First post on a new forum. Uh oh...

I bought a home made 9hp long tail from someone for my 14ft, uh, semi-V (?) hull aluminum boat (it's V at the front, but pretty much flat for the back half, 1971 Richline Challenger). It was cheap so the right price. It doesn't have a cavitation plate though. Is it worth while to make one for it? I see people talk about adjusting it for the correct ride hight (makes sense) so should I make one that is adjustable, or just bendable?



Looking forward to countless hours wasted... er, learning things, from the newest addiction.

on a longtail the cavitation plate keeps the prop just under the water when running wide open. Without it your gonna have to fight it

The cav. plate itself should be welded to the shaft housing, there needs to be a tab on the back of the plate that you bend up to push the prop down and down to raise it up.

Does it usually end up sitting above the bottom line of the boat, due to the wake coming up, or is it pretty level with the bottom line? If it's above that line, how would you go about measuring that to get the cav plate in the general line? Take a tape measure while running and go from the handle to the bottom of the boat, then have someone hold it there while you hold a level to a template peice to mark it down is the best I'm coming up with right now. What if that little 9hp motor can't get the boat on plane (don't know, haven't taken it out yet, it's still snowy some days here in MN)