Overpowered Outboard Questions

[Nat Bozarth]

I've redone a 16 outboard thats been in my family forever and have hung a 250 HO Evinrude on it. Lots of power and am working my way through the prop game, but for the record what is bow steering? I remember vividly as a kid with an older brother at the wheel the boat walking around quite a bit but then settling down nicely. It never had trim tabs, should it now? The motor is brand new and all mounts are solid and everything tight.

Thanx in advance

[MOP]

Hi bow steer can be trimmed out, what you may run into is chine walk which can get out of hand and scare the heck out of you. To reduce or get rid of it you will have to play with engine heigth moving it a hole or two. Your cav plate should be above the botton a fair bit, trial and error thing. You will lose a little of your hole shot but top speed and handling will improve greatly. I had a 13ft Glassbar G3 with a 100++ well worked Merc on it and ran the cav plate 4 inches above the bottom with if I remember a 29p bronze two blade heavy cup prop. I have no real clue just how fast it ran. I used the 5th hole (No power trim) and trim tabs that I narrowed down a little, my buds said it rode on the lower and tabs no boat in the water. It took about 150 feet to get it up on plane.

[GEOO]

Nat,

PaulO run's an outboard. He should be able to help you.
I think one of the tricks to get an OB to run well is to move the CG back. Most guys run Set Back brackets. These bracketd move the engine 4 to 12" off the transom and raise it up a few inches. The idea is to shift the CG back so the hull will create more bowlift without trimming the engine to the moon. It's a balancing act. Also by raising the engine you'll have less drag and cleaner water.
Bow steer in my case is caused by excessive transom lift; caused by combination of the surface drive, CG and hull shape. You won't have that problem.. GEOO