Manual VS Hydrolic jacking plates

[tobymcclure]

Hey guys, just curious to see what people feel the advantage of a hydrolic jacking plate is over a maual.

Looking to get a manual jacking plate for my new boat

[Doc_Hollywood]

Quite simple as the question would suggest. One is hydraulic and you move it up and down with a switch and the other is a plate that you need to manually adjust ie physically move the motor up and down. So now the answer is simple hey the manual is a set once good for bigboats in open water apps, the hydraulic is good for shallow water cause you can move it on the fly.

[yellaterra]

Sorry to ask a stupid question, but what is the jacking plate used for? Is it another method of setting the boat's trim or something more complex?

[tchoklat]

It is a bracket attached to the transom, to which the outboard is attached. It can be adjusted to lift the outboard up and down. See the photo which shows a manual CMC jacking plate on my Prostrike.


Tony

[tobymcclure]

I totally get what the difference between the two are, Have peopel foud that spending $1300 on one opposed to $400 for the manual is worth the extra money .

How often do you all adjust your jacking plate ? or do you simply trim the motor right up and out of the water .

[tchoklat]

Jacking plates wont trim the motor per se, they only lift it up and down. If you set your motor up correctly, that is, the correct height, the motors trim/tilt adjustment will adjust the trim, ie angle that the outboard leg enters the water.

The term "trim" generally refers to the first 15 or 20 degrees of movement either side of vertical when driving at speed.

The term "tilt" is generally used when moving the outboard further up or out of the water to beach boat or for shallow water running.

Notwithstanding, a hydraulic jacking plate will allow you to lift the outboard up and lower it whilst underway, a manual one requires four nuts to be loosened and the outboard jacked up or down.

I have a 5.5 inch manual jacking plate on my prostrike with 150hp Yamaha.(http://www.proboatparts.com/Manual-J...5012-p474.html)

Hope this helps.

[danh124]

Generaly if you have a 200 hp or greater you will experiance significant benifits of bieng able to adjust the jack plate under way, im not saying those benifits are not present with lower hp engines but it is not as significant and therfore most people dont justify the extra dollars.
115 to 200 hp guys usualy run a manual jack plate to get the engine a bit higher and reduce drag of the lower unit in the water note that you have to set the hight of the jack plate at a hight that is a comprimise between top end speed and hole shot which you dont have to worry about on a hydo unit because you can jack it down to take of and jack it up for top end speed.
Also give some thought to the set back of the jack plate this referes to how far back from the transom the jack plate extends usualy 6 to 10 inches.
This will be differant for all boat and motor combos.
Have a look on some of the US forums and see if you can find your boat motor combo this may give you some speed and rpm figures and prop jp set back and hight figures to start with.
When i finsh saving up i am going to repower my stratos with a 125 opti and a six inch manual jp, manual becuase i feel that owing to the comparitivly small outboard the inceases would be small and therfore not worth the extra money for a hydro.
Hope this has helped.

[seamonkey]

Toby for what your looking at a hydraulic plate is a nice too have item but probably not worth the extra money. \

The vertical adjustment of the thrust vector using the jack plate is a form of trim and has a significant effect of the boats performance but at the end of the day here's how it will work in practice -

You'll open the throttle to get on the plane and you'll lift the motor to the same point you do every time. Er...thats it. Worth an extra $1k?

You want to skim across a flat in a foot of water at full speed - raise the motor for that 20secs or so - worth an extra $1K?

You have a 20ft+ bass boat with a 250hp and want to get from 110kmh to 112kmh - play with the motor height - worth an extra $1k?

See where I'm going? Nice to have but really not worth it for 99% time. Put that money towards a Powerpole.

smky

[kingy1978]

Agreed, there really only needed to squeeze absolutely everything you can out of the boat and motor setup you'll have. Make sure you have the right motor, prop and engine at the right height on the back then go spend you extra $1,000 on some other bling like a sick vinyl wrap or something.

[tobymcclure]

Originally Posted by seamonkey

Toby for what your looking at a hydraulic plate is a nice too have item but probably not worth the extra money. \

The vertical adjustment of the thrust vector using the jack plate is a form of trim and has a significant effect of the boats performance but at the end of the day here's how it will work in practice -

You'll open the throttle to get on the plane and you'll lift the motor to the same point you do every time. Er...thats it. Worth an extra $1k?

You want to skim across a flat in a foot of water at full speed - raise the motor for that 20secs or so - worth an extra $1K?

You have a 20ft+ bass boat with a 250hp and want to get from 110kmh to 112kmh - play with the motor height - worth an extra $1k?

See where I'm going? Nice to have but really not worth it for 99% time. Put that money towards a Powerpole.

smky

This is exactly my train of though. I certainly understand all the difference's between the manual VS Hydrolic. The question was simply will i see a benifit of the hyrolic over the manual for the extra $1000.

Youv'e nailed it on the head mate thank you. The extra $1000 will be able to be used for another combo.

Thanks manual it is