Hello all,
I am desperate for someone to help me with a River Hawk B60 Procaster/mercury 9.9 set up. I bought this boat used and when I first test drove it with the previous owner, my first thought was "that's all she's got?" But the prop was really chewed up and the motor was sitting on the transom...no jack plate to lift the motor.
So i figured I could mess with it and get more out of it. I constantly read posts of people having the same boat/same motor or an equivalent Gheenoe and getting around 20 mph top end (give or take a few) I have never seen 13+ and here is a list of what I have done...
1. Had a marine tech look at it and the motor tuned up.
2. Bought a new prop 7.5 pitch.
3. Put Herculiner on the hull as I am running it in a river and drifting through several riffles when I float down.
4. Added a Bob's mini Jack and have the motor set 6 inches back and 3 inches up. That's when I went from 11.5 to 13 mph.
5. Had marine Tech look at it again and realized there was a cable linkage problem that wouldn't allow the motor to push the throttle to WOT but tested it manually with the cover off and pushed the throttle wide open and got very little difference, maybe 100 rpm. The tech said it was going to "cost me" to fix it. So I just bit the bullet and...
6. Bought a new motor, same one 9.9 hp mercury 4 stroke took it out and broke it in for a while, then tried WOT and guess what...12.5 mph with the stock 8.5 pitch.
7. Is it possible there is something wrong with the boat???? Not including motor, I have about 150 pounds of gear including trolling motor, anchor, cooler, new gear hatch with compartment, battery and gas tank and some misc. gear. I weigh 180 by the way and I thought maybe it was because of the extra weight, but it ran the same before I put that stuff in.
The previous owner had a cooler installed in the middle of the boat and the holes for the cooler tie downs went through the bottom of the hull but were then sealed of course with some kind of sealant. There are also a couple of cracks in the top side of the floor. Is it possible that the boat is water logged? I'm out of ideas, I've tried everything else... :-?
I am desperate for someone to help me with a River Hawk B60 Procaster/mercury 9.9 set up. I bought this boat used and when I first test drove it with the previous owner, my first thought was "that's all she's got?" But the prop was really chewed up and the motor was sitting on the transom...no jack plate to lift the motor.
So i figured I could mess with it and get more out of it. I constantly read posts of people having the same boat/same motor or an equivalent Gheenoe and getting around 20 mph top end (give or take a few) I have never seen 13+ and here is a list of what I have done...
1. Had a marine tech look at it and the motor tuned up.
2. Bought a new prop 7.5 pitch.
3. Put Herculiner on the hull as I am running it in a river and drifting through several riffles when I float down.
4. Added a Bob's mini Jack and have the motor set 6 inches back and 3 inches up. That's when I went from 11.5 to 13 mph.
5. Had marine Tech look at it again and realized there was a cable linkage problem that wouldn't allow the motor to push the throttle to WOT but tested it manually with the cover off and pushed the throttle wide open and got very little difference, maybe 100 rpm. The tech said it was going to "cost me" to fix it. So I just bit the bullet and...
6. Bought a new motor, same one 9.9 hp mercury 4 stroke took it out and broke it in for a while, then tried WOT and guess what...12.5 mph with the stock 8.5 pitch.
7. Is it possible there is something wrong with the boat???? Not including motor, I have about 150 pounds of gear including trolling motor, anchor, cooler, new gear hatch with compartment, battery and gas tank and some misc. gear. I weigh 180 by the way and I thought maybe it was because of the extra weight, but it ran the same before I put that stuff in.
The previous owner had a cooler installed in the middle of the boat and the holes for the cooler tie downs went through the bottom of the hull but were then sealed of course with some kind of sealant. There are also a couple of cracks in the top side of the floor. Is it possible that the boat is water logged? I'm out of ideas, I've tried everything else... :-?