Peter C Posted July 4, 2021 Report Share Posted July 4, 2021 Thinking of adding a jack plate to my skiff. Any guidance? Good Idea? Bad idea? I love the boat and have had it since new. thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geeviam Posted July 5, 2021 Report Share Posted July 5, 2021 I installed a jack plate on my Redfisher 16. The RF 16 design doesn't play well with a JP, unless you "modify" the setup. Even then, it will totally change the balance and ride of the boat. Getting your prop to stay hooked-up, especially in turns will be a problem too. If you love the boat now, there's a risk that you won't love it so much after you add a JP. Just my two cents. If you still want to try adding a JP, PM me and I'll share with you, what I did to make it work well on my boat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter C Posted July 5, 2021 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2021 Thank you very much for the reply. I think for now I am inclined to leave it alone. Thank you for your guidance. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneyB Posted July 5, 2021 Report Share Posted July 5, 2021 10 hours ago, geeviam said: Getting your prop to stay hooked-up, especially in turns will be a problem too. I find this to be problematic without a jack plate. I too am considering a set back just to see if it would help with the prop blowing out in turns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geeviam Posted July 5, 2021 Report Share Posted July 5, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, HoneyB said: I find this to be problematic without a jack plate. I too am considering a set back just to see if it would help with the prop blowing out in turns. Adding setback to get the prop into cleaner (less turbulent) water, is a good idea. However, the jack plate has 1.5" to 2" of motor lift built into it, so it's a wash unless you modify the JP setup like I did, with a CMC 2.5" setback spacer plate. I installed a 4" Atlas (full size - not Micro Jacker), along with the 2.5" CMC spacer, which allowed me to mount the JP lower on the transom, to get the prop down into cleaner water for better grip in turns. I think it's the best way to mount the JP regardless, because you have 5" of adjustable lift with a JP anyway. This allows you to use the entire range of lift, instead of only the first 2" to 3" before you lose water pressure. If I had to do it all over again, I would buy the Bob's 4" Flats Jack with the pump in the boat to save weight on the transom, and try to mount the CMC spacer plate between the Bob's JP and the motor, with the CMC plate mounted as low as possible. The Bob's plate has 1.5" of additional built-in motor height, and the Atlas JP has 2" built-in. The Atlas 4" full size JP is not a 4" setback either. It's actually a 5" setback. So the setback on my little Redfisher 16 was 7.5". I was able to get the prop slip down to 4% with a 4-blade, and 5% with a 3-blade, and a top speed of 53 mph with a modified Evinrude Raker prop (20 pitch). I'm surprised it didn't have more stern squat than it did, with a 4-stroke 115 SHO! Edited July 5, 2021 by geeviam added pic 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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