[SofaKingFast]

I have a 1973 Sanger bubble deck circle flat with a BBC, 12* casale, and stellings 11-5/8x15 prop. I know that there are a lot of things that will determine the overall setting of the plates like the placement of the motor and vdrive. I was curious if anyone out there had just some starting points. Like where to set the plate as a good ground. 1/4" up 1/4" down or level with the bottom of the hull? Also with the gullwing action on the plates how far do you turn the ears down? 1/4"? Is the gullwing only necessary on circle boat applications or drag applications as well?

 

[flatwater]

Waiting on this. It will help you...

http://www.performanceboats.com/jim-wilkes/18352-cav-plate-adjustment-info.html

 

[jockorace]

Great..........a link to a 4 YEAR OLD THREAD! lol. Jim is a great guy and really knows v-drives, but do you want wait for the video?
For a typical lake flat such as yours it ain't rocket science. Here is a very basic starting point to set your plates (regardless of motor location, etc.);

1) Get a good straightedge, something truly straight like a 6' aluminum carpenters level.
2) Back off all of the turnbuckle locknuts a few turns.
3) Adjust ALL of the turnbuckles so the plate is flat with the boat bottom. (be sure to hold the straightedge parallel with the keel (for/aft) as you work across the plate. Do not lock the nuts yet. Go back and check each one again after adjusting all turnbuckles.
4) Now, adjust the right (passenger) side outer turnbuckle down so the plate is 1/8" - 1/4" down from the boat bottom surface. This is to counteract the
torque twist (flywheel forward engine) on the boat on a hard leave.
5) Now turn the straightedge sideways (held under the plate) and adjust the turnbuckles from the center to the right til the plate is a flat plane from center to right edge.
6) Now you can tighten all of the turnbuckle locknuts.

THAT'S IT! Unless you're honestly running close to or over 100mph, you do not need to do any more than this to a typical Sanger flat. Jocko

 

[SofaKingFast]

Great..........a link to a 4 YEAR OLD THREAD! lol. Jim is a great guy and really knows v-drives, but do you want wait for the video?
For a typical lake flat such as yours it ain't rocket science. Here is a very basic starting point to set your plates (regardless of motor location, etc.);

1) Get a good straightedge, something truly straight like a 6' aluminum carpenters level.
2) Back off all of the turnbuckle locknuts a few turns.
3) Adjust ALL of the turnbuckles so the plate is flat with the boat bottom. (be sure to hold the straightedge parallel with the keel (for/aft) as you work across the plate. Do not lock the nuts yet. Go back and check each one again after adjusting all turnbuckles.
4) Now, adjust the right (passenger) side outer turnbuckle down so the plate is 1/8" - 1/4" down from the boat bottom surface. This is to counteract the
torque twist (flywheel forward engine) on the boat on a hard leave.
5) Now turn the straightedge sideways (held under the plate) and adjust the turnbuckles from the center to the right til the plate is a flat plane from center to right edge.
6) Now you can tighten all of the turnbuckle locknuts.

THAT'S IT! Unless you're honestly running close to or over 100mph, you do not need to do any more that this to a typical Sanger flat. Jocko

Thats perfect thank you!!. The boat does run really close to 100mph but its EXTREMELY sketchy. i have changed a lot of stuff so i just want to make it safer than it is now. I feel like i have to stomp the pedal all the time to keep her down. And then she still hops.

 

[ptc]

BEFORE - you set your plate (like jocko has suggested above) get your down-pedal springs tightened as tight as possible and also set your up-stop. THEN... do the plates otherwise you'll be doing it twice .... (ask me how I know this?:no

I have a '75 true flat and my plate is 1/8" up all the way across except for the right edge (turnbuckle) which is flush with the bottom at neutral pedal.

One way to test your spring pressure (setting) is take it for a run at WOT and if the downpedal begins to fall away from your foot or gets really light, then the plates are being sucked downwards. The tightening of the springs can stop this from happening.

 

[flatwater]

Great..........a link to a 4 YEAR OLD THREAD! lol. Jim is a great guy and really knows v-drives, but do you want wait for the video?Jocko

Saw it was revived yesterday.....just had my hopes upeh

 

[jockorace]

BEFORE - you set your plate (like jocko has suggested above) get your down-pedal springs tightened as tight as possible and also set your up-stop. THEN... do the plates otherwise you'll be doing it twice .... (ask me how I know this?:no

I have a '75 true flat and my plate is 1/8" up all the way across except for the right edge (turnbuckle) which is flush with the bottom at neutral pedal.

One way to test your spring pressure (setting) is take it for a run at WOT and if the downpedal begins to fall away from your foot or gets really light, then the plates are being sucked downwards. The tightening of the springs can stop this from happening.

)THumbsUp100% agree regarding the springs/ up-stop. I just wanted to address the back of the boat original question first. Good advice tho, Jocko

 

[jockorace]

Thats perfect thank you!!. The boat does run really close to 100mph but its EXTREMELY sketchy. i have changed a lot of stuff so i just want to make it safer than it is now. I feel like i have to stomp the pedal all the time to keep her down. And then she still hops.

OK, let me go a little further on this subject. After you've set the plates as outlined, have someone get in the boat and push full down-pedal so you can accurately measure how much actual rear edge plate travel you have. You will probably be shocked at how little travel (probably only 1/4-3/8") your lake setup has. Trick setup circle and drag boats have 3/4"to 1-1/4" (or more) of travel! If you want to increase your travel, the simplest way is to change the eye levers to longer ones. Looking at the pic of your boat, the eye levers look very short. If you changed them all, I would also go with progressively longer eye levers from center to the right side. This gives additional correction to the boat torque twist noted earlier.
All that being said, you should have someone watch the boat attitude while you do some hard leaves and on up to top speed. Sanger's typically do a 2 hop (nothing scary) before taking a set and running flat. They will only take a flat set and carry the boat with adequate HORSEPOWER.
Lastly, and most important, is try some different props. Every boat is different, so borrow as many as possible. I had awesome results with a Cary prop on my 17-10 gullwing Sanger. The boat in my Avatar, 18-10 bubble deck ran 7 mph faster (101mph) with the original Precision prop after trying a bunch of trick borrowed Menkens. Sanger's need more blade area than lighter boats like Hondo/Cole/etc. Jocko

 

[SofaKingFast]

Dumb question, what do you mean by eye lever?

 

[propless]

Dumb question, what do you mean by eye lever?

There the small arms that come off the cross bar on the transom. The tops of the turnbuckles connect to them.

 

[SofaKingFast]

Ok. Mine are bolts. There are no arms. this is from when I first bought the boat and the turnbuckles were upside down. I have put them on the top like the should be.

 

[jockorace]

Ok. Mine are bolts. There are no arms. View attachment 170707 this is from when I first bought the boat and the turnbuckles were upside down. I have put them on the top like the should be.

What??!! If you're serious...........that the turnbuckles somehow are bolted to the rod, there's your problem! I frankly can't believe this, so you need to take a close-up pic of the top of your turnbuckles and post it please. Here's a pic of the back of the last Sanger flat I had. I think you can clearly see the eye levers that attach to the cross rod. Jocko

 

[SofaKingFast]

Well I think I described it wrong. I have an eyelet in the cross bar, the there is a pin and then the turnbuckle. I was just explaining that they were installed wrong to begin with

 

[propless]

Well I think I described it wrong. I have an eyelet in the cross bar, the there is a pin and then the turnbuckle. I was just explaining that they were installed wrong to begin with

You have something like these, right ? There called eye levers and they bolt through the cross bar, the longer ones will move the plates more.

 

[SofaKingFast]

Those are exactly what I have. Thank you for the picture.

 

[Spudpilot]

If you look at your boat the cross shaft eyelet's are positioned down rather than upward, the leverage won't work as well! You might check this out.....hopefully someone will pipe-in and give their opinion!!

 

[HotWater]

From what I can see in the picture of your setup the down peddle is gonna work as an up pedal. Your adjusters are supposed to connect to levelers on the topside of the bar.

 

[SofaKingFast]

From what I can see in the picture of your setup the down peddle is gonna work as an up pedal. Your adjusters are supposed to connect to levelers on the topside of the bar.

That picture was from last year or the year before when I bought the boat. I knew right away that they were wrong before buying the boat. that was just the only picture i had of the CAV plates on my phone. The eye levers are on the top and the down pedal works as a down pedal should. Im going to check the suggested measurements and go from there. I know that the plates need to be set up differently, so im going to start with them flat off the bottom of the boat with an 1/8" down on the right ear. then fo from there

 

[ptc]

so im going to start with them flat off the bottom of the boat with an 1/8" down on the right ear. then fo from there

If you start there you will be dragging your plates at speed and it will slow you down... been there done that.... and I started flush off the bottom. After much trial and tribulation (with hopping and driving the nose down) we ended up with the final adjustments at 1/8" UP across from the left and flush on the right corner.

So you may want to - START with them 1/8" UP and the right corner flush. This way when you are at WOT and you release the pedal all the way your plate is not trying to push your nose DOWN is what we found with mine. Thats where I was getting my hop from, it was bouncing back off the plate, plus loose springs was sucking them down further, driving the nose down more.

 

[SofaKingFast]

Thanks for the advise. I think I will try that. I know it hops and then sets but I'm laying on the pedal