Jack plate on Parker 1801?

[Longislandfish]

I was wondering if there is anyone that has added a jack plate on their 1801 transom. I am considering doing this to add some setback for 2 reasons, one the anticavitation plate is still buried with current mounting setting on bracket, (3rd hole from top or second from bottom) and second for better hole shot economy and performance. My main issues that I am a bit hesitant about is my current hydraulic steering setup (uflex) will possibly contact the transom when motor is tilted up, and this is not ideal with a chance at shearing off fittings. The setback that I have in mind was 6 inches but am not opposed to 4 or 8 inches either. I think with proper bracing with a lower transom plate it should not be an issue for these well built Parker’s and if anything help with the ride. I have seen very very posts or photos with anyone running a jack plate on the 1801s. I am not set on hydraulic as there are many well built manual plates that do the same thing. I just want to see if anyone has been down this road and can provide and Insight. I feel the current outboard position is just okay, and strongly feel that the motor can ride higher as the anticavitation plate is not skimming the water surface while on plane at speed.

The motor is a 25 inch shaft Yamaha F115
Prop 16p SCD4
Current WOT 5600 35mph
Trim tabs
Would like to see 6000 rpms and 39-40
Jack plate may help some prop slippage and rpms



thank you for any responses

 

[1801Steve]

How old is your boat? How much weight do you think you have added? What is the fuel level and passenger load when you ran wide open and got 35MPH? I have a 2015. I usually carry a half tank of fuel or so. Some fishing gear and "junk" but not a lot. Fish by myself most of the time. WOT is 5700-5800 RPM, 38-39 MPH.

The big reason I bought a Parker was simplicity. Seems like adding a jack plate to such a simple basic boat is counterintuitive.

EDIT: No T-top.

 

[tomc585]

My 115 smoker tops out at 5600rpm @ 38-39 with 2 people and 60gals plus gear (40 in the flats). No T-top. 17p SS prop

 

[FastNLoud]

I am wondering the same about a 2005 1801 with a Mercury 200 EFI (NC Wildlife Resources boat). I played around with all sorts of motor height settings, props, etc...and settled on a 17" PowerTech that does very well all around. Hole shot and top speed are very good. I finally mounted the motor in the highest hole to get the cavitation plate on top. The boat will run about 47 mph fully loaded with fuel and dive gear. Based on rpm's (from Mercury Vessel View), gear ratio, and speed from the gps, prop slip is 5% or less at most speeds. The only disadvantage is that that particular boat is very heavy (4,500 pounds loaded) and can lose "traction" in heavy head seas at lower speeds. That's a pain when trying to go out of inlets and run in rougher ocean conditions. The trim tabs don't help for that. My thought was that I could drop the engine in those conditions and pick up some bite. Besides that, I dock in an area that requires a long idle through shallow water and it would help there as well. The reason I am hesitant is that the current set up seems almost perfectly "balanced" and I do not want to run the risk of creating porpoising that isn't there right now by adding set back and a little additional weight.

 

[warthog5]

The motor is a 25 inch shaft Yamaha F115

Doesn't that boat have a 20in transom on it?

 

[tomc585]

The earlier ones i've seen (pre 2000) have the 20"

 

[Longislandfish]

How old is your boat? How much weight do you think you have added? What is the fuel level and passenger load when you ran wide open and got 35MPH? I have a 2015. I usually carry a half tank of fuel or so. Some fishing gear and "junk" but not a lot. Fish by myself most of the time. WOT is 5700-5800 RPM, 38-39 MPH.

The big reason I bought a Parker was simplicity. Seems like adding a jack plate to such a simple basic boat is counterintuitive.

EDIT: No T-top.

my boat is a 2004 with 780 hrs
Wot with myself, 30 or so gallons of fuel, TM and 3 batteries with average amount of fishing gear yields 5600 35-36mph

if I have passengers usually 1 or 2 heavy fishing partners 5500 34 mph.

I took the plunge and raised the motor to the final hole on my bracket, ran the boat with the 4 blade powertech and didn’t gain any rpm or speed. I did see briefly 5700 rpms and maybe 1 mph but it was not consistent.
The boat ran more aggressively with more bow and stern lift. The AC plate was still under surface, prop didn’t blow out unless gunning it from a standstill with motor not trimmed down.

I will be going ahead with a mild setback jack plate, undecided on hydraulic at this time, And most likely will be trying out a 15p 4 blade.

I have some interest in the Mercury spitfire X7 in 13.5x15p. Apparently it’s a really nice prop

 

[Longislandfish]

Also since I been on this crazy search for optimizing performance I went ahead and serviced VST, injectors, 2 micron between vst and lift pump, and ran compression check 145psi across board. What’s driving me nuts is 1 lost 100rpms with exact same prop, load etc, Ans am unable to figure out why. Also I am a bit concerned with lugging the motor at 5500-5600 rpms since these motors make oil if they aren’t able to reach 6000 6200 rpm. I am determined to dial this boat in, but perhaps my outboard is just old and tired haha

 

[tomc585]

Have you ever checked the weight of the boat? I'm amazed how much crap finds its way onto the boat and never leaves. Youd be surprised how much additional weight there is. Strip it down for a test run. Are you using onboard speedo or GPS? Rememeber... its only 115HP and your numbers are nothing to be ashamed about.
I ran with a 19p for a while before the 17p. Top spped didnt change but bringing up the rpm's made handling better on iffy days. It'll be interesting to see what the 15p does to your WOT RPM

 

[Longislandfish]

Have you ever checked the weight of the boat? I'm amazed how much crap finds its way onto the boat and never leaves. Youd be surprised how much additional weight there is. Strip it down for a test run. Are you using onboard speedo or GPS? Rememeber... its only 115HP and your numbers are nothing to be ashamed about.
I ran with a 19p for a while before the 17p. Top spped didnt change but bringing up the rpm's made handling better on iffy days. It'll be interesting to see what the 15p does to your WOT RPM
[/QUOTE

actually I keep my boat pretty well organized and tend to take stuff off that I’m not using, that being said I’m sure there’s added weight all over that I’m taking into consideration. I will say that the rpms need to come up some. The powertech SCD4 is a nearly perfect prop for my application, it bites hard keeps my on plane at low speeds, that combined with burying the tabs it’s pretty remarkable how well this lil tank handles. Maybe I’m asking too much by wanting to see 40mph, at the very least I’d be happy with 5800-6000rpms

 

[Makida]

PM me if you’d like. I’ve gone through all of your issues with my 1800.