To wedge droop up or down?

[Jetmugg]

I know I've seen some discussion of this topic before, and there seems to be more than 1 school of thought on the topic of droop/wedge installation. The recommendation that I have recieved from more than 1 "West Coast" source seems to make the most sense to me. That is, wedging the droop down in back (lowering the thrust line) will result in more lift in the hull. I can understand this logic and can visualize the forces at work to create the lift. The lower thrust line, in combination with a Place Diverter to create the correct nozzle angle, effectively creates a "moment" rotational force which causes the front of the boat to lift, creating less water drag = faster boat.
However, I just got off the phone with one of the "Midwest" jetboat shops who recommended exactly the opposite. This guy I talked to was not the owner of the shop. He insisted that installing the wedge with the "fat part down" will result in a faster boat. I cannot visualize how raising the thrust line will result in a faster boat. Perhaps with a long straight "Snoot" and no PD, I can see how the angle of thrust results in more lift and more speed.
However, I have a Berkeley droop and believe that I need to wedge it "down" to optimize the lift and speed. What do the rest of you do? The hull in question is an 18' Gullwing.
SteveM.

[olbiezer]

try it both ways.........see what it does for your indivdual boat. take a gps with ya and see what speed u can get out of it.

[Squirtcha?]

try it both ways.........see what it does for your indivdual boat. take a gps with ya and see what speed u can get out of it.
IMO that's the only way to do it. Every boat (even the same hulls, by the same manufacturer) can be different. One thing I know for sure is, on my semi-V wedging up carried the nose (bow) higher, and resulted in a dryer faster boat.
I tried mine all kinda different ways and oddly enough the slowest was with no wedge at all. Wedging down increased over no wedge, but the biggest increase was wedged up.
I think you're just gonna have to play it both ways Steve, and see which works for your particular boat. It's the only way to know for sure.

[HammerDown]

Steve, try both ways w/gps (the same day)...and let us know what happened.

[Jetmugg]

I decided to order a 1 degree wedge to go along with the 3 degree wedge I have now. That way, I can experiment with combinations of no wedges, 1 wedge, or 2 wedges to create angles of 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 degrees in either direction.
You can bet that I'll post results.
SteveM.

[Nowwhat]

Some boats like the down wedge. If you add up wedge you are adding more to the already built in up degree that is in the intake set(4*) and what ever is built in to the droop.I added 2* up wedge and it made me do wheelies out of the hole. You just need to play with the set up .Thrust angles are tricky, but once you get the proper thrust angle you will notice the differance.

[PC Rat]

Is there a distance between the keel line (projected out) and nozzle that will put you in the ballpark on certain boats.
Example: Tunnel boats need about X inches from the projected keel to the nozzle and V Bottoms need about Y inches from the projected keel to the nozzle.
Brian