My Xpress boat restoration (Lots of pictures)

[RustyJig]

Great refurb job. I put a new floor in my '89 Tracker last year so I know how much work you put into this boat. Enjoy yourself!


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[Yak Fish]

Congratulations on a fine restoration! Well done, sir. I hope you enjoy it ten thousand times longer than she took to restore. Just add water.

Jim

[HoosierSlabs]

One heck of a job, congrats & hope you get a lot of enjoyment out of it

["G"]

Looks great...
Good job

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[shadboy]

What a great job!

[marshrunner757]

Looks great!

[FurFlyin]

Thanks guys! I'm am proud of how it turned out. Only one bad thing.... I've destroyed the ride of the boat, and I'll need some advice on how to get it back....

It's porpoising like crazy when I get up over 4000 rpms. I can't run it WOT unless I bury the nose. It's cut my top speed from 53 down to 41 mph. I knew that adding weight could cause issues but never dreamed it would be this bad.

I only took the boat out once after I bought it before I started the refurb. It got up on the pad and rode great. 53 mph. It had the shorter deck, a much lighter TM on the front, one group 31 trolling battery under the front deck and one group 24 cranking battery in the stern compartment.

Now I have 2, group 31 batteries, a group 24 cranking battery and a Minn Kota 3 bank charger in the rear compartment. I took her out yesterday and it was porpoising. So today before my daughter and I went fishing, I went by our shop and grabbed a couple of battery "cores" to put under the front deck to see if adding weight to the bow would help. It barely did any good. I was able to get up to around 4200 rpms before it would start bouncing today.

The wind was horrible and I only got to stretch her legs right at dark, but the bow started bouncing at 4200. The more throttle I give, the worse it gets.

So, what to do? I know NOTHING about chosing a prop. I also don't know if raising or lowering the motor would help. I don't have a jack plate, so I'd have to go one hole at a time. The motor is currently in the 3rd hole down from the top.

Any advice GREATLY appreciated.

[Eagle 1]

Very nice, sweet ride! Congrats .

[EWS]

That is quality work. Nicely done.

[marshrunner757]

I'm no expert at setting up a boat like that. I run a 16' Xpress with 40 tiller. What I will say is, that's a lot of weight on that tail end. Personally, I would try putting my TM batteries in the front. My cavitation plate is about 1.5" above boat bottom. I know you added a couple to test but you still had the weight on her tail. I run one grp 31 in back and one in front. 24v TM. I would try shifting weight first, then play with motor. A jackplate would help you.