reef ranger porpoising when trimmed. help

[Casey Ison]

Giday fellas,

Awhile ago I made a post about this I got a few ideas but im about to get serious with the issue and get it solved as I will be home from working away a lot more in the next month or so..

I have a cruisecraft reef ranger I have recently rebuilt from ground up, added a hardtop and alloy pod. I am having a few dramas when I trim the donk up slighty or at all in fact it starts to porpoise. Trim it full down it rides perfect.

I had the pod designed the same shape as the boat and it has full air tanks for buoyancy. Have been told to possibly lift the motor a hole or 2 and give it a go which I am most definitely going to do when im home. Just wondering if any of the other experts here know anything else I could do? otherwise possibly add trim tabs? heres a pic of the back of the boat103959

[Moonlighter]

In my experience, an engine that is too low contributes to porpoising. Check the engine height and if the cav plate is running underwater at a fast cruise speed, lift it until its skimming the surface. This greatly reduced the problem on my last boat.

[Casey Ison]

cheers mate I will have a play around with that! I had a read of that post you put on the other fellas post about motor height very informative!

thanks for that.

[Noelm]

I guess you are behind before you even start... you have modified the motor mounting, the planing surface, and the topsides, only trial and error will sort out your problems.

[hainsofast]

Isn't that thing for sale

[Casey Ison]

yeah noelm, not sure what you mean by your behind before you start, but if your referring to the mods, these were all done by experienced people, except I designed the hardtop. it weights shit all also I can pick it up by myself easily before I bolted it on.. so not sure if that was dig about weight etc? but yeah. will sort the issue out when im home. the boat works fine as it is. but yeah will like to sort it out to improve performance.

Yeah hainsofast boat is for sale mate.

[Noelm]

No, didn't mean to be any sort of go at you, I was just referring to being a one off, there is nothing you can compare to, so anything you do will be experimenting.

[hainsofast]

It is a nice looking rig, you done a good job on it

[Casey Ison]

no worries noelm. cheers for your help aswell.

thanks mate put about a years worth of after hours work into it. pretty happy with the end results!

[hainsofast]

They a great hull, mate of mine got an unmodified one, and I been in some disgusting weather in it, handled it well

[Lucky 1]

A fantastic job on a solidly made classic hull. I had to look twice as initially I couldn't recognize boat as a Reef Ranger! I hope you get to enjoy the reward for your efforts.

[scottar]

I ended up with trim tabs on my rig. I did try lifting the motor but even at the highest setting the difference was minor but I could hear the prop starting to ventilate in offshore conditions. The tabs gave other benefits as well. If you are selling the rig though I would at least try as Moonlighter has suggested first - far cheaper than trim tabs.

[bigjimg]

These may be worth a look as they are cheaper than hydraulic trim tabs and simple to fit.
www.nauticusinc.com/smart_tabs_automatic_trim_ (http://www.nauticusinc.com/smart_tabs_automatic_trim_tabs)tabs
Jim

[Casey Ison]

Thanks lucky1. yeah put a a lot money and effort into it, great boat now heaps of deckspace and nice dry hard top for those bad days haha.

Scottar, yeah mate I will give the motor height a go, but if I don't get results ill look into the tabs for sure. thanks for your input mate!

Jim - no worries mate ill definitely have a look I clicked the link but it just goes to a error page? cheers mate!

[feral cat]

More pony's will fix it.;D;D
Now your home more its time you jump back in my cat shotgun.:D