Considering retro fitting to a Bouyancy bracket

[fishn2gthr4ever]

Here are the specs:
2006 18 ft North River Seahawk
Powered by both a 90 hp 4-stroke Suzuki & a T-8 kicker, on calever style bracket.

Additional history:
Our current bracket leaked, but was taken care of by sickle seal - thanks to the great guys at Almar NorthRiver in Tacoma.

Here is the current problem:
While running the boat and even on a plane, the double rooster-tail oversplash from both sides of the calever style bracket saturates both motors.

Here is my speculation:
The extra bouyancy would be nice to keep the kicker from being overtaken by oncoming wake from other boaters or rough waters. I would hope that porpoising issues might also be resolved.

Here are my questions:
Have any of you had issues with leaks on the retro fitted brackets? If any leaks, where are those leaks located?

Thank you in advance. I really appreciate any information on your experiences before we put out the money.

[goatram]

Originally Posted by fishn2gthr4ever

Here are the specs:
2006 18 ft North River Seahawk
Powered by both a 90 hp 4-stroke Suzuki & a T-8 kicker, on calever style bracket.

Additional history:
Our current bracket leaked, but was taken care of by sickle seal - thanks to the great guys at Almar NorthRiver in Tacoma.

Here is the current problem:
While running the boat and even on a plane, the double rooster-tail oversplash from both sides of the calever style bracket saturates both motors.

Here is my speculation:
The extra bouyancy would be nice to keep the kicker from being overtaken by oncoming wake from other boaters or rough waters. I would hope that porpoising issues might also be resolved.

Here are my questions:
Have any of you had issues with leaks on the retro fitted brackets? If any leaks, where are those leaks located?

Thank you in advance. I really appreciate any information on your experiences before we put out the money.

I bought my boat 2004 21' seahawk used this past march and the hull extension was accomplished by the factory in 05 Because of cracking. They extended the hull back 15" and also only gusseted the extension to the off shore bracket. the Hull extension works. There is a guy that lives by here that had his hull extended for the same reason you are thinking about. He is quite happy with his.

I am going to extend my hull another 7" and close it off to stop the water that fills my offshore bracket. My boat did porpoise till I added Bennett trim tabs. they made a huge difference. the boat is stable now and my cruse GPH dropped a gallon at 30mph 8.5 to 7.5 speed increased also.

Parts are cut and ready for welding tomorrow night found a local boat builder that sold me some scrap 5052 aluminum plate enough to complete this project. will take a picture or two and post if you want.

[foxer]

My Thunderjet did the same thing when getting up on and coming off of plane, although mine just splashed on the kicker. Spoke with another boat builder and they said its the design of the bracket, just something to live with. I remember someone saying Northriver charges around 3k for the retrofit to the new style bracket. The new bracket should solve the porpoising as well..PM Tacklebuster, he had it done.

[Tacklebuster]

Take it back to NR.
Have them make it right. Motors getting saturated with water while running on plane is not safe and probably doesn't do much for the longevity of the internal parts. Especially when you add some salt to the mix.

What did they do to fix it? All my fixes failed until they got the retro fit done.

[ICHTHYDEMON]

Originally Posted by fishn2gthr4ever

Here are the specs:
2006 18 ft North River Seahawk
Powered by both a 90 hp 4-stroke Suzuki & a T-8 kicker, on calever style bracket.

Additional history:
Our current bracket leaked, but was taken care of by sickle seal - thanks to the great guys at Almar NorthRiver in Tacoma.

Here is the current problem:
While running the boat and even on a plane, the double rooster-tail oversplash from both sides of the calever style bracket saturates both motors.

Here is my speculation:
The extra bouyancy would be nice to keep the kicker from being overtaken by oncoming wake from other boaters or rough waters. I would hope that porpoising issues might also be resolved.

Here are my questions:
Have any of you had issues with leaks on the retro fitted brackets? If any leaks, where are those leaks located?

Thank you in advance. I really appreciate any information on your experiences before we put out the money.

How low is the engine mounted? I'll bet they have it mounted as low as it will go.

My '06 20' Seahawk has the old cantilever style bracket. When I picked it up,the engine was mounted as low as it would sit on the bracket. I had the same issues you have. It wanted to porpoise and I had a crazy amount of spray. I had them raise the engine a hole and the problems vanished. Its like a totally different boat.

Have someone else drive the boat and you go back and take a look at the engine while running. I'll bet the engine is mounted so low,the cavitation plate is UNDER water when on step. The spray is probably coming off the lower unit being so low in the water.

The cavitation plate should be slightly out of the water when on step.

In doing more research I've discovered that the further back the engine is from the transom,the higher it should be mounted. IIRC its about 1" higher for every 8" away from the transom you go. I could probably go another hole or two higher.

Unless things have changed the dealer (North River/Almar in Tacoma) is LAZY and mounting the engine at the lowest setting is the easiest/fastest way to rig them. They're hoping that you don't realize its not mounted correctly. I actually had to get the main man from Roseburg involved to get it taken care of.

The performance of the boat will increase also. I gained about 500 RPM,the speed increased,and the GPH use went DOWN. There isn't nearly as much drag as there was originally.


My name is Rick Pelletier and I approve this message.

[fishn2gthr4ever]

Thanks to everyone that replied! All of you had very valuable input.

The main motor was rigged in Roseburg and is not mounted at the lowest level and the cavitation plate is straight edged with the hull.

We seem to have the same problem as Foxer - getting up a on plane and coming off a plane creates the oversplash, which basically becomes a wet salty mess.

Tacklebuster, we are really leaning toward having North River do the retrofit. It sounds like you are pleased with the results. Were there any leak issues with the new bracket? Did you notice that the retrofitted bracket weighed much more than the original bracket? Was there a noticable increase in bouyancy with the retrofit job complete? Any additional information would be much appreciated.

[Tacklebuster]

1. No leak issues with the new bracket. The ones prior leaked like a screen door.

2. I am very pleased at trips end. I am now pleased instead of driving home in a blood drunken rage.

3. The bracket weighs far less than a water swamped boat.

4. Big time increase on the bouyancy.





It sure is nice to not have spray, no porpoising, and water not purging from your drain hole when you pull the plug.

I feel like I won the lottery

[lurking_out_loud]

Had my 05 done as well. Three things I'd do again if I needed to.

1) I have a threaded drain plug instead of one of the rubber compression ones that tend to fail. Works like a champ, and will not leak.

2) Have them weld a tube to from below to above your water line for your wash down pump so you do not have any plastic thru hull fittings under water.

3) Add a vent to the rear battery box to allow condensation from the bilge to vent.

Tacklebusters boat is similar to mine as it has the delta pad (flat surface) below the main motor. Adjusting the motor up/down to accomodate this is very important to get the right performance out of the hull and engine.

Good luck. I'd say get the modification done, it was night and day after it was completed.

-lol

[Jason S]

Originally Posted by lurking_out_loud

2) Have them weld a tube to from below to above your water line for your wash down pump so you do not have any plastic thru hull fittings under water.

Take it down to Doug in Tacoma. They did some stuff to my boat and the welder down there has a ton of experience and does heck of a good job.

Are you the same Fish2gether4ever as another Washinton board?

If you are you guy are my neck of the woods and if you want to see what the bracket does for the spray and performance I'll give you a ride in my 20'er when I get back from Virginia. The kicker motor will still create spray and get up on the cowling of the big motor. But then again. My motor is mounted significantly higher than all the way down on the bottom stop.

Shoot me a PM for more details if you want.

[Starfish]

Originally Posted by fishn2gthr4ever

The main motor was rigged in Roseburg and is not mounted at the lowest level and the cavitation plate is straight edged with the hull.

IMHO that's still way too low. The cav plate should be at least an inch or two above hull bottom if your engine is set back any appreciable distance from the transom.

Here's a pic of mine for comparison, obviously not directly comparable because this is a different design for the setback.

[fishn2gthr4ever]

Thanks again to everyone for the additional input. It is great to hear from you Jason S.; we are the fishn2gthr4ever on the WA board. We hope that all has been well with you. We appreciate your gesture of offering us a ride on your "Tuna Killing Machine". We agree with you: Paul and his associates at the Tacoma Northriver have always gone out of their way to take care of us and the welder is one of the best. Ichthydemon, I am sorry to hear about your experience.
We will post an update later.