Posts: 3472
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya,
One other thing that can be done, although it sounds ugly to begin with, but you won't notice anything in the end is to have the rear of the hull "wedged."
On my navigator, I found the same thing as you, except for me I could not trim the boat up. As soon as I was at full throttle, I'd start to trim up, and the bow would bounce. I took it back to Alumacraft and met with an engineer there, who immediately ran his hand across the edge where the hull meets the transom. Evidently, the fabricators peened the transom up a touch too much so trimming would not be possible.
So...with that being a possibility to do, all it involves is a simple hammer and a mason's chisel. Working from about 3 inches in from the outside edges, use the hammer and chisel to wedge a little wider opening between the transom and hull. Work your way along for about 18 inches...the main flat portion of the hull. It doesn't take much, but if you open it up...oh..say...1/8" and test, I bet you might find the bow does not come up as much. If the bow is not able to rise with trim, then all you need to do is peen the wedge closed a touch and retest.
If you are in the twin cities area, I'd be willing to meet with you and help out if you'd like.
Once you find the best for your liking, find silicone to match your hull color, silicone the wedged area, and nobody will even be able to tell you did anything to your boat. This helps keep value up as drilling holes in an anti-ventilation plate and installing a fin actually reduces value, and in my humble opinion is only a bandaid fix for a set-up issue. If the boat is properly set up to run as efficiently as possible, the fin is entirely out of the water while on plane. At that point, it is not doing anything. If the motor is flat to the transom, the antiventilation plate is most likely underwater, creating more drag (think of sticking your hand out the window while moving 60mph). Underpowered boats have this issue, and the fin helps the boat plane out due to hydrodynamic design which creates lift in the rear.
I'd say if you are on a good steel prop, coming up 3/4" will give you some more top speed as well...
Steve
Edited by VMS 5/5/2017 9:07 AM
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