Trent's FS14 LS Build

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VT_Jeff
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Re: Trent's FS14 LS Build

Post by VT_Jeff »

Mojosmantra wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 10:59 pm
  • Put some weight in the bow, but who wants to add weight to their boat?
Curious what troubleshooting suggestions you guys might have.
You could try putting your pinfish trap in the bow.

Oh wait, that won't help because it doesn't weigh anything, because it's imaginary. never mind.

Congrats again on the splash. Man, I'd be happy with a little porposing at 29 if it meant I could actually go 29!

What's still to tell on the "Almost broken" motor?
There are only two seasons in Vermont: boating season, and boat-building season.

Completed Paul Butler 14' Clark Fork Drifter
Completed Jacques Mertens FS14LS + 10%, Build Thread
Started Iain Oughtred Tammie Norrie

Mojosmantra
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Re: Trent's FS14 LS Build

Post by Mojosmantra »

Here you go Jeff. Unrelated to my porposing issue - because this happened later in the day, I did have a little run-in with a submerged "something" at WOT in about 16" of water. I know the flat fairly well - so I wasn't just running willy nilly - but I was testing her skills. I thought she came out of it unscathed, but apparently not...

Image

Thought I'd check in with TomW1 (if interested) before I just replace with the same:

Image

Mojosmantra
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Re: Trent's FS14 LS Build

Post by Mojosmantra »

You could try putting your pinfish trap in the bow
Stone Crab trap might work

TomW1
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Re: Trent's FS14 LS Build

Post by TomW1 »

Trent sorry about your little boo-boo. I would make the trim tab adjustment first and see where you are at. For a couple of MPH, I don't know if I would spend the price $130-$150 on trim tabs. Adjust your motor up and down for max speed, if it bothers you still, go with the trim tabs.

Tom
Restored Mirror Dinghy, Bought OD18 built by CL, Westlawn School of Yacht Design courses. LT US Navy 1970-1978

joe2700
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Re: Trent's FS14 LS Build

Post by joe2700 »

Mojosmantra wrote: Mon May 02, 2022 7:44 am Joe - thanks! That’s brilliantly obvious. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it. I’ve changed those anodes a few times on other boats and know there set slightly askew to overcome the prop torque - but it never occurred to me that I could actually adjust it. I think that should work.

Now I’m curious if that adjustment will still result in a loss of top end speed. We’ll see.
On my FS17 I gained a tiny bit of speed at WOT once I had that adjusted correctly because until then the motor was never actually pointed quite straight. With hydraulic steering I couldn't feel it pulling but if you looked at the wake you could see it was going off to one side with the boat going straight, so was not efficient.

bamaguy0
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Re: Trent's FS14 LS Build

Post by bamaguy0 »

Sorry I've been missing as of late. I haven't been getting post notification emails, so I'm playing catchup a bit.

Great news on the splash and getting insurance! I only tried with Progressive and all they would offer was liability. No coverage on the hull. I did ask someone selling a homebuilt boat on Facebook back while I was building mine if he had insurance and his response kinda stuck with me. He told me if I built it I can repair anything that would occur. He didn't see much of a point in insurance. I can see it both ways. I did get the liability to cover injuries at least. I think it was $100/year. It does come with Seatow that was reassuring.

Regarding the porpoising, I had the same issue. Get the height optimized and see what happens with it. At 29mph I think you're pretty optimized, but you can tweak it some and see. My cav plate is about an inch above the bottom of the transom like yours as well. I put an Aluminum 4blade prop with the same pitch as factory and also added the Bennet Self Leveling (spring loaded) Tabs at the same time. Some combination of that solved my porpoising problem. I've been meaning to go out with the tabs retracted and see if just the prop did it or the tabs. I have a feeling the tabs contributed the most. If you have the ability to shift weight, definitely try that first though. I already had a battery and gear forward.

Also think about how often you'll be pushing the top end as well. I know where I'm fishing I won't be pushing it unless I know I'm in wide open water with plenty of depth to spare. Maybe it's not worth the extra stuff.

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Re: Trent's FS14 LS Build

Post by Mojosmantra »

Interesting about the insurance. I only wanted to
insure the motor (and the liability of course). And then, my only concern would be theft. State Farm wouldn’t do it. So I ended up insuring the build cost. I agree with your friend. I can’t ever imagine making a claim on the hull.

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