29' outlaw questions
 

I have a 1998 29 outlaw and have a few questions.......

1st. When driving the boat I have noticed that I have to give the boat Starboard tab to keep the boat level from port to starboard, with both tabs up the boat seems to lean to one side as if both props were turning the same direction (they are not, they spin outward). What would cause this issue?

2nd. The boat rides great at cruise rpm (3500-3800) with both drives down and on flat water you can trim her up and it still seems ok, but when you run over a wake, or anything upsets the boat in the least little bit, she will porpoise until you trim the drives full down, or add tab. adding tab does not seem to help as much as the drives and with the problem stated above it becomes a point that you have to give it ALOT of tab to correct this problem. The porpoise will go away if you increase throttle to 4100rpm of better, but you will have to trim the drives down a little to stop her from banging the nose.

The boat has twin 7.4 lx mercs and bravo drives spinning out with 23p 3 blade mirage plus props.

Any help would be great

Justin

That seems like common driveability issues with the older 29's. My friend has a 97 (I think-maybe 98) and had similar problems. Switched to 24p 4 blades and the boat handled much better. Planed quicker and didn't need nearly as much tab to stop porpoising. Hope this helps a little.

My suggestion is to ditch the 3 blade propellers & run your tabs level with the bottom of the boat or a little negative for the best ride.
The 29 doesn't take much trim to run good. I think you are just over-trimming the boat & that is adding to the ride quality problem.
I will assume you don't have k-planes, rather you have the Lenco "tabs" & probably no mechanical indicators. That makes it hard to see where things really are. We can work around that with a level & some electrical tape.
Also, in 98 I think that was the year that Baja added the hook to the outer portion of the hull between the outer & 1st strake. If you have this I'm thinking there is a balance issue with the boat that needs to be corrected. If you don't have this hook, that is the majority of the problem.

Relatively short boat with a lot of weight in the stern, they don't need much positive trim at all. On my dad's old '97 with 3 blades you could only give it one little tap up on the drives. On mine with the 4 blades I trim it a little more but it'll porpose easily in glassy water. Likes running in a small chop much better.

Forgot to add, if it starts porposing just trim the drives all the way in to get it to stop then ease them back out a hair.

jason,

What do you mean by hook?

If I was to go to 4 blade props, would I go down in pitch due to the extra blade? I spin the 23 mirages at 4500-4600....

Yes, the boat does have K-planes and mech indicators for both planes and drives.

Take a 4' level or straight edge & place it on the bottom of your boat on the angled part of the outermost part of the "V". There will be a downward angled portion of the hull that is about 8" long. That is the hook. It is about 6-7" wide.
Use the straight edge to find neutral on your drive & tabs. Mark that on neutral setting on your indicator window.
For propellers, give Brett @ Bblades a call. He has a loaner program & is by far the best at getting your boat dialed in with propellers.

My 29 always leaned to starbord too. Think it might of had something to do with my 250lbs v the wifes 110lbs MAYBE?!! Maybe not

23" Mirage plus 3 blade = 22" Bravo 1 4 blade = 24" Bravo 1 labbed 4 blade - in theoretical rpm.

Could be engine torque rolling the boat some. Even tho the drives counter-rotate, I wouldn't be surprised if the motors weren't rolling it some.