So I have been looking on here for an answer and figured it be easier to just ask. I just bought my first longtail. It's a 24 hp beavertail on a 1648 short transom boat. I ran it yesterday and after 20 mins it's super tiring. The prop won't stay in the water and you have to keep pulling up on the handle to keep it in the water. I know the cav plate prolly needs adjusting but which way does what? Also how should the trim bolt be set? Thanks for all the help.

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Bend the cavitation plate up 1/8" at a time until it stays in the water.

Even after you change your settings, its going to give you a work out while running it. With my long tail I normally didn't notice it until I got home since I was too busy running $h!t over.

Thanks for the help. I will give that a try.

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Let us know how it went. There are many variables to get a proper planing depth of the prop end of an LT. My friend has never had to touch his cavitation plate on his 1648 Lowe MV rivetted hull/ with a 25 HP GD LT. On all three of my previous GD LT's I had to bend the cavitation plate. My 2004 27 HP MB LT came with a "trim tab" on the trailing edge of the cavitation plate; this is held on by machine screws. I found this much easier to bend and achieve the same effect as on the GD's. You might consider fabbing this for the future to make it easier. I know the BackH2O line of LT's do not need this because the plate is curved to begin with and adjustments are different. Apart from the plate adjustment, which you do incrementally, like fireman said, how you distribute your weight in your boat hull will also affect planing depth and performance. A worn prop will also affect not only speed/push, but the planing depth as well. Although my 27 HP is rated for the 9x7 prop, I run better with a 9x6. Good mudding!