Planing issues with 2005 thru 2007 350MAG powered 260DA's ?

[Cap10Pat]

Dave M, you wrote: "Then I trim the drive so it is about halfway between in line with the keel (neutral trim) and fully down."

I hope your outdrive was in line with your keel! I'm sure we all knew you meant transsom, not keel, or read right by that.
But you are onto something important. Mercury probably designed the B3 like that to handle the need of different boat designs. Specifically the vertical slope of the transom. Some transoms are perfectly vertical, some slope in and some slope out. For a transom that slopes out (as you go down), an outdrive would not normally tuck in far enough. Hence this adjustment. I'm not familiar with the slope of the 260 transom, or the 240. And these might be different than the 270 and 280 which don't seem to have the problem. More important, this adjustment might not be appropriate for certain models, depending on the transom slope. It would be helpful if we could identify that.

 

[Dave S]

I noticed a posting on Boat US with a link to a document from Luhrs Boats involving a recall for bow steer. The only reason I am posting this link here is it contains a lot of valuable information on bow steer. You might want to read thru it. http://www.luhrs.com/Owners/Notifications/Luhrs41RecallFAQs.pdf

 

[thunderbird1]

Great information regarding bow steer -- thanks for the link. Like all 260 owners, I've experienced this behavior -- the first few times scared the poop out of me!

 

[Dave S]

It's official.........my planing problem is solved! :smt038 :smt038 :smt038

I had a sufficient number of people in the boat today for the "acid test" and it planed like a champ. I even made everyone crowd around the rear seat to put as much weight biased towards the rear as possible and it planed fine that way too. :thumbsup:

 

[keokie]

Woohoo!! :thumbsup:

 

[islandhopper00]

A big thank you to the fine folks on this site for being interested enough in their boats to learn about them, and then the kicker, to share to knowledge. :thumbsup: I also loaded my boat with all the gear for my trip and it performed acceptable. It'll be even better when I put my 18 pitch prop set on. The trip is back on. Bimini here I come!
Dave that's great news. I still can't believe the difference it made for my boat either.
Boy the sherriff's office made a big showing this weekend at the Little Allison sand bar. There must have been 3 or 4 sherriff boats wih lights flashing pulling every one they could. I passed my test. :grin: It was a fine fathers day weekend though. lots of volleyball and hot dogs. Must have been 100-150 boats anchored up in the sand. Cudos to all for a pleasant time, no fights or druken junk just plenty of enjoyment.

 

[SearayPaul]

Congratulation every one. In six short pages ya'll have fixed a big issue with your 260's. Every one is again happy with their boat.

I was concerned Mike would have to cancel his trip across the Gulf Stream. Remember to bring your camera Mike we want to see the pictures.

 

[jg300da]

Check my outdrive this weekend and found it to be in the forward position also. I decided to leave it for now. I also practiced launching with tabs full down and retracting them as I break onto plane and this seems to be the best compromise as the bow rise is significantly less using the tabs.
This thread has been invaluable to those of us with 240 and 260DA's in so much as reducing the level of frustration while trying to operate our boats safely and efficiently, and most importantly, have fun doing it.

 

[islandhopper00]

Paul the camera is packed and I'll try to take alot of pics. :thumbsup:

 

[islandhopper00]

Update: recieved my 18 1/2 inch pitch props back from Murphy's. Boy this is how a boat should jump on plane, and It'll hold plane down to 7 mph. They dropped top end speed down to 36 mph but that's fine with me. Have to be careful to not overrev the motor though, 5000 rpm comes quick, and not at full throttle. I'll make that trade for the throttle response and ability to power thru ocean swells. These props would not be a good choice for the average boater who doesn't keep a close eye on rpm's though. I'll keep the 20's for general boating with average loads and use the 18 1/2's for pulling water toys and cruising. I'm at this point happy with the trade offs I have to make in this size and class of cruising boat.
I'll update again after the island trip. Mike

 

[Tippy Canoe]

This is a very interesting thread with a lot of great information. I have an '05, 270AJ with a 6.2 Horizon and I experienced a similar problem over the weekend. My question is when the boat is fully loaded what are you seeing for RPM's? I had 8 adults on my boat and I was maxing out at around 4100 RPM wide open. Is this normal? I talked to a guy with the same boat as mine with a 350 mag and he said he does not have this problem and when fully loaded he can get to 5000 + RPM.

Thanls, KV

 

[Dave S]

This is a very interesting thread with a lot of great information. I have an '05, 270AJ with a 6.2 Horizon and I experienced a similar problem over the weekend. My question is when the boat is fully loaded what are you seeing for RPM's? I had 8 adults on my boat and I was maxing out at around 4100 RPM wide open. Is this normal? I talked to a guy with the same boat as mine with a 350 mag and he said he does not have this problem and when fully loaded he can get to 5000 + RPM.

Thanls, KV

Were you on plane at 4100 RPM? Did you try trimming your outdrive to see if that helped at all? And by the way, did you have trouble comming on plane?

My 350 MAG will max out at around 4800 RPM under normal conditions. And I once had nine adults on board (with a couple of those in the cabin). Once on plane, RPM was right up there around 4800 and top speed was around 35-36 MPH as I recall.

 

[Tippy Canoe]

Dave,
I had a lot of trouble coming to plane and I could not get close to top speed. I am starting to wonder if I have something else going on.

Thanks, KV

 

[Dave S]

Dave,
I had a lot of trouble coming to plane and I could not get close to top speed. I am starting to wonder if I have something else going on.

Thanks, KV

If your boat is wet slipped, maybe you have some bottom growth.That seems to be a common cause of slowdowns like you decribe where neither speed nor RPM come up to "normal". How does it run with just a couple of people on board?

 

[Tippy Canoe]

Dave,
The boat is on a mooring but I have used it a couple of times per week so I don't think that growth is an issue but I will check it out. The boat seems to run fine with a couple of people. I have been taking off with the drive all the way down which works fine with a light load but maybe I need to try trimming it up as I get going. I will try it out this week to see what happens. Thanks for your input.
KV

 

[Tippy Canoe]

Just a follow up on this very long thread. I cheked the bottom of my boat and while the hull was clean I had significant growth on the outdrive. Tough stuff to get off and I paid to have the drive painted with anti foulant paint at the beginning of the season. I understand that the new anti foulant paint is pretty ineffective and my drive was living proof. I had six people out yesterday in very choppy conditions and I could not achieve 4K in a hole shot.

I will have the boat pulled to have it cleaned thoroughly and checked out as I am also getting a "trim fault" on my smartcraft diagnostics. My question may seem stupid but here it goes. Would a boat of this size benefit fron some type of hydrofoil on the drive. It seems that every little bit helps when planing a boat and while they are used on smaller boats would the additional lift of a hydrofoild help on a 270 AJ? If so which brand?

 

[Dave S]

We have had several posts on hydrofoils that you may want to search out but the general concensus is that you do not need one on a Bravo III drive. Once your boat is pulled and cleaned and the trim fault is checked out, I think your top speed will be back as well with a clean outdrive and a clean bottom. While it's out of the water also check your trim tabs for proper operation too. :thumbsup:

 

[Bridog]

Tippy, You will be amazed at how much your boat is affected by all that stuff on your bottom, drives and prop. Once they clean it off you will be fine. I have had the same condition with my other boat a 260DA. Not sure where you do your boating (read how to add a signature)but even using the boat twice a week in our water, barnacles, slime, etc, will still grow even with the drives and bottom painted. Once it was cleaned off .....problem solved. Not getting the proper trim (trim fault) will also make the problem worse. Good luck, Brian

 

[ssupko]

I also have the '06 260 with the 350 and share Dave's frustration...With all the options discussed here, I have to say, the one that sounds the best, is making the switch to the 496...Is there anyone out there that could share their ballpark opinion of what that would cost. (Would there be a trade in on the 350 engine?)

 

[ssupko]

Tippy

I also keep my 260 in the water full time and have found that a good way to keep up with the growth is to get down there with a "meat glove" and polish the props about every 2 weeks or so during the warm month. (growth is at its worst when water temps are above 65 degrees.) A meat glove is a metal mesh glove butchers and meat plant workers use to protect themselfs from chopping off a finger or thumb. Ask your local butcher where to get one.