Anyone ever cut the cavitation plate off of a GD Surface Drive.I see alot of mud motors with out them.Do you really need it and how did it do?I run in alot of vegetation sometimes just want to know if it would work better with this.

Seen some longtails where it was cut away...

It is basically a "mud flap" to keep mud off of you - on the SD it is
usually 4 inches above the water....

I would not want to cut mine off - however you can easily keep it
above water and out of the veggies by adjusting your trim knob - or
by manual control at the tiller....

A buddy of mine cut his off a year ago, he got a better hole shoot in deep water,and it worked better in the vegetation. He is running a 16X60.

My 20X60 was slow getting up in deep water. I cut mine off. I am faster getting up period.

We are both running mods, he went stage one with cam and heads ,I went all the way.

JD

Hince the name cavatation plate.

Now ya'll should know by now that Gig has gotten the inside scoop from Coco and knows what he is talking about.

I've seen one that a guy had. He cut the cavitation plate and the 2 pieces sticking out on each side the skeg. Had to use bungy cords to hold it in the water while running, I didn't drive it but said it was like night and day in the grass, and lillies

The cavitation plate on my PD 27 broke off last year and it does not appear to have made a difference. I asked KP if there was a problem running like this and he did not think so. I mostly run deep and sandbars.

BruleBoy4Life - his original post is in regard to a GoDevil Surface Drive - not PD or surface drive in general...

I would not cut mine off - I think trim control would do more good - but
I think several post are right - you might get a beter hole shot with less drag - you might get air at certain times and reduced performance - you might get a lot more mud on you too...

I have ran em both ways. On and off. I prefer it off. On the bigger engines i don't think they are necessary.

Thanks to all that have posted.I cut it off this afternoon.Will try it out later in the week and let you guys know how it works out.Only took about 3 mins to cut it off with the ma-ta-bo.If I don't like i'll just weld it back on.

They are on there for a reason, if it would run better with it off don't you think the mgf would leave it off instead of wasting the extra material and time putting it on?

Got dayum boys!!!!

I cut mine off about 6 inches in front of the prop a year ago. It works great, major improvement in vegatation especially lily pads. When your prop is below the surface in lily pads and you want to clear it, the prop cuts its way clear. With the caviatation plate on, when you try to clear your prop it tries to pickup all of the lily pads. It is like trying to pickup a shovel through the lily pads. It also makes a major improvement in hydrilla, it no longer makes that big ball of grass around the prop because it is clearing all the time. My personal opinions it is an improvement in all areas with no drawbacks. I have a gd 16x60 with mod suface drive.

Hunter,

Any trouble with getting mud in the boat ???

Also - any change in the "rooster tail" ???

Basically a "mudflap" on the GoDevil surface drive.....

Every once in awhile when the wind is blowing very hard directly behind the boat, you might get alittle when you are working the motor hard to break loose. That is the only time, the benefits out way that by a long shot. I feel that there is no disadvantages to this modification. You will be so happy in the vegatation that alittle mud once in awhile is well worth it.

Hunter,

Thanks for the reply...

I figured that tail-wind might be the biggest trouble - if any.....


.....

T-mac,

Ditto on the thanks for the reply....
Got yer PD back on line I hope....

all da crawfisherman usin' da gdsd's are cuttin da cav. plates off.... dey claim it does better in da lillies without it.

Other than dat I don't know cuz I don't run a GDSD nor do I have problems in da lillies..... but I would take da word of a commercial fisherman LONG before I took da word of some clear water queen sideline photographer kunt FE flappin his gums on da www..... just my $.03

All I'm going to say is 100% difference.Ate threw every thing I couldn't get threw before.Boat comes out the hole alot faster.I have it on a 15x40 skiff right now.With 2 people it runs 24mph gps and by myself 26.6 mph gps.Grass aint a problem no more.

[quote="stumpgrinder"]all da crawfisherman usin' da gdsd's are cuttin da cav. plates off.... dey claim it does better in da lillies without it.

Other than dat I don't know cuz I don't run a GDSD nor do I have problems in da lillies..... but I would take da word of a commercial fisherman LONG before I took da word of some clear water queen sideline photographer kunt FE flappin his gums on da http://www..... just my $.03[/quote


Priceless!

How ya'll deal with all of that mud/grass/water sprayin all over you when your runnin around??

I know...I ran one....just wonderin how many times somebody will have to hear it before it sinks in finally

I have a home made lt that the cav plate broke off 2 times and it was a big help in the mud with the cav plate on,but thats a differant animal.

MUD FLAP,thats just homo speak for a nut sack

If you're worried about grass, lillies, etc getting wrappped around the prop/prop shaft, GD's sells a "grass cutter" that can be mounted on the cavitation brace that will prevent the grass from "balling" up around the shaft and prop - it cuts the grass off with every turn of the prop - I've got a few customers that use them for running thick saw grass and such and they are very happy with the performance.
Hope this helps,
Nab.