Rooster Tail… Good or bad???

[cmwebb]

As many of you know, I recently joined the Bass Cat family with a 2000 Cougar, it has a 200 Mercury and all the bells and whistles. It came with a 25 pitch Trophy Plus on it, and was terrible on the hole shot. I tried my dads 23 pitch three blade and it made a world of difference. Im picking up my new Trophy Plus 23 pitch tomorrow. My question, if I get trimmed all the way up, Im throwing a 20 rooster tail. The boat with the 25 pitch on it will run 62mph at 5400 rpms at wide open throttle. I know that the three blade 23 was getting me about the same at 5800 rmps, and the same rooster tail. What are your thoughts? Am I losing performance, do I need do drip the jackplate?

[PhilAddison]

if you are testing for performance purposes always raise and lower the jackplate to figure where it performs best. Without running the boat or knowing where you are currently set makes it hard to give advice. usually high rooster tails indicate over trimming and a bow drop. Therefore, dropping the jack plate may help. Dropping the jack plate will reduce rpms and you are currently on the low side of where you need to be on rpms. Therefore, a smaller prop may be needed. Not many setups with a 20+ footer being pushed by a 200. Good luck getting it set up.

[Bass Cat Boats]

Just because there is x degrees of trim angle does not mean you need to by at the full trimmed out setting for maximum speed and lift. Go up 1/2 on trim and come up slowly in small bumps of trim. You need air packed under the hull.

[Bass Cat Boats]

Too high, cowling height only when your full throttle.

[Bass Cat Boats]

So I put on the new 23 pitch Trophy Plus today, and took her out for a test run tonight… Its daylight to dark difference pulling out of the hole, now at wide open throttle Im only getting 57mph at 6000 RPM and my rooster tail is about half of what it was, probably 4-6 above the motor cowling now. I dont think I like the 6000 rpm at WOT, or am I just being crazy? Should I still drop the jack plate? If so, how much should I start with?

[Bass Cat Boats]

The engine is too high and we think lowering it about 3/4 to 5/8″ may help a lot.

[Wizard]

Youre not the only person that trims too high when they go to a BassCat. When I got my Puma, it was the first underseat fuel tank I had on a boat and I didnt realize how flat the Puma was designed to run. I thought about changing engine height, prop, etc. when all it needed was trimmed down a lot. I spent half a day before I realized the problem. Once on plane, I just gradually bumped up the trim until the boat released from drag. When I looked at the trim gauge I could hardly believe how little trim I needed. Knowledge is a good thing and this board has a lot of knowledgable people.

[SCAG1]

My dad had the exact same boat with a 200 Mercury EFI, and he was running a 25 Tempest. It performed very well and would run high 60s. Hole shot was good also.

[Mainliner61]

Wizard wrote:Youre not the only person that trims too high when they go to a BassCat. When I got my Puma, it was the first underseat fuel tank I had on a boat and I didnt realize how flat the Puma was designed to run. I thought about changing engine height, prop, etc. when all it needed was trimmed down a lot. I spent half a day before I realized the problem. Once on plane, I just gradually bumped up the trim until the boat released from drag. When I looked at the trim gauge I could hardly believe how little trim I needed. Knowledge is a good thing and this board has a lot of knowledgable people.Yep. A friend of mine has a different brand of boat and is looking for a new one so I took him for a ride in my 14 Puma FTD. He said ” Why wont it lift more than it does?”. I ran it again and showed him we were running over 80mph then I trimmed it on up to show him how high I could get the nose of the boat, but then we lost 3 mph and he seen how much I was having to drive it. Then he was amazed and I explained how the Cats have a air packing hull. I let him drive and he fell in love with it. He is waiting on a buyer for his and then he plans to order either a Puma FTD or an Eyra.

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