# 2012 Bass Tracker Pro 165



## Prowler (Apr 26, 2011)

I just bought This boat with a Mercury 40hp 4 stroke. The boat had 2 problems. Poor hole shot and porpoise badly above 24 MPH and trimming out just makes it worse. I added an SE 400 hydrofoil and fixed the hole shot very well. Still have the Porpoise thing going on now above about 24 or 26 MPH and gets out of hand with the least bit of up trim. 

I am wondering if any of you own this rig and how the motor should be set up. It is currently installed one hole below the top and the current prop is a 10.5 x 13. By design this boat makes it hard to really move much weight to the front because most storage is in the rear deck. I use this boat with two large adults both over 200 lbs but I still think there is something wrong with prop size or motor height. Trim stop is at lowest setting.

I have searched all over the net but can not find recommended prop size or height settings on line. Called bass pro but they never return your call. Help???


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## floater1 (Oct 31, 2007)

Any pictures of the motor mounted on the boat

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## Flounder9.75 (Sep 28, 2007)

Move some weight to the front of the boat and see what happens.


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## Prowler (Apr 26, 2011)

Flounder9.75 said:


> Move some weight to the front of the boat and see what happens.


Thanks...Yep I filled the up front live well and no change. Did try that with a grown body and it helped a lot but no place up front to store an extra 200 lbs:no:


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## JT Powell (Jun 20, 2012)

This may be a dumb question, but have you tried relocating the pin circled in the pic to allow the motor to trim further down?


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## Prowler (Apr 26, 2011)

Yep just checked. It's in the very bottom hole


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## Prowler (Apr 26, 2011)

floater said:


> Any pictures of the motor mounted on the boat
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Forum Runner


Here you go floater.


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## JT Powell (Jun 20, 2012)

Looking at the pic it looks like the motor is not able to trim far enough down with the pin in place. The foot should be at least parallel with the bottom of the boat.


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## Prowler (Apr 26, 2011)

JT Powell said:


> Looking at the pic it looks like the motor is not able to trim far enough down with the pin in place. The foot should be at least parallel with the bottom of the boat.


When I made the pic, I trimmed the motor to be paralell to the bottom of the boat. Still a good bit of down trim avail. Trying to run the boat with the paralell position and ver much power and you have a wild horse!!


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## floater1 (Oct 31, 2007)

Prowler said:


> Here you go floater.


I was looking to see if the captivate plate wqs at bottom on boat but all looks good

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## Donut slayer (Jan 16, 2009)

If it porposes(yeah I cant spel) you dont have the motor trimmed in enough. That boat dosent look like it has a stepped transom, so the foot should almost be touching the transom. Looking at the pic, it still has a ways to go. The motor shou;d be trimmed all the way in when you take off and once on plane, you can then trim to speed. If it porposes, that means the motor is trimmed too far for the power/speed of the boat. If you need some help with it, I pretty free so I can meet you at a ramp sometime.


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## Flounder9.75 (Sep 28, 2007)

Prowler said:


> Thanks...Yep I filled the up front live well and no change. Did try that with a grown body and it helped a lot but no place up front to store an extra 200 lbs:no:


Sounds like to much wgt. in the back of the boat.


If you can't move wgt. to the front then you'll either have to be happy with the speed your getting with the motor trimmed all the way down or get trim tab's.:thumbsup:


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## Flounder9.75 (Sep 28, 2007)

You might want to look around on this site also. It's all about Alum. Boats 

http://www.tinboats.net/forum/index.php?sid=6606f0b2afc4ae665e31f2cbec09aedb


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## JT Powell (Jun 20, 2012)

Prowler, I have an older Lowe 16ft which is basically the same hull as yours with a 70hp on the back so I'm pretty sure it's not a weight issue. I'm up in Maine right now working I'll be home tomorrow and will take a pic of how far mine trims down.


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## Prowler (Apr 26, 2011)

*Thanks to All Who replied*

I called Shane Livingston and he is going to sort it all out for me next week. Some things are just better left to the pro's.:notworthy:


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## Donut slayer (Jan 16, 2009)

Please post the outcome.


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## Capt Joe (Oct 3, 2007)

Hopefully Shane can get you fixed up. I have solved this type of problem several times in the past with wedges or shims installed between the motor and the transom... or bracket, jack plate, etc. Installed with the thick part of the wedge they allow for negative trim which can help a lot.
Keep us informed with what you find for a solution in your case.
Capt Joe


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## lsucole (May 7, 2009)

In my experience a 4 bld. prop has cured a porpoising problem.


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## Prowler (Apr 26, 2011)

lsucole said:


> In my experience a 4 bld. prop has cured a porpoising problem.


Yep that very well could be where this all ends up. Shane is going to install a new Tach for me and that should help a bit to figure out where things stand. Even with bad handling I managed to get the wife and I to one of our fishing holes yesterday. Must has caught around 30 Bream in three hours....most of them were small but as you can see from pic below we did get a few nice ones for dinner tonight:thumbup:


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## TightLines172 (May 13, 2011)

Go the west marine or get online and buy a set of nauticus smart tabs. Best 130 bucks I've ever spent. Fixed my hole shot and porpiousing problem completely. 17 ft sea hunt. Get online and check out the reviews first. They also offer a money back guarantee too!


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## Donut slayer (Jan 16, 2009)

Smart tabs are just a bandaid. The boat shouldnt porpoise at all.


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## Prowler (Apr 26, 2011)

Donut slayer said:


> Smart tabs are just a bandaid. The boat shouldnt porpoise at all.


I tend to agree. It would certainly be a last resort fix for me. I have owned trackers and Rangers before. This is the first one that I have to feed oats to!! LOL ....a real Bronco.....Yee ha!!!!


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## drifterfisher (Oct 9, 2009)

I have a 14' Lowe boat with a 40hp tohatsu. I had to use a tail fin for the hole shot, and if I move the tilt pin up to much it will almost jump out of the water. I just built a jack plate last night, my transom is 21" and the engine is 23 1/2" from clamp to anticav plate. I added an 1 1/2" shim on top of the transom and gained 4 MPH on the top end. I still have a large plume of water coming from the tail fin though,hence the jack plate. Right now my top speed is 29.9 MPH That is with me, 3 batterys, 6 gallons of fuel, 2 gallons for the genny, an older Honda 2300 Watt genny, a 6' plywood deck up front, 4 halogen lights, stereo, tool box, and a large bow mount TM. 
I have one of my battery's up front under the deck, could you move one or two of yours up front?


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## Prowler (Apr 26, 2011)

*The Final Solution*

Just wanted to let everyone interested know that Shane Livingston was able to solve this problem for me. He Lowered the motor down to the top mounting hole (down to transom) and installed a set of shims which added a lot more down trim. I used the boat yesterday and everything worked great. 28-29 MPH fully loaded boat. It also handled very well at lower speed....much improved control.

Thanks to all for you suggestions and especially to Shane for a job well done!:thumbup:


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