i'm having a problem with losing speed. when the dog is ahead of the middle bench seat my top speed drops by 2-4mph depending on how far forward she is. no amount of trim adjustment can bring it back to the previous top speed. the further back i can get weight the faster it runs. there's nothing left to move back, so i tried adding water to the hull and got no real answer from it. as it planes out the water quickly moves forward and likely adds to the problem. i plan to try adding containers of water to get a better idea of what is going on. i may also try adding water to the pods. the pods have are about 20" long and turn up about 1.5-2" over that length.

I'm running a 1648 crestliner w/ pods and a 23 mini.

any ideas on how to figure out what's going on or fix it?

Your fixed pod trim angle is too deep. Not much you can do about that except remove them. You might try fooling with your three position trim notches. Or shorten your pods?

Hull might be hooked, look under it and see if it looks bowed.

It's normal for a boat to slow down with that much weight on the rake.

Trim pads, pods or tabs are tricky things. Most trim tabs are only 12 inches long or less for small boats such as yours. I'm thinking that because your pods are 20" they are causing too much foward pitch. I think that because as water passes by the bottom it creates a surface area of water that angles upward so that more force is applied to the tab the farther back they reach. That's why I think shortening your pods might help.

Tell the dog "stay".
Beat his ass if he don't.


Easiest 2-4 mph you will ever gain.

checked the transom angle and it is 16*. i'm told the motor is designed for 14*. not sure that can make such a big difference but it may be a combination of things.

the pods angle up at about 5/8" per 12". they have two spots where the weld is slightly built up that may be acting as trim tabs. there's also an area where it appears the metal got too hot during the weld and developed a slight hook. it's noticeable to the touch but not easily seen.

my 11x10 prop has lost about 1/2" across the fat part of the blade but the cup and diameter still look good.

fwiw, i was running 22mph today with the dog in the back in 18" water. i did hit 25 once i found some vegetation for the prop to bite a little harder on.

I dont think its your pods as much as 1 the loss of blade width in the prop 2 the rivets on the bottom (the more of those out of the water the faster that boat will go) 3 transom may be a little tall to get proper trim angle to the water. hope this helps

Cut the pods off you shouldn't need them with a 23 on a 16'. The back of your pods could be hitting and pushing the bow down when on step. The more weight you put in the back the lower your pods sit

here's a couple pics from the launch on monday.






i don't really want to cut the pods off but may consider modifying. i often hunt in ankle deep water and have a hard time getting out of there w/o them. even with them it still takes some work to get 300-400 yards back to where i can plane out.

Well if theres nothing really out there to hit or mud flats just slap ya a 25 mercury on the back and whala! Problems solved!

Seriously I think your pissing in the wind here with all these adjustments, when it all boils down to the fact that its a 23 hp engine. No matter what mods you add your just not gonna be able to haul gear, dog, hunters and yourself and jump on plane within 20 feet and run 40 mph.....Aint never gonna happen bud. Just get you a 35 mod it out and be done with it. Those motors are designed to get you there and back, not pull a skier with. Anyways happy hunting!

Pods, low horsepower, along with the fact that it's a short boat not made for a MM... Will amplify any tiny mistake you make on your load distribution. Not much you can do about it with the setup you have.

You really have no need for pods, an they usually hurt more than help.

Low hp motors do just fine, if you pair them up with the right boat.

i'm more of a power to weight ratio type person. after spending the money to mod this engine i'm in no position to purchase a new boat or motor. i believe i have something fundamentally wrong with my setup that i need to correct. my next step to isolate the problem is to add water to my pods and see what happens. i will likely also try a new prop.

as far a load distribution, there's nothing left to move back. just hydroturf, two life jackets and some lights/wires. all together they may weigh 8 lbs.

i may be changing the pods up a bit or just run them with water inside if that increases some performance. i'll try to get out tomorrow if i can.

When your boat is sitting in the water, how does it look? Is it level? It should be obvious if you have too much forward weight, it should squat a little in the back.

48" wide boat = don't need pods. Did you add them, or were they on there when you bought the boat?

If you moved your transom back to position at the very back end of the pods you'd have a a longer boat and great running rig.

The more weight you add to the back. The more it will plow. You are makeing the back sit lower in the water in return making the back of the pod it and draw your bow down. You don't have enough HP with these mudmotors to make the boat lift enough to get the pods out of the water.

Couls you take an inch or two off the bottom of the pods so they may still help get up on plane but not touch at all once you're on plane?

Did you already run the boat awhile before you installed the pods? If you're going to shorten them anyway, just cut them off and see how it runs. Then you can add back 12" pods if you feel they are absolutely necessary. You'll notice almost no one else with a short-tail runs pods.

One thought, it could be that as you move weight forward the pods come out of the water. With weight in the back, they are in the water and adding to the planning surface of your hull and and thus giving better performance. You'll know if you take them off and your boat is slow no matter what. This probably isn't right but it's just an idea.

I have 12" x 12" trim tabs that I can adjust manually with teunbuckles. Very small adjustments make a huge difference in hole shot and planing attitude...as small an adjustment of 1/4" up or down makes a big difference. So with pods you are committed to only one position. Once you are on step with pods all you have left affecting the are essentially trim tabs only because the bouncy effect/ displacement of the pods becomes negligablws in relation to the lift created by the trim surface. At some point in the acceleration sequence of your hull it transitions to a planing surface and the pods cease to have an effect. It seems you have more pod than you need and you will have to tweak their angle somehow to improve performance. You will have to start from scratch.

If you keep pods you need to put more angle on the bottom to top or cut them shorter. I put pods on my aluminum bass boat so it would sit level when I fish cause I have a 150 on a 16'. I made pods to long. It wanted to pull the front down and hop. I cut them shorter. Works perfect