Savage 445 Ranger digging it's nose in..

[centrefire]

G'day Gentlemen,I bought an old Savage 445 Ranger high side a while ago. It came with a long shaft 30 Yamaha 3 pot motor. I tried it for the first time last week, and found that it planed really quickly and ran well enough to 30 kmh. Thereafter, it levels out and digs it's nose in hard. Makes for a very heavy steering and dangerous direction changes. All this at half throttle. Open up more and it just makes more noise without increasing speed much.I noticed the airation plate( cav plate) was 2" below the keel. Brought the motor up one inch as far as it'll go on the transom, but still it digs in with no improvement.Moving the leg in or out makes very little difference too.Thanks for reading, and what could the solution be, please?

[Jarrah Jack]

Moving the leg out should make a lot of difference. Try moving it even further out once you are up on the plane. How much weight is an the front of the boat....It may have too much weight there as well so its just a matter of moving some heavy items down back and having a play with weight distribution.

[OPTI]

being a 30 hp i take it it doesnt have power trim?if trim angle isnt changing anything ,it has too much weight foward.

[centrefire]

Thanks for the replys.Leg is moved right out and very little difference once on the plane. The motor is without power trim and tilt, just a manual pin.I'm convinced it's not a weight distribution thing, as this happens with only myself at the tiller( 90kg) with 20 litres of fuel and a battery. Up front, only an anchor.Could it not be a motor height issue and would having the cav plate 1" below the hull have such an influence?

[wiz]

Is the cav plate below the water when planeing?

[STUIE63]

Thanks for the replys.Leg is moved right out and very little difference once on the plane. The motor is without power trim and tilt, just a manual pin.I'm convinced it's not a weight distribution thing, as this happens with only myself at the tiller( 90kg) with 20 litres of fuel and a battery. Up front, only an anchor.Could it not be a motor height issue and would having the cav plate 1" below the hull have such an influence?

if the cav plate is 1" below the the hull you probably have to raise it 2" or thereabouts in my opinion

[FishHunter]

When my cav plate was level with the hull trimming the motor out made almost no difference. I lifted it 2 holes from that point and the trim makes a big difference now

[centrefire]

Cav plate isn't visible when on the plane.It appears then that the motor is indeed to low on the transom. I'll have to have it modified in order for the motor to be raised 2". Once again, thanks for all the info.

[gofishin]

A motor that is too low does not cause the bow to dig in, it lifts the bow...EXCEPT if there is a foil installed. I assume not as it has not been mentioned. Are you sure it is not trimmed in too far (manual trim pin adjustment).

Otherwise I would say your hull has a 'hog' in it, in the bottom sheets, or the keel, or both.

Look along the hull bottom and keel from the transom (i.e. bend down and look along the hull line). Are the sheets or keel dented up, ie. a concave. This acts like big trim tabs.
cheers
Brendon
PS. Pictures would be a great help

[wiz]

gofishin, the bow does not dig in until he is at half speed or faster,


Cav plate isn't visible when on the plane.

If the cav plate is not visible when on the plane, then I would be looking at motor height first.

[centrefire]

I have a welder coming in on Friday to raise the transom 7 cms. I really hope this fixes the problem. I've over spent and laboured long and hard on this hull. Incidentally, I bought the package from a bloke who had the misfortune to drop boat and motor off the trialer at 100kmh! Dented front of hull, smashed lower leg etc. It's been an expensive fix for a 20 year old Savage, to say the least.
It's a very stable( full floor) and well handling boat up to 30 kmh. Thereafter it's a nightmare. Incidentally, no foil attached.
On hindsight, the blow it took when it hit the road could easily account for a probable 'hog'. The dent I knocked out a metre from the bow was impressive.
I'll share the outcome on Saturdays test run.
Thanks to all.

[centrefire]

I have a welder coming in on Friday to raise the transom 7 cms. I really hope this fixes the problem. I've over spent and laboured long and hard on this hull. Incidentally, I bought the package from a bloke who had the misfortune to drop boat and motor off the trialer at 100kmh! Dented front of hull, smashed lower leg etc. It's been an expensive fix for a 20 year old Savage, to say the least.
It's a very stable( full floor) and well handling boat up to 30 kmh. Thereafter it's a nightmare. Incidentally, no foil attached.
On hindsight, the blow it took when it hit the road could easily account for a probable 'hog'. The dent I knocked out a metre from the bow was impressive.
I'll share the outcome on Saturdays test run.
Thanks to all.

[Jarrah Jack]

Those early Savages were not well engineered I found from experience. I hope you're wrong but you could be onto something with the hull being deformed in some way from the impact.

Hope it goes well.

[wiz]

Mate the fact that the boat has been dropped off the trailer at 100km/hr is a minor detail you left out. I hope raising the transom fixes your problem.

[Flex]

My old man had a savage, he ended up cutting about 3 feet of keel off the front end of the boat. The keel was brought to far forward and would dig in at speed and cause bow steer.

But to me sounds like your big dent is the problem

[centrefire]

The dent I've removed ( nothing a big plank and a big hammer can't do) and the keel cut back 3 feet as this is where the dent was.
The sheets and keel are dead straight sighted along the bottom.

If the transom work doesn't fix it, the wife can use it to grow potatoes in...

[Jarrah Jack]

May be worth trying the boat with a foil on, they don't cost much.

[Fed]

Get out the big plank & the big hammer & put some rocker in it.

[centrefire]

I have one of those cheap foils lying around. It will be my final attempt at sorting this thing after the transom.

Fed, which rocker would you suggest? Mick Jagger, Ian Gillan, Roger Daltry..?:)

[nigelr]

Steve Marriott would do it I reckon....what's the rated HP for that model centrefire, 30 hp yamy seem a bit light-on.....

[Moffy]

With the keel section removed as stated and the previous dent - is the hull now weak and flexing at speed?? (Is there a floor to pull up and see what's happening?)

[centrefire]

Nigel, it's rated 50hp. It's plenty quick enough for an old fishing boat on the Barron River in Cairns. Haven't found a flat dog ( croc) that can catch it yet..manages 30kmh easy before it plays up.
Moffy, the hulls as strong as an ox. The welder bloke who is about to do the transom, welded the cross ribs in the hull for the floor. He's an ally plate boat builder, so he knows his stuff.

[centrefire]

Still no luck after raising the transom 60mm and aligning the cav plate to the keel. I was told today that the only other cause for all this frustration, is as Gofishin stated earlier on, the hull has a hog in it.
Be very weary of an old boat, especially a damaged one.

[centrefire]

The old Savage has a concave shape in the floor for about 2 feet from the transom towards the bow. This been an ex crabbing boat, it's probably seen the bottom of a fare few estuaries in it's time and carried many tons of crab.
It goes fine till 15 knots,so may keep it as a slow stable fishing rig as I couldn't even give the bugger away now.