DairymanNM
Active member
Some of you will remember that I am new to airboating and that I am having problems getting my boat to plane. I took some measurements to see if any of you can spot a problem by looking at them. My hull is alum. with poly. It measures 80" wide by 15' long. The powerplant is a 1973 Buick 455 direct to a narrow 2 bladed composite sensenich. Overall prop length is 75" set at 2.5 pitch mark and is turing at 2800 RPM. When boat is set level the motor is 1/4" higher in the rear than the front. Distance from prop tip to cage is 7", tip to hull bottom is 13.5", transom to prop is 8.25". When the boat is floating the angle at which the motor sits, compared to the level surface of the water, is increased ( downward) due to the stern of the boat sitting much deeper than up towards the bow. The boat plows pretty bad in deep water and will not plane. It seems to plow worse as power is added. Once the boat encounters a shallow location, you can feel the stern rise up out of the water and it will come on plane easily. If run across deep water for an extended period of time after being on plane the boat will settle back into the water begining in the stern and slowly sink back until it is once again pushing water in front. This especially true if people move around and shift their weight. This will usually cause it to fall off plane quicker. Any insight or comments would be greatly appreciated.