keeping the nose down on my 18" I/O

I'm new to wakeboarding and to boating. I have an 18" I/O with a 454 mercury. That isn't The power plant that came with the boat originally from the factory. It was a 350. However the boat is small the motor is big. My problem is it takes a while to drop the nose down and also keep a consistent speed. Would adding weight to The nose help rectify the problem? If so how much? Also the wake it puts out is pretty steep, I'm thinking because all the weight is in the rear of the boat. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Well the weight difference from the small block to the big block might be the reason of the porposing. Id suggest using a hydrofoil for the Out drive unit.. Here is a link for you

http://www.overtons.com/modperl/overtons/order/items2.cgi?request=aisle&catnum=2C13A

any easy fix is lead bars in the front

i do have a hydrofoil on the outdrive and porposing isn't the issue. i guess what i'm trying to say is i can't get a steady speed for wakeboarding because i can't keep the nose down. and if i added weight how much?

start with 75 but if bad go 150 keep going till you like it

try dropping your prop pitch... what kind of prop are you currently running with... a speed prop of some type I am guessing...

I battled I/O's for years.

Throw 300lbs in the bow. Sandbags from Home Depot work well, $3 for 50lbs. Or friends, have all your friends ride in the bow (assuming it's an open bow) This will take care of the high nose and the steep wake.

To hold speed, change your prop. Drop the pitch of the prop down. If someone matched the prop to that engine, you've probably got a 21" or 23" pitch prop, go to 19" -- You'll loose top end speed. But your wakeboard speed will hold more constant. Also, part of keeping speed with an IO is just experience. even after 7 years of boarding with an IO, I still had to run the throttle up and down to keep it constant. I got to where I could do this by engine sound (pitch) alone. I always had to add throttle when an experienced wakeboarder would cut out hard.

Lastly, set your speed by watching the RPM, not the speedo. Try to keep the RPM constant.

I have found that the newer IO's are much easier to keep a speed w/ the luxuries of power steering & fuel injection. It's a completely different world that I had never seen before.

My guess is that your best bet would be to start w/ weight in the front. I'm guessing w/ the 454, the whole purpose was speed. I'm assuming you don't want to lose that, right?

The prop i'm running is a 4 blade 14x20. With that prop I try to keep the rpm's @ around 2600 to 2700. That seems to be a good speed for wakeboarding.

I'm not worried about speed my kids are 6 & under.I usually have them with us when we go out.I know this will never be a bitchen wakeboard boat, but I want it to perform as nice as it possibly can. Until I can afford a wakeboard boat.

Nate,
Im with Craig just put weight in front of boat, sand bags wrapped in garbage bags to help prevent leaks. I would start out with 100 lbs and work my way up, A Big block V-8 along with 4-5 riders should be pushing the limits of the 18 ft. boat don't be like this guy!

That sucks, a sinking Supra.

What's the story on that boat, what happened? Did it stay a float?

I see a rock wall in the background. I'm guessing that by now, his boat is looking at the bottom of it. Wouldn't want to be him!

Thanx for all the great advice guys.Ive got my work cut out for me. hopefully this sunday elsie won't be packed. that should be a bitchen day on the water.

A friend of mine who owns a Supra SSV said that Supra is the only manufacture to use a sufficient amount of foam in the hull to keep the boat a float after it's fully submerged. I don't know if that's true - seems like an awful lot of foam to float ~3500lbs. By the looks of that boat it's still floating.

A friend of mine who owns a Supra SSV said that Supra is the only manufacture to use a sufficient amount of foam in the hull to keep the boat a float after it's fully submerged


If it were mine I would want it to keep sinking so I could replace it with a TIGE VE

No kidding. Assuming it was insured - let it sink!

Hey I am also with Craig. I was using a 2003 Larson Lxi and it through a very steep wake, thats just the nature of the beast, my best advice is charge it, dude its fun. we had all sorts of issues with the bow rise as well. We put people up in the front which helped as well as a fat sac in the ski locker. Also we had a Quicksilver 5 blade prop that was stainless steel. That alone made a HUGE Difference, it was also a 19 pitch and the boat came with a 21. Top speed was dropped from 52 to 44, but it almost leaped out of the water from stops!!This was a 21 foot boat with a 305 v8, I imagine that your motor is signifigantly heavier so you may want to be carefull adding your weight. You wouldn't want to end up like the skipper there. Where was Gilligan.
Justin