Hello,

Im thinking about purchasing a used Beavertail 27hp longtail. Have done some research, but still have some questions. Should the prop turn a little (1/4 turn or less) on the shaft when the engine is not running? Is that normal, or does it need some attention?

THANKS IN ADVANCE,
David

I keep my prop alil loose in between the nuts it helps when time to take the prop off. I keep mine about 1/8 to 1/4 of a turn. So I think you would be ok with what you got.

Welcome to MMT!

Yep, that sounds right. and WELCOME TO MMT!

Welcome, and there was a thread a while back that covered that for a go-devil..

assuming it would be same on beavertail..

you might search it up and ck it out...

Thanks guys for the answers. I did see the Go-devil thread, but I was not sure if they were similar. I thought some manufacturers used splined shafts.

I took the boat for a test drive today and I believe everything works as it should.....I just need someone to teach me how to drive the thing. I looked at the threads about adjusting the cavitation plate and adjusting the skeg. I am hoping it will just be a learning curve, but I had a hard time turning. I had to lean on the tiller to get it to turn. Is there a "driving a longtail 101" thread anyplace? Im used to console steer jon boats.

THANKS,
David

Where you from

Only thing that can help ya is stick time. As long as the motor isnt pulling or pushing on ya too bad, and the prop is stayin in da water, all ya can do is keep on truckin. And be careful! If ya dont respect that thing, it will hurt ya.

Im in Virginia...

The motor is not pulling. Im actually thinking the prop may be too far in the water. I find myself leaning on the handle, and am thinking that is a really bad habit. Dont want hit anything and have the handle toss me out the boat.

THANKS for the tips.

probably runnin too deep, and yes, becareful with that handle. one good log and your out

they do take some effort to hang on to. its been 10 years since ive run a long tail like that. rember the work out though.

I hear everyone saying how bad the longtails beat you up, but mine runs super smooth I barely hold on to my handle. I guess mine is just dail in to the right depth

Thanks for all the comments. I am definitely a rookie at this. When I accelerate, it looks like the cav plate pulls the prop down into the water. I tried adjusting the rubber stopper, but I really have no idea where it should run. When I am just at idle, how deep should the prop be???? At full throttle, how deep should it be?

Im hoping to play with it a little this weekend, and hopefully have better results.

THANKS,

mine runs really smooth. it just sucks when runnin tight spots wide open and smackin a big ass log especially while turning!

OK.....got to play around a little today.....I think I am starting to get the hang of it. Steering is easier when passenger sits still. Does 15.5 MPH sound OK for the 27 HP longtail pushing a 1854 welded boat?

16mph sounds just a lil slow. The longtails definitely prefer a long narrow boat. What kind of "all welded" boat is it. Guessing a semi-v with ribs? If so thats probably about right depending on the load? Looked like you had at least one passenger.

Hey dwhipper61,
I found out that if you keep the prop just under the surface of the water before it wants to skip out on top of the surface, and thats where I found out the best performance and speed. One other thing, pay attention to the RPM of the engine, when you put the prop deeper into the water it wants to bog down a little, and it will cause slower speeds and turning, therefore place the prop just under the surface that way you can obtain that high RPM speed, turning, and speed of your boat. Let me know how that works.

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all the input....Been playing with new boat for a few weeks now and am starting to get the hang of it.....The one thing I noticed that makes the most difference is to have the passengers sit still. The boat is very responsive to weight shifts. Im guessing that is normal?????? I didnt notice that much in my previous outboard boats.

Yeah its normal. We were running last weekend and had a cooler sitting a little off center. Not even enough to create any tiller torque, just a little bit. Slid it over about a foot and picked up almost two miles an hour. Weight distribution makes a huge difference.