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Is anyone running motor wedges as of now? I have a 23 Contender Open that gives me some porposing issues when running in flat seas, and talked with Ken at Propgods, said that while I need to raise the motors, putting on wedges wouldn't hurt either. Just wanting to know what you gained form the wedges?
On the older 25s(1997-2005 or 6 or so) the wedges do this: Wedges do nothing directly to eliminate porpoising. Indirectly, wedges allow you to raise the engines higher and not have problems at non porpoising speeds(slow speeds). Raising the motors helps eliminate porpoising, at higher speeds. But without wedges installed you might(almost certainly) screw up the slower speed traits, if you raise the engines.
I put wedges on my 25 a long time ago. They make the boat run so nice in average semi crappy sea conditions. The typical sea conditions where I'm trying to make around 18-25 knots. In reality, if you bought the boat to fish and not to run around the intracoastal on flat calm summer days, you will, spend virtually all your time at these slower speeds. Wedges do alot more to make the boat run nice in those slower semi crappy seas condditions than they do to eliminate porpoising. But they do help the porppoising thing out, a little, if you raise the motors.
I also raised my engines all the way when I put the wedges in there. "All the way" means one hole higher than the factory had them mounted. So it's not much. But it did help the porpoising issues I had at over 40 mph or so. I try to lay my trim tabs flat with the hull surface to do nothing but extend the surface bottom at higher speeds, and then trim up for max speed until it starts to porpoise, then trim down until it virtually goes away.
I originally had 225s on my 25 and it porpoised like a beech without wedges. I added wedges and raised the motors, and it was much better(but still barely acceptable). I repowered with 200s a few years ago. Between loosing about 3-4 mph, and the much smaller lower units, on the 200s vs 225s, I now have very little porpoising at all. But it still does it a little. It's controllable now, and only at high speeds. Something like, over 45mph. The boat only goes 53, so between 45-53 I have to work the trim and tabs a hair, to get it minimized and acceptable. And it also only happens on flat calm water. So it isn't a issue for me anymore. I ran 48 mph(4700 rpms) for around 15 miles a week ago in 2 ft seas and had zero porpoising issues. I know on flat intracoastal conditions I need to screw with trim and tabs a little to keep the porpoising from creeping into the ride.
Make sure you use 5200 on the transom bolts, as Contenders have wood in there.
On the older 25s(1997-2005 or 6 or so) the wedges do this: Wedges do nothing directly to eliminate porpoising. Indirectly, wedges allow you to raise the engines higher and not have problems at non porpoising speeds(slow speeds). Raising the motors helps eliminate porpoising, at higher speeds. But without wedges installed you might(almost certainly) screw up the slower speed traits, if you raise the engines.
I put wedges on my 25 a long time ago. They make the boat run so nice in average semi crappy sea conditions. The typical sea conditions where I'm trying to make around 18-25 knots. In reality, if you bought the boat to fish and not to run around the intracoastal on flat calm summer days, you will, spend virtually all your time at these slower speeds. Wedges do alot more to make the boat run nice in those slower semi crappy seas condditions than they do to eliminate porpoising. But they do help the porppoising thing out, a little, if you raise the motors.
I also raised my engines all the way when I put the wedges in there. "All the way" means one hole higher than the factory had them mounted. So it's not much. But it did help the porpoising issues I had at over 40 mph or so. I try to lay my trim tabs flat with the hull surface to do nothing but extend the surface bottom at higher speeds, and then trim up for max speed until it starts to porpoise, then trim down until it virtually goes away.
I originally had 225s on my 25 and it porpoised like a beech without wedges. I added wedges and raised the motors, and it was much better(but still barely acceptable). I repowered with 200s a few years ago. Between loosing about 3-4 mph, and the much smaller lower units, on the 200s vs 225s, I now have very little porpoising at all. But it still does it a little. It's controllable now, and only at high speeds. Something like, over 45mph. The boat only goes 53, so between 45-53 I have to work the trim and tabs a hair, to get it minimized and acceptable. And it also only happens on flat calm water. So it isn't a issue for me anymore. I ran 48 mph(4700 rpms) for around 15 miles a week ago in 2 ft seas and had zero porpoising issues. I know on flat intracoastal conditions I need to screw with trim and tabs a little to keep the porpoising from creeping into the ride.
Make sure you use 5200 on the transom bolts, as Contenders have wood in there.
just as a side note, his motors are currently mounted in the lowest position. #1 bolt hole.
I think the height is going to help a lot, and if he's going to unbolt them to change the height, you might as well put some wedges in there.
I like the sound of the improvement you got at cruising speeds, where you run most of the time anyway.
Mine runs fine mounted all the way up, except on the rare occassion I super load down the front of my boat. I dive alot, and occcassionally I will have a mega boat load of steel scuba tanks up there. For that reason I would probably mount them back in the factory 2nd hole, from mounting the motors as high as they can go position, if I were to have them off again. If this is not a likely common situation for you, I'd go all the way and mount them all the way up. I can have 6 or so tanks up there and acooler full of ice and zero issues. But when I really load it down, up front, I start to get cavitation, a little, sometimes.
A buddy at work bought a 25 with the motors mounted all the way down. It kills speed badly. He still has not fixed it. I have offered a million times to help. He finally put some new 21 Mirages on it and the dfference was night and day. He had some old beat to hell 23 Mirages on it and the boat rode horrible. Now if he slaps wedges on, and hikes the engines, he is going to wonder why he wasted so much time. I think alot of people hated factory Contenders settups. They lowered the motors to try to fix the issues at slower speeds and that doesn't really work. All it does is really screw the boat up. Wedges really do work. I was skeptical as could be, and then did it, and was amazed at the results. So put the motors back up where they belong, and slap wedges in there to make the boat run sweet at normal cruise speeds. The extra neg trim, wedges provide, keeps the props hooked up solid in the slop, which completely makes the ride superior. At speed you trim up to where you always trimmed up to for speed, and there is no difference at all in the way the boat rides pre wedges. The only diff is, if you decide to raise the motors more than they came from the factory to get rid of porpoising.
__________________ AKA, The SKIMMER! No way am I reading all that crap!
do any of you guys have a picture of these wedges? i would like to see how they work. i have a twin engine boat that likes to ride a little bow high and these wedges sound like they mught be the answer. thanks in advance
I put the wedges on my 2800 Vector. Before I installed them it would "Bounce" in a light sea and I could not bury the nose on those really rough days. I would use almost all the tab's and it really hurt the fuel usage and ride of the boat.
After I put the wedges on it was a Friggin Miracle. I could not believe the difference in the ride. If you do a search under my name you will find a post with pic's of the entire ordeal.
Notice the little "Keepers" I made for piece of mind. I didn't like the idea of the wedges coming out and letting the engine's get loose.
I put the wedges on my 2800 Vector. Before I installed them it would "Bounce" in a light sea and I could not bury the nose on those really rough days. I would use almost all the tab's and it really hurt the fuel usage and ride of the boat.
After I put the wedges on it was a Friggin Miracle. I could not believe the difference in the ride. If you do a search under my name you will find a post with pic's of the entire ordeal.
Notice the little "Keepers" I made for piece of mind. I didn't like the idea of the wedges coming out and letting the engine's get loose.
did you raise or lower your motors as well or just install the wedges?
All the distributors carry them so any marina can order a set in a day, motors being high enough makes a big difference as well, as Ken said while your at it do both.
I didn't move my engines because they were in the correct hole to begin with. When I am running the Cavitation plate is just at the top of the water flow. It could possibly be just a little higher but then I would be worried about the props blowing out in rougher sea's.
I purchased my wedges at West Marine. The price was the same as Bob's Machine and they got them in fast without any freight. If I remember right they were around $35 per pair.
Look into the Bobs Machine convertible jack plate. It a manual system that alows you to fine tune engine height as well as wedge charictaristics. It only sets the engine back a couple inches but really opens up the possibilities for fine tuning height and angle. http://www.bobsmachine.com/Products/...onvertible.cfm
The real purpose of a wedge is not to raise the engine but to allow you to either trim in or out further. Some boats need this because of the transoms angle. I would say that if your able to stop the propoise by trimming all the way in then I dont see the advantage of a wedge. ALthough the trim gauge may indicate your not trimming in as far to stop the prorpooise or improve the ride, the actual angle of the engine in relation to the hull is the same.
My boat also has a tendancy to porpoise in slick water. In my experience, adding some trim tab works better than trimming in to stop the propoise. If I trim in, the steering gets heavy and my fuel consumption increases more than if I just add some trim tab to accomplish the same thing. Both accomplish similar ride iprovment but the engine is happier when I use the tabs and keep the engine trimmed neutral (level with the botom of the hull).
Thats my $.03
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This is some good info, on my Sailfish 2360, i cant get but MAYBE 1 bar out of the trim and she starts a slow bounce, after about 3 bars its porpoising pretty bad, not to mention riding bow high as hell, so i end up leaving my trim dern near all the way down (and using tabs).
Ive already moved the engine to the #2 hole (second from bottom) and changed to a 4blade to help with stern lift, still I have to use excessive tab and little to no trim. Ive been told this is a result of Deep V hulls and a single (30" shaft) motor....but now Im just thinking I should raise the motor to the last hole and add the wedges, might do the trick.
Keep the info coming!!
__________________
2004 Silverado 2500HD
2001 Grady White 265 Express
Some boats are still based on an older hull design and cannot handle the weight of the new 4 strokes. My boat is a 2005 and the hull design was used for a long time. I know a couple of guy's with the 2900 Vector's they introduced in 2006. This hull is close to the 2800 with a few changes. One of them is the transom is now canted in a little. This accomplishes the exact same thing the wedges do. It just looks a little better.
On my boat I have VERY Large, Long tabs. I would trim the engines ALL the way down and still had to use a bunch of (if not all) the tab to drop the nose. Even then it would still not go as far down as I needed in some instances. The MPG and steering would also be terrible.
With the wedges I have cured ALL the above problems. I hardly ever use tabs now with the exception of leveling side to side. If your boat doesn't have tabs I would add them first then the wedges.
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