Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

We just took delivery of a new 2017 Starcraft CX23FD Tri-Toon with a 150 hp Yamaha. As soon as we launched, I thought that the motor looked like it was pretty low in the water. I dismissed it since this is my first pontoon boat and have always had center consoles or cruisers, plus it had a full tank of gas-60 gallons. Once I had it in the slip tied up, I trimmed the motor all the way up and about 8 inches of the lower unit remains underwater. Being that the boat will be sitting in a slip in salt water, I was not too happy about this. On our test run with a 15 1/4", 15 Pitch aluminum prop, I was getting about 30mph at 5500 RPM WOT which was not the performance I expected I brought my complaint to the dealer and told him I wanted to raise the motor since there were still two more bolt holes to move up on the transom bracket. He advised against it since the engine was mounted to specs. I insisted that it be moved up one hole and they agreed to do it. The boat sits only about an inch higher than the pictures below and performs about the same. I am not getting any cavitation at all and I kind of regret not raising it up to the last bolt. They also bottom painted the bottom portion of my lower unit.

The dealer claims that about a quarter of the boats they sell will have a motor that won't trim all the way out of the water based on model and weight distribution. There are dozens of pontoon boats in my marina and we are the only one that looks like this.....

Any feedback would be appreciated...Thanks

Raise it to the next level up and see how it performs especially with how much trim you can achieve before she blows out .
Mine was in the bottom hole and was puking water up over the cowling at speed. Not even acceptable. Went up two holes and what a huge difference it made! Less drag, easier to steer, picked up speed and etc.
If its too high you will know it and can drop back down a slot

To judge proper height, you need to see where the cavitation plate on the LU is, in the water, when running WOT with your normal expected load on board. The plate should just ride on top of the waters surface. You can't judge the proper height by just seeing where the boat sets in the water at rest. Boat manufacturers have different transom specs, pontoon diameters, maybe they put a 25" shaft motor on your 20" transom by mistake and don't realize it. So many things to consider. My 3 pontoons, all sat with the LU touching the water when in the tilt position when I slipped them, too. With some of the new rear seating configurations, these things are very stern heavy and do sit low in the water. I would like to see a side shot of it at rest. BTW, nice boat! Enjoy it!!!

I just remembered that I also had a performance package which has the larger 60 gallon fuel tank. Having almost 500 lbs of fuel in the rear may also have something to do with it. I might need to just keep it half full. It will take me a long time to burn through 60 gallons anyway. Once I burn through some fuel, I'll have a better idea.

It really sits nice in the water! The extended transom forces the motor further into the water, too. Yup, 60 gallon tank is very nice to have. You'll feel the boat loosen up as you burn it off, too.
Nice looking boat!

I would have the dealer working on the setup
a 150 tritoon should do better than 30 mph
it needs to be raised or a different prop,
I just got a harris tritoon with a merc 150 GPS 38 MPH at 5,400 RPM
if you wanted to go 30 you could have got a 115 and saved some money, That boat should do better than 30 MPH

some times they will install a tilt limit switch to prevent the cowl from contacting the floor or the tow bar, see if that can be adjusted, I had to do it on my 90 to get the lower unit out of the water before i had the lift.

Nice boat, make the dealer set it up properly

Mike

Most comparable boats in your class with 150 hp will be equipped with a 15 pitch stainless propeller--either Reliance for Yamaha's or Enertias for Mercury.

The Yamaha's after being broken in a couple of hours should pull 6000 rpms with the engine trimmed out to about 3/4 level. The Mercury's pull a little less than 6000 rpms's but they have a slightly different lower unit gear ratio.

First of all, are you measuring mph by GPS? I would target 38 to 40 mph GPS with a quality tritoon with lifting strakes. The strakes are what gets the nosecones out of the water--and gives you almost 10 mph over a 2 toon displacement hulled boat. Make sure you've got the cones out of the water when you make your speed runs.

Until you get the engine broken in well, you cannot really tell how it'll perform. And I would be very hesitant to ever consider filling up a 60 gallon fuel tank--unless you're out on a river cruise.

My Bennie is good for 6000 rpm's and 40 mph--no more, no less. And it's seeing little prop slip and prop ventilation only comes when I take a tight turn with the motor above 3/4 on the gauge. My motor is mounted 1 notch or 3/4 inch above the transom. Every different brand and model might be different.

Did they give you the PR20 performance package with a 25" shaft instead? It doesn't really look like it but I've heard more than 10 people with similar problems since the 25's have become more common.Not just Starcraft. Maybe Bamma's right about waiting for the break in, but an extra 30 gallons of gas Is the weight of a small adult, That wouldn't lose you 10mph. Which size PR package did you order?

small child...YIKES!

The weight of a gallon of gasoline is approximately 6.073 lb.

Are your power tilt/trim rods submerged? I looks like they may be in one of your photos. When I re-read your post and saw that you were slipping it in salt water then I had to do a double take. Personally (and I am OCD), I would not want any part of my motor sitting in salt water when trimmed up. I think you are looking at two issues:

1 - motor is too low and needs to be raised.

2 - speed is too slow (and this can be related to prop, motor height, or a combo of both)

You paid good money (beautiful boat and great engine) so I would not hesitate to tell the dealer to make you satisfied.

PS #1...it came with a 60 gallon tank and while that is a lot of weight, the motor should not be sitting in the water when trimmed all the way up...even with a full tank of gas.

PS #2 - If I am off base then I will stand corrected. None of my three toons ever had a any part of the motor sitting in the water when trimmed (this also applies to the two offshore boats I owned as well).

My tritoon will not completely trim the motor out of the water either but it is related to the cowling hitting the tow bar and back of the boat like "crookedlaker" said. I was pretty upset about this but there's not much I can do. I have to trailer my boat everywhere so it's not a factor for me.

We have the 25 inch shaft mercury and have the same problem even though it's as high as it will go. Check the shaft length on the motor, should be in the model number.

[quote="curtiscapk"]small child...YIKES!

The weight of a gallon of gasoline is approximately 6.073 lb.[/quote]
Small adult was the term.

[quote="ron nh"]Did they give you the PR20 performance package with a 25" shaft instead? It doesn't really look like it but I've heard more than 10 people with similar problems since the 25's have become more common.Not just Starcraft. Maybe Bamma's right about waiting for the break in, but an extra 30 gallons of gas Is the weight of a small adult, That wouldn't lose you 10mph. Which size PR package did you order?[/quote]


It has the HMX PR25 Performance Package with lifting strakes and hydraulic steering. Extra 30 gallons is over 180 lbs of fuel. I'm thinking that could definitely push the stern down a few inches in the water while in the slip. I'm hoping to get some time on it this weekend to put her through the paces. I'm not sure of the shaft length but I'm guessing it's 25".

[quote="crookedlaker"]I would have the dealer working on the setup
a 150 tritoon should do better than 30 mph
it needs to be raised or a different prop,
I just got a harris tritoon with a merc 150 GPS 38 MPH at 5,400 RPM
if you wanted to go 30 you could have got a 115 and saved some money, That boat should do better than 30 MPH

some times they will install a tilt limit switch to prevent the cowl from contacting the floor or the tow bar, see if that can be adjusted, I had to do it on my 90 to get the lower unit out of the water before i had the lift.

Nice boat, make the dealer set it up properly

Mike[/quote]

I agree that I should be getting closer to 40 than 30. I will really need to get out this weekend and run it a bunch to get some better numbers and burn off some of the excess fuel. I'll probably never keep more than 30 gallons in my 60 gallon tank. I will also ask the dealer about the limiter switch. I do have a tow bar but it's not even close to hitting when trimmed up. Thanks