Too Sloooowwww! HELP!

[happytme]

I have a Hydrostream "V-KING". Just finished rebuilding whole boat inside and out. Strapped a Merc 200 on the back. Thought that the boat should fly, but it doesn't. The boat hull is stock with no modifications except I made a fiberglass fuel tank and placed it in the bow to help lighten the load in the rear. The Merc is also stock with steel reeds. However I have relieved the exhaust and removed the can. The tuner is stock. I am running a LWP nosecone and a 26p big eared chopper prop. The boat gets out of the whole real good, but the top end really bites. I don't have a GPS, but the speedo on the boat says about 65mph @ about 6000rpm. I don't have a jack plate on the boat, but I am currently looking for one. What would be my best setback distance? Are there any other things that I can do to help out the top end?? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Pat :confused:

[mxz]

How low is the motor bolted on the transom? Your motor might be way too low on the transom. Use the top mounting holes until you get a jackplate. Propshaft should be within 2" of the bottom of the pad for speed. Lot of guys run the propshaft even or a little bit above for top end. You should be getting over 70 at 6000 rpm with the 26 chopper. Also try to borrow a GPS, your speedo might be way off. As for a jackplate, most Vking owners run 4-6" of setback. I run a 4" L&S hydraulic plate on my Vector.

[happytme]

I have the motor as high as I can get it. By "eyeballing the distance from the bottom of the pad, the shaft is about 3-4 inches below the pad. Are there any jack plates that are better than the rest? Or are they all pretty much the same?
Thank you for your fast responce!!

[vector mike]

The one thing that might be a problem is the bow mounted tank. You can set it up to run on a full tank but as your fuel goes down it will change your balance point. You want to run that prop at surface level to get the best speed out of it. I know you don't have a jack plate but you will need one to get the best performace out of your boat. I would set it up with 6" of setback to start. I made my jackplate out of four pieces of angle aluminum with a flat plate of aluminum in between them on each side. Infinate adjustments up and back.

[mxz]

For jackplates I would make sure that it is one that has an integral pump, not boat mounted. There isn't very much room under the splashwell for a pump. Never heard anything bad about any of the popular jackplates such as Land&Sea, CMC, Bobs or Detweiller. Rickracer can set you up with a great price on a few different jackplates.
I run a bow tank (11 gal) in my Vector also. In my experience my bow tank didn't make much of a difference in top speed when you are only going under 85mph. I tried running my Vector without the bowtank last year and didn't see any speed difference. The boat just ran a little higher in the air, needing less trim.

[happytme]

V-MIKE...Do you have any pics of your set-up? I'm not sure how you are saying to put the whole thing together. I would like to use a manual plate verses a hydro. It's a cost thing, plus I feal that once I get it set to where it will run good there is not alot of need for re-adjusting. Is this right?? I would like to use the boat for skiing as well as for having fun at speed.

[mxz]

If you are skiing too then you definately should go with a hydaulic. You will need the motor low to pull a skier and high to go fast. It is a real pain to be always changing a manual plate.

[vector mike]

If you want the best of both worlds you need to get a hydraulic jackplate like MXZ said. I have mine set up for going fast but I still pull tubes and kneeboards with out changing the height of the motor. I have it set with the propshaft 3/4" above the pad right now. All I do is change props if I know we are just going to be dragging people around all day. I normally run a 29 Cleaver but when hauling everybody around I use a 26 Trophy 4 blade.

[mxz]

Vector Mike,
How does the 29" Cleaver run on your Vector? What kind of speed?
My favorite prop is a 28"Mazco RE4. This prop will run 80mph at 6300rpm on GPS and also carry 4 people or pull a slalom slier!. For top end I have a 30" inline chopper that gets me close to 85. Hard to get on plane though with more than 2 people in the boat.

[vector mike]

Right now it is upside down in my garage getting recored and repainted. I run this prop on my Viper at 6800 @ 91 mph. The same setup is going on my Vector. I'm doing the bottom right now. I filled in the pad and removed the wedge and straightened the last four feet and sharpened the strakes. I already did all of this on the Viper and seemed to make a big difference so I'm doing this to my Vector. It does have a little trouble getting out of the hole, with the Cleaver, you just have to feather the throttle a bit so you don't over rev it.