My wife and I were recently gifted her father's 15 Sport GLS. Other than the trips to the mechanic for annual winterizing and spring commissions it mostly sat in his garage for the last 10 years, so we finally convinced him to let us move it out here where it will hopefully get more use.
Here's the moment it rolled onto our block:
Overall it seems to handle nicely and isn't too skittish at WOT, but I do have a couple of interrelated questions and concerns:
- The boat gets on plane and behaves itself when the motor is trimmed all the way in, but will immediately start to porpoise if I trim out slightly - even after just a few quick pulses 'up' on the power trim. This seems to be the case regardless of the conditions, as I experience it on both calm, glassy days and on the windy and choppy days this season.
- The sideways spray off the outboard looks unusual to me. But is this perfectly normal? The spray, coupled with the porpoising when trimming up, has me wondering if the [2002 Mercury 50 FOURSTROKE] engine is mounted too low? Here is a video I had a friend shoot the last time I took the boat out for a run--with the motor trimmed in. https://youtu.be/TxvQ4uVZ9v8 Sorry it doesn't include footage of the AV plate.
- The lower motor mounting bolts sit too close to the radius of the splash well and this has caused some small localized gel coat stress cracks in their current location -
.
This is similar to the concerns raised in this dealer bulletin http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/bulletin84-10.html I plan to have the lower mounting holes re-drilled at least .75" higher, but wonder if I should go as far as 1.5" higher - to move the lower bolts as far from the splashwell as possible. My only concern is that drilling the lower holes 1.5" higher will also set the new "bottom" (lowest) mounting position for the motor at 1.5" higher than it is currently - leaving me at a "point of no return" in the event that 1.5" proves to too aggressive of an outboard height increase.
I hope I am making sense.
Unfortunately I can't currently take a photo of the AV plate relative to the bottom of the transom, as the motor has been removed in preparation for working on the splashwell. I should have thought of taking a photo sooner. In the meantime, here is a photo showing which holes in the upper and lower group are currently being utilized.
Any thoughts, suggestions, or testimonials (ideally from 15-foot hull owners) concerning the outboard splash pattern, and where to drill the new lower mounting holes (.75" vs 1.5" higher) would be greatly appreciated. I don't have a driveway or garage at my home, which means I have to pay my boat yard each time I want to adjust/experiment with the outboard height. Furthermore, the re-drilling of the new lower holes is a one shot deal - so I really want to try and get this right the first time.
Please note that adding a jack plate isn't an option right now - I don't want to put too much money into this.
Thanks for any help you can offer!
Anthony