Thread: 1996 Blazer VL100 Restoration to Crappie Chaser

I finally got some long sleeve shirts for you that'll match your boat FYI. I need your mailing address please, and what all you want on the shirts (send PM). Boat looks great. Even floats, yay.

I found a Ballistic 3 blade 21in pitch prop in my stash. It has extra cup already in it but also a inch knocked out of the pitch. My buddy who owns the prop shop wants a bunch of demo props I have so I will have him tune the 21in Ballistic back to a stiff 21in pitch but leave the extra cup. Ballistic props run fast but turn poorly, I had the extra pitch put in for the other boat before dropping back to a 19in Apollo 3 blade. After this test run the Prop had way too much bow lift causing porpoising. I switched to the Solas 21P. After dropping off the Solas HR3 at my buddies shop I ran some Slip Calculations on the Mercury Calculator. My calculations on prop slip came back at 4.99%. Well I got my Racer buddy on the phone, he has my new Solas prop to start tuning. While I was telling him the Slip numbers had to be wrong he agreed and walked my prop to the Prop Gauge and measuring Pitch found the new Solas HR3 21P 3 Blade prop was actually a 23 pitch. Either miss marked or as posted in other numerous threads just another Stiff Pitched Solas. I was able to get up and pull the 23P prop 5400rpm at 52mph (GPS). We are pitching back 1 inch to a 22P and Venting to reduce the load planing off. The diameter is 13.9 inches as these props are really made for Suzuki engines. I wanted the big diameter so the engine carried the light boat better. This prop has a lot of Rake too. I can't get enough negative trim at this point.

So this rig has little negative trim as originally configured. Bow Rise is quite a bit more than the other Blazer VL100 since it does not have 2 massive hooks in the hull. When transitioning from the majority of the hull lift forces coming from the Deadrise under the boat to the majority of hull lift being provided by the Pad I have a problem. Too great a distance exists between the two lifting forces. Porpoising starts if the boat is not driven with care. By adding the negative Trim by way of Bob's Machine 2 Degree Wedges static hull weight can be moved aft, significantly reducing the distance between the transitioning lifting forces. As speed increases more control of the boat can be maintained till the majority of Lift is provided by the Pad.



After raising the Jackplate all the way up I rig the engine to the Overhead Lift Beam. Loosening the mounting bolts with the battery switch on I bump the trim till the engine alignment is perfect so all 4 bolts move with ease. Since on the hose side the lower bolts interfere when trying to install them I just push them back out of the way leaving them in the Jackplate.



Once the Wedges are in place and all bolts tightened I slack off the lift and rig everything down. You can see Bob's Machine Shop manufactures their Wedges for a Perfect fit.



Now are the Wedges absolutely necessary? No, but the addition of 2 Degrees Negative Trim will provide more Stern Lift, it will reduce Bow Rise out of the hole, provide a longer stable transitioning from Deadrise Lifting Forces to Pad Lifting Forces. Yesterday I was studying the Hull of the Skeeter F-80 Strada next to the VL100 Blazer and the differences are stark. The Skeeter's Deadrise is Half the Blazer's Deadrise. Transitional Lifting forces applied to the Skeeter's hull will take place far more controlled than the Blazer's Hull. I was thinking of leaving the Skeeter on Ross Barnett and keeping the Blazer here but looking at the differences in the two boats V I think the Blazer would handle a blow up on Ross Barnett better than the Skeeter. I can stand to operate it thru the rough water too. Once my Champion is finished it will be The Rez boat.

Wow! You’re really smart with this stuff. All that fancy book learning and OJT is sure paying off. Thanks for the explanation

So question, why do you need washers, why can't you just control the motors pitch in the water using just the trim. I may not have all my terms correct, but everything always changes anyway, the weight in the boat, the chop, etc.... I just control everything with the trim. If a transom can't handle the stress without having the motor against the bottom of the boat, isn't that a separate problem. Dono

Interesting

Originally Posted by Slab

So question, why do you need washers, why can't you just control the motors pitch in the water using just the trim. I may not have all my terms correct, but everything always changes anyway, the weight in the boat, the chop, etc.... I just control everything with the trim. If a transom can't handle the stress without having the motor against the bottom of the boat, isn't that a separate problem. Dono

Slab I put so much beef in the transom I can hang the 175 60 degree Evinrude sitting in my shop on it. Did you know that 150-175 Eagle Evinrude/Johnson engines only weighs 12 pounds more than the 115 Yamaha 90 degree 2 Stroke engine on the back now?

Back to the Wedges. Some of the older boats were not manufactured with the deeper Deadrise Angle on the transom as the later boats have. My 2 Blazers are in the too square Transom / Low Deadrise Angle catagory. The water test showed a couple of things, one I could not trim the engine down enough for Stern Lift with that 358# Engine, Jackplate, Jackplate Pump, batteries, etc in the stern because of all the Rake in any High Pitch V4 or 4-1/4in Gearcase Propeller. Two in a Cross Wake Situation the bow wants to pop up too easily. One of the great things Yamaha did to all their engines are their ability to go 6 degrees negative trim. Still not enough with the Props I have in the Stash to run Water Tests with. I have a 115HP w/Jackplate on a 400# 15ft boat, I need a lot of pitch in the prop. Those props with 22-24 pitch are All Raker designs. The Engine / Jackplate weighs as much as the boat. By tucking the Prop Negative more than the 6 degrees my engine will tuck when I throttle up the Stern Lifts allowing a much smoother transition in Lifting Forces if that makes sense. The Transom Deadrise on my 1987 Skeeter F-80 Strada is at least 3 more degrees. I will have to measure sometime. So concerning the "Washers" if I didn't buy the proper 2 Degree Angle washers my bolts would not have even load all the way around the Head because they would be Torqued on a Angle, the Angle washers are a corrective measure. I hope I answered your question.

P.S. I already removed the Wedges, found another prop to try. I had to buy it but I will post later. I hope measuring out the posts on this project helps educate some of the members in Marine Engineering.

Ahh. You want it to tuck more. More angle. Push the back of the boat up. Trim all the way down, in fact past all the way down, kinda (with the wedgie). So, if what I'm saying is right, I think I know what you're saying. But my brain hurts in any case. Doh

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