Rig: 16ft 1979 Checkmate Predictor (no back seat, very minimal gear, always run with passenger and black lab)
150hp V6 Merc 78-79 Range I believe
23P Cleaver "Style" 4 Blade Prop (do not believe it is a real purebread cleaver)
Full Manual Adjust JackPlate (4" Setback)
Bobs LWP Nose Cone w/ Fully Molded & Blended Water Piping, Torque Tab, Torque Fin Removed for Delete Plate

Working on: Venting Engine Cover
Foot Throttle
Solid Motor Mounts

Me: Grew up on the river. (Dubuque, Iowa - Mississippi River)
10+ Years Experience Working in the Marine Industry
Current Work in; Mechanical Design / Project Management
(By no means trying to brag, just trying to illustrate my ability to comprehend forthcoming discussion on topic)

Backstory:
I have been running this boat since last season, but just started making some modifications to the setup this season. The boat is very light overall and has always been a fun and consistant performer for me. I would honestly prefer to stick to my stand up jet ski, but my wife likes to get our lab out on the river with us too and that was the reasoning for the boat. What attracted me to this boat in the first place was its general power to weight ratio and its ability to literally surge out of the water with application of the throttle.

Change #1 JackPlate:
Before the installation of the jackplate is had very very minor chinewalking around 58-62mph.
After jackplate install proper height was found there was ZERO chinewalk all the way up to 62mph. Oddly though no additional speed was gained still stuck at 62mph
(GOOD)

Change #2 Bob's LWP Nose Cone:
After a good 30-40 hours of bondo, sanding and painting the lower unit looked absolutely gorgeous. But she turned out to be for looks only...... After the lower unit modifications this boat has been absolutely rediculous to drive it is honestly even hard to call what this thing is doing CHINEWALKING, it is more like hopscotching or breakdancing. The boat will still somewhat surge up out of the hold and rush up to 45ish or so but then it is nothing but jumping from the water side to side sort of like a teeter totter. Top speed is still basically 62mph if I can manage to hold onto it for that long.

I have moved the jackplate all over the place up and down, tried lots of trim, no trim, more weight in the boat, less weight in the boat, weight in different places in the boat. I have tried to drive through the hops, I tried a 3 Blade 23P. Nothing I have done has really seem to make any difference on this thing at all.

WHAT AM I MISSING HERE???

The only thing that I can think of that I have tried yet to get me back to previous smooth predictable handling is spacing the motor out further from the boat the same amount of lenght that was added to the front of the lower unit. Sadly thought this will bring about changing another variable in that the prop will then also be further from the boat...


Recap: Added Jackplate = GOOD, Improved handling, smoother ride (Wierd no speed change but oh well)
Added LWP Nose Cone = SUPER BAD, Virtually uncontrollable handling and again no speed change

HELP! I was looking for a little more speed, but now I just want my old setup back! What I am missing here???