I have a Tracker Targa 17'SC aluminum Deep V 90HP ELPTO Merc with a CMC 6" setback manual jackplate can't seem to find the sweet spot any info will help. Can the smart tabs used on bass boats work on the Deep V? I also have a SE 300 Hydrofoil on as well. Would the smart tabs do a better job than the SE 300?

Chow

The Pa Angler

My father in law has a boat similar t the one in this link: http://www.searay.com/online_brochure.asp?modelid=54020&tab=2  His boat has the hydraulic trim tabs on it. If it were not for the trim tabs, it would be alot harder to get on plane. Plus where he lives, they have a speed limit of 20 mph in the canals. Without the tabs, you can not see where you are going because the bow was sitting so high.

I put a CNC manual jackplate on my Alum. Fisher Pro.  To generate a starting point I jacked up the rear of my trailer and referenced the very bottom of the boat.  I drop the prop until I hit the 3" to center of prop from the bottom of the boat and started from there.  I would not adjust the unit more than a 1/2" increments.  If you adjust more than 1/2" at a time you may miss the sweet spot.  I used a hydrafoil with this setup.  I have taken it off thinking it was causing too much drag but when the water turned choppy the first time out, I re-installed the hydrafoil, whew that was a rough day!  I have a Merc 115 and the boat is 19' in length.  My gps registers 50-54 mph dependent on the load.

I gained approximately 4-5 mph with the jack plate.  Was it really worth the money for those speeds?  Yes, it also saves me gas money.

Thank You Bass Junky, I talked to CMC and they told me to expect 3-5mph your results say the same thing. I will take your advice when I get the boat back on the water after the winter thaw. CMC told me to take the foil off but I told them that it should stay on once again your results prove it should stay on. I was adusting the jackplate 1"+ at a time I was a little to impatient I put the jack plate on late in the season only had a few days to find the sweet spot.

Thank You

The Pa Angler

I come up at 1/4" intervals, watching the tach, gps and water pressure.  Be sure you do this with your normal load, not a light, empty boat.  The key things to watch for are, if the tach shows an increase in rpm and no gain in  speed, water pressure drops below factory recommendations (making sure you check this in turns also) or the boat start loosing bow lift and blows out easily when triming up.

When any of these points are reached, drop the motor 1/2"

The SE Sport 300 Hydro foil (I thought they recommend a 200 for your motor) helps hole shot, no matter what size boat/motor you have.  Looks dorkey as all get out, but they improve hole shot and greatly reduce bow lift.   I've never run the smart tabs because I've never had a need to, but a lot of bay boats and boats that need to get on plane in shallow water swear by them.  I do run the Sport 300 and probably always will, even though I can get up and going with absolutely no problem without it.

Another thing that will help some and stop some backwash it to use a piece of thin metal and make a cover for the bottom of your jackplate.  This keeps the plate from draging water when starting off and scooping up water when coming off plane.

Thank You Ben, The Tracker dealer recommended the SE 300 which is good from 35HP to 350HP although the SE 200 is good from 4HP to 150HP I never asked why maybe the wider foil does a better job on the 17 SC.

Chow

The Pa Angler