Ride plate angle?

[75spectra]

Heres a stupid question.... What angle should the ride plate be set at? Should it be straight inline with the hull bottom or up at a slight angle? I have seen them set both ways and have tried changing mine slightly but seems to make no diffrence. Any input would be a great help.
Thanks........

[victorfb]

from what i hear, up 4 degrees is a good starting point.

[LUVNLIFE]

I was going to ask this question myself. I have talked to some people and I think I'm going to start with 2 degrees up on a 19' Daytona. Right now it is visibly too low. The ride plate actually bows. Any input is appreciated.

[Nucking futs]

I have my ride plate up 6* and still playing with it.i went from 2-4* and it like it but still have a slight porpose in it so i went to 6 and need to try it out.I think the bigger and heavier boat like lots of up angle.You do not want a bow in it and you should put some supports on it.There was another thread about all this a few weeks ago , do a search on it had some good pics too:cool:

[Cs19]

Originally posted by LUVNLIFE
I was going to ask this question myself. I have talked to some people and I think I'm going to start with 2 degrees up on a 19' Daytona. Right now it is visibly too low. The ride plate actually bows. Any input is appreciated.
2 is a good place to start. Dont do what the other guys are doing, you have a different boat. I would not go more than 2.5 up.
More importantly check your nozzle angle.Again, dont get carried away with the up nozzle or your asking for it.It has way more affect on the boat than the plate.
If you want to fine tune your boat, your gonna need one of these, its an electronic angle finder,and if its fast, you definatly are gonna need one.
http://www.use-enco.com/ProductImages/0388376-11.jpg
Sounds like your due for a new plate too, actually what do you mean it bows? bows from front to back or side to side?

[slotracer]

hey cs19 where can i get one of those angle finders? thanka
pat(slotracer):D

[flat broke]

75 Spectra,
I'm running a 76 and with last year's moderate power, 4* was were I left the setting. If I was cruising in smooth water and hit a small wake/roller, it would set up a porpoise, but I could easily trim down for a second flatten out the ride, then bring the nose up a little again with the diverter.
Carrying the nose in a big heavy Spectra takes a little bit of HP to be sure. If you dial in too much trim with the plate or nozzle, you'll constantly be fighting a porpoise problem. Not fun when you're taking a long cruise and fighting a hangover from the night before ;) :D
Chris

[superdave013]

Originally posted by SLOTRACER
hey cs19 where can i get one of those angle finders? thanka
pat(slotracer):D
I got mine from MSC

[bighead]

Being new to jetboats I have been reading this board and found a lot of good info to help fine tune my boat. My plate was also flat and I set it to 4 deg and it made a dramatic diffference in my boat a lot less throttle at cruising speeds with less rpm to maintain it too and it got the front up and aired it out good but it does want to porpoise on rollers but as someone said it is easy to stop by trimming the diverter, it accelerates faster and probably picked up some top end speed too, I will gps it soon to verify. This board has been very informative to me thank you to all here.

[Slick]

Some porpoise is pretty normal on boats with a ride plate. You'll usually find it in or around the same mph. You can either play with the trim if that's your desired cruising speed or just accelerate through it.

[Larry Nebb]

big, you should set that plate at 3 and 3.5 degrees just to see what happens. Ya just might find the sweet spot.

[1Bahnerjet]

got it at 8 degrees, yes you can plainly see the curve in it.
but really the diverter has way more effect on the ride, than the ride plate does.

[75spectra]

Flat broke, thanks for your insight on the plate. I think mine is about 5 or 6 degrees up? The boat does have that very same porpising problem that you described, smooth until you hit some waves.... I'm going to play with the angle and try some diffrent set up's and see what happens.
I'll keep you all posted. Thanks

[riverbound]

On lighter boats is less up required? I have a spectra18 and cant seem to get it set up right.

[Squirtin Thunder]

It take patience !!! The last time I set my boat up it took three days. One reason was to get the same water every test. Other was same amount of gas. And of course the same temp. I made super slight adjustments. This was the only way I could do it to not pass that sweet spot. Just remember good enough is never good enough. If Ford did this we would not have won 4 "24 races at Le Mans". The best time to do your set ups is during the week. When there is less people on the water. If you need help give me a call I will help anytime.
Jim
928-704-1158
codeblueracing2004@yahoo.com

[slotracer]

dave where is msc?
pat(slotracer):D

[Beal Motorsports]

My placecraft is at 7° with the diverter locked straight and my transom extension plates are an 1/8" up at the back from the bottom of the boat.

[drysumpjet]

Raising the ride plate can bow the plate upwards towards the middle, creating the rear of the plate to "hook" down. This hook can aggravate a porpoising problem and may hurt top speed. One way to prevent this is to obtain rear axle "tilt" shims, (typically used to correct driveshaft angle alignment when lifting a 4X4 with more springs) from a 4X4 shop. Simply replace the height adjusting washers/bushings with these, thinner potion of the shim towards the rear, slide it fore or aft for the desired thickness, drill hole and cut off the excess. I think the angle of these shims are about 2 degrees, seems just about right to make the plate straight again.

[Squirtin Thunder]

Axle shimms........You can get them in 2, 4, 6deg. 4wheel parts has them, Summit should have them, As well as jegs. They are used on anything you need to correct the pinion angle, not sure about using them on a boat though. Good theory but angled aluminum would look cleaner.
My 72cents
Jim

[Beal Motorsports]

I just put 2 x 2 x 1/4 aluminum angles down the top side of the plate to keep it from bowing. Worked great.

[572Daytona]

I got my digital angle finder from these guys:
http://www.speedpartz.com/smarttool.htm