175 hp V mate...

[oilburner]

I have a V-mate 1 that I totally rebuilt last year, new transom, floor, everything beefed up with west epoxy and several layers of biax, and transom heavily reinforced with additional knees for a bigger engine. The tank and the battery are relocated to the nose.

Right now it has a 100 hp Evinrude hanging back there (300 lbs) and it does allright on on plane, but it doesn't have much oomph to pull a skiier out of the water unless I prop it down to a 17, and then it's screaming around the lake.

I got a screaming deal on a 175 Merc (2.0L, 1980) that runs great. The motor is 20" mid, and, being a 2.0L it's pretty lightweight. With the tank moved to the front along with the battery, there isn't much more weight back there than there was when it was running the crossflow in stock form.

Has anyone had an early V6 Merc on a V-mate, and how bad was it? I am mostly looking for out-of-the hole snap for pulling skiiers, and I like the sound of the V6. I have seen a couple of V-mates running 2.0L loopers, they are almost the same weight and power and the boat seems to get along fine. I will probably never prop it to past 65 mph. I only use it on a smallish lake so it's not going to see heavy chop or open water very often, I just hate having to swap props 3 times a day between a couple of fast runs and skiing.

Opinions?

 

[Old Hickory]

Is your V-mate 17ft(V II) or 15ft(V I)?. If it's 17ft I'm pretty sure you will be okay; probably will need some setback. If it's 15ft I'd think twice about it. You need to post some pics and give some additional info on your check and the rebuild so that the members here can give good accurate info. I'm sure w/ the additional info you'll get plenty of responses. Good luck

Hick

 

[175checkmate]

I would think you should be ok. There are predictors on here running the 2.4 200. I am running a hopped up 2.4 200+ on my trimate (16') boat. No problem with getting out of the hole. Since mine is a B/R the tank and batt are in the rear.
Make sure you have all the right stuff as far as safety goes. Hot foot, kill switch and a good life jacket when doing WOT runs.

 

[LAAllison]

V6 on Vmate

I rebuilt a 17 with a friend of mine about 5 years ago and we put a 2.5 150 Merc on it, It works great. No handling issues and with 21" SS prop it'll jerk you right up. I will say that GOOD steering is a must. First time in the water after we put it together I hammered down on it and the steering was a real bear. Had to go to dual rack. You'll like it.

Art


In God We Trust

 

[oilburner]

So far so good. The boat is a Vmate 1, so it's about 15.5 feet long, but it's built pretty wide for the size. It's an early 2.0L with the separate trim pump, which is located in the boat, which helps as the weight is moved forward towards the bow. It's mounted now, waiting for parts to get it running. The weight of the Xflow was listed at 280 lbs but it had a heavy external trim setup that was bolted to the transom and that was probably 20 lbs. I think I'm probably only about 50 lbs heavier overall, which is peanuts. The boat floated very well with me standing on the transom (200 lbs) so it should float the extra weight no problem. My thoughts were that if a predictor can handle a V6, this should do allright. I'm looking at a 21 high 5 for skiing and maybe a 24 or 25 neutral lifting prop for higher speed runs, but looking for opinions...