On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 00:22:27 GMT, "Len Krauss"
wrote:

Am looking for ways to get a bit more speed out of my inflatable dink.
There's no noticeable increase in boat speed past 1/2 throttle, although the
RPMs seem to increase and the bow lifts somewhat.

It's an 8'6" West Marine (Zodiac) rollup with stiffening slats -- so is flat
bottomed. Power is Nissan 3.5HP -- same as Tohatsu 3.5 and Mercury 3.3 I'm
told.

I've removed the tilt pin because that seems to give the best performance.
In the pin's lowest position the bow lifts excessively. I'm not sure at what
height the anti-cavitation plate should be, but it doesn't seem like much
adjustment is possible. As far as I know there's only one prop (diameter &
pitch) available for this outboard.

Would appreciate any suggestions.

You won't get much more speed out of it no matter what you do. At 1/2
throttle you're probably already going as fast as you can go without
planing, and even increasing the throttle all the way you're not gonna
get that setup to plane except in maybe the very best of calm flat
conditions with one very light person onboard.

All I can suggest is move some weight forward to keep the bow down.
This will increase the LWL and get you going just a little faster.

The anti-cavitation plate should be maybe in inch or two below the
transom bottom. But it doesn't really matter and you probably won't
notice much difference wherever it is... as long as the prop is in the
water.

Steve