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Boat lists and plowshelp

freddieclark

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"I just finished restoring a 1

"I just finished restoring a 1954 wagemaker wolverine. It is 14 ft.long with a 1953 johnson seahorse 25 hp motor and weighs about 300 lbs. without the motor (about 400 with the motor). Unless someone sits in the back on the starboard side the boat will list to the port side and plow the water. I have adjusted the motor to all positions at the transom but nothing seems to help. The steering wheel is on the port side and an old timer suggested changing sides. I tried sitting on the starboard side and steering. It helped some but not enough to be comfortable. It did not keep the bow from plowing with full throttle. I switched motors to see if that would help (59 Evinrude Lark, 35 hp). The boat came to plane better but still wanted to list. I really would like to use the original motor. Does anyone have ideas to correct these problems"
 
"clark, just throwing it out t

"clark, just throwing it out there, when you restored this, did you redu the bottom? check your rear for a hook, that would act like a trim tab forcing the bow down and if it was just on one side the list.... just a thought"
 
"Brett,
I did not redo any of


"Brett,
I did not redo any of the original bottom but I did fiberglass the bottom. It looks straight to the eye but I think I will get a 4 foot straight edge to make sure. The thing sat on an old trailer with rollers for years and there were a few dips in the bottom. I thought I got them all out. Thanks.
Clark"
 
You might try making some home

You might try making some homemade trim tabs for it. I did for my dink boat and they work fine.

Jeff
 
"hey Jeff, is that what it too

"hey Jeff, is that what it took to stop the porpoising? did raising the motor help?
Clark, sure sounds like you have a hook. be aware that soft spots in the hull can let it flex while running.(power hook) good luck."
 
"Brett, I have not had a chanc

"Brett, I have not had a chance to check the bottom. My mom has not been well and I spent the last week with her. I will get to look at it this weekend. Jeff, I'm thinking about making some adjustable tabs out of wood and brass turnbuckles so I can adjust them and they will look good on the boat."
 
"Clark, first, sorry for your

"Clark, first, sorry for your mother, can relate. 2nd, the tabs with brass turnbuckles would look good I think, but thats my 2 cents. would love to see when you finish, post a pic."
 
"The Wolverines typically came

"The Wolverines typically came with Mercs- prop rotation has alot to do with how those US Molded boats behaved. Yellow Jacket, Wolverine, Dunphy, all used the same hull blanks- I bet you have a good deal of negative hook in your boat- all of the boats we have done in our shop made by USM have it and we typically steam and weight the bottom to correct what we can them make sure we set the motor up 1 inch to starboard and shimed until the cav plate is even with the keelson"
 
"Brett,
The bottom is straig


"Brett,
The bottom is straight no apparent hooks.

John,
It is a cedar strip boat not a cold molded ply hull. A friend of mine who used to run a marine shop in the 60's mentioned that some of the motors of that time had counter clockwise rotation. I didn't give it much thought but it makes sense. How much weight do you typically add to the bottom? I'll try shimming the motor.
Thanks,
Clark"
 
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