Moving Weight Forward

[2015VXR]

I have a 1983 Checkmate Sportfire 17Ft. I installed a 90Hp 4 stroke. The engine is 100 lbs more the the 125 force that was installed when I purchased the boat. Im having an issue with getting up on plain. I installed a dual battery set up as well. There seems to be allot of weight in the rear of the boat. I was think of installing the batteries forward more, just under the front deck. Will this help? or is there any other ideas? I also tried a lower pitch prop, started at 19p and now down to a 15p and still struggles to get on plain.

Thanks

 

[Mark]

Weight up front will slow you down on plane. I would put a whale tail / hydrofoil on your cav plate. I have one on my Diplomat (same hull). I find it helps and when I trim up on plane it comes out of the water and does not slow me down.

 

[2015VXR]

Thanks,
Was going to install the nauticus smart tabs.

 

[Mark]

They work even better than a whale tail

 

[Jimway]

When you go to balance the vessel, imagine it as an aircraft. I was able to move weight to the balance point so that the vessel will 'fly' with a slightly 'nose up' attitude. Hold your right hand up to eye level, about a foot away in front of your face, palm down, fingers pointing to your left. Raise your right fingers up about 3/4 of an inch. This is what you want the boat to look like at speed. You want to get as much of the hull out of the water as possible. Any extra stuff in contact with the water at speed, will slow you down. I removed my particular vessel from the trailer and sat it on a cradle in the shop and moved batteries and fuel tank and stuff so that the vessel balanced where I thought it should, in my case, just behind the seat. It was kind of cool to see the boat balanced on only a block of wood, kind of unnerving too.