat will run though. He has a pretty good load in there also....Dave

What was the price for that SMI Prosecutor we talked about last week? ..... Dave

Trey · February 17, 2005, 06:26:46 AM

Dave,

I don't remember what the full out price of that Prosecutor was, but he was going to sell me just the boat and trailer. I was going to put my motor on there and be done with it. That price was around $12k for a 20 foot boat!

Trey

dave the dope man · February 18, 2005, 09:16:50 PM

Got it. I am not looking for one really now.Especailly now that I am going to be off work for an unknow amount of time after this next surgery......If though, I get in a bind, I may have to go that route someday.........Dave

BIG PAPA · February 18, 2005, 10:06:16 PM

Quote from: dave the dope man on February 15, 2005, 10:08:55 PM
trey, Papa has been under the weather for a few days (weeks), so it may be a while till he posts. He has a Tidecraft Wildfire with an '03 Merc XR-6. That boat will run though. He has a pretty good load in there also....Dave

What was the price for that SMI Prosecutor we talked about last week? ..... Dave

Thanks Dave! about 1/2 mile per hour slower than Dave's boat $:-\$

papa

dave the dope man · February 18, 2005, 10:08:20 PM

That can't be right! $:-\$ ....Dave