Jack plate Questions

[J10B]

Thinking about adding a jack plate to my Nitro 700, its  17foot with a 120 on it.

What are the benefits of a fix,manaul, power Jack?

What is it going to add to my boat?

Does boat length matter?

What is the smartest choice of material?

Do you need to spend top dollar on a jack? Maybe a better question would be whats a good jack that isnt going to break the bank and let me get in some nice areas for SPORT not PRO fishing.

[Tritonrob]

As far as adding a jack plate to the boat ask your self a question of why do really want one?  If you have a great hole shot and good top end speed then you really don't need one.  If your going to get one a fixed jackplate will be fine and run you about 200-350 depending on what set back you want.  A six in plate will be.  You really only need a hydraulic if you are going to be moving the motor up and down especially if you fish shallow water a lot.  I would reccoommend checking with Nitro on if they suggest using a jack plate and the exactly what set back they want to use.  Some manufactures suggest not using a jack plate.

[bassadict69]

I have a 17ft ProGator with a 120. I did some checking on a jackplate for mine awhile back & had several people telling me that if I set the motor back farther than about 3 inches I would possibly have holeshot problems. You may want to check on that with yours. I pretty much scrapped the idea of a jackplate for mine.

Out of curiosity, what kind of speed & rpms are you seeing with your Nitro?

[Mike Cork]

J10B, Laurie builds a site for Hydro Dynamics and they are strickly in the Jack plate business. Check out their site and find their email address and Chuck will help you out with all the questions you might have. Be sure to tell them Laurie sent you


hydrodynamics-usa.com

[J10B]

Sorry to take so long getting back...  To answer the power ?  Im getting 5100ish rpm and max speed i have seen on my gps is 52.9 

As far as hole shot and planing... my boat goes from idling to planing in about 3sec.  I have to work at standing it on its tail, ie trim WAY up.
My question is based on someone suggestion that I may get better overall performance.  What brought it up was 2 weeks ago I was in a rush and was pushing.  I got about 47mph on the GPS. I had about 6 gallons of gas, my wife, and me.   I was concerned about the loss of speed.  Not that I need to barrel along at 200mph, but when I got that 52.9 number, I wasnt trimmed perfect I had 20 gallons of gas, a full live well(water not fish Im having lousy luck lately) and my 225 pound brother in th boat.   
Theres only so much speed the dirty hull is gonna bleed off.

[Skeeter1]

I don't know if this will help but I just put a 5" jackplate on my '85 16.5' Skeeter with a 125 Force. It's had a great hole shot with a 19 pitch prop. I've swapped to a 23 pitch to lower my RPMs to match my motor. It still has a good hole shot but not great. But I get a lot more travel out of a tank now that I'm turning lower RPMs. I'm still playing around with the plate to find the sweet spot. I'm having a bleed problem with my trim right now so I have to wait till I fix that before I play with the plate anymore.

[cmegee]

Ya'll think it would help a Aluminum bass boat. I'm looking a triton 196magnum or 186 magnum and wondered about adding a jack plate.