is it possible to adjust the speed of my boat to go slower

AZAZEL · **Posted:** Mon May 04, 2015 10:05 am

Kind of an odd question, but I added a down rigger, and a fish finder, and went out on lake sunapee this past weekend to do some trolling. the slowest I could get the boat to go was about 3 1/2 4 mph. is there any way to adjust the low speed of my boat?

joet · **Posted:** Mon May 04, 2015 11:09 am

I see trolling plates used on Lake Erie but have no personal experience with them.

AZAZEL · **Posted:** Mon May 04, 2015 1:01 pm

Nice! I will have to look into those. I was considering just punching a few holes in a 5 gal bucket, tying it to a cleat and dragging it behind the boat! lol! the plate looks like a much better plan. thanks

Jdpber · **Posted:** Mon May 04, 2015 1:30 pm

AZAZEL wrote:

Nice! I will have to look into those. I was considering just punching a few holes in a 5 gal bucket, tying it to a cleat and dragging it behind the boat! lol! the plate looks like a much better plan. thanks

i would use a stern eye over a cleat for strength.

pickledboater · **Posted:** Mon May 04, 2015 7:45 pm

Adjust your idle down as low as possible for trolling. I've got mine down to 2.5 mph. Also I always try to run it out at the end of fishing, running that slow does tend to load things up some.

Berger · **Posted:** Mon May 04, 2015 8:17 pm

In my 210, I used two small (30") trolling bags. One on each side so the boat tracked straighter. Will reduce your speed perfectly. Also, I believe the trolling plates only work for mercs since Volvos have the exhaust right where you would mount them. I heard they are more trouble then they are worth. I would avoid drilling holes and just deploy the bags and you can fine tune depending on the conditions (wind, waves and current). Sometimes one bag is enough. I'd recommend the heavy duty ones vs the cheapo rip stop versions. Those won't last too long.

Thalasso · **Joined:** Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:45 pm **Posts:** 333

Berger wrote:

In my 210, I used two small (30") trolling bags. One on each side so the boat tracked straighter. Will reduce your speed perfectly. Also, I believe the trolling plates only work for mercs since Volvos have the exhaust right where you would mount them. I heard they are more trouble then they are worth. I would avoid drilling holes and just deploy the bags and you can fine tune depending on the conditions (wind, waves and current). Sometimes one bag is enough. I'd recommend the heavy duty ones vs the cheapo rip stop versions. Those won't last too long.

deafwish · **Posted:** Mon May 04, 2015 9:53 pm

pickledboater wrote:

Adjust your idle down as low as possible for trolling. I've got mine down to 2.5 mph. Also I always try to run it out at the end of fishing, running that slow does tend to load things up some.

Be cautious if you're running a conventional hydraulic flat tappet cam!

pickledboater · **Posted:** Wed May 06, 2015 4:40 pm

Ok, you got me. Why do you say that DW? Am I doing something dumb here?

deafwish · **Posted:** Wed May 06, 2015 7:20 pm

pickledboater wrote:

Ok, you got me. Why do you say that DW? Am I doing something dumb here?

Low RPM (<500) puts excessive load on cam lobes and reduces the effectiveness of lifter rotation = Bad news for lifters & lobes! :wink:

aedavis · **Joined:** Sat May 24, 2008 12:00 pm **Posts:** 13

I run my 4.3 at about 600 rpm, and use two 5 gallon buckets for drag. This gets me to about 2.2 mph on the GPS, depending on wave action, etc.

ric · **Posted:** Fri May 15, 2015 1:09 pm

All vortec motors are roller lifters. So if your valve cover bolts are in the center and not around the edges you're fine.

The 3.0 is flat tappet in any year.

deafwish · **Posted:** Fri May 15, 2015 7:02 pm

ric wrote:

So if your valve cover bolts are in the center and not around the edges you're fine.

Not true, old mate.
From 1987-1997, they were using the Vortec blocks, but with flat tappet cam's.
These were the TBI/ Swirl Port Heads (12 bolt) & not the higher flowing 8 bolt Vortec Heads.

ric · **Posted:** Fri May 15, 2015 9:41 pm

I understand the sales model where it would totally screw it up if the 5.7GL and 5.7GXi made the same HP (cause they would without changing cams), but to remove the reliability of roller lifters is just wrong.

Surface Interval · **Posted:** Sat May 16, 2015 8:34 am

The trolling plate could be mounted on the SX drive. There are a few choices and they work. Just make sure to retract it before accelerating or you might shear a pin or break something. Depending on the boat there may be clearance issues when the out drive is trimmed up.

Trolling bags work. Two bags reduced my 190 Horizon from 3.8 to 1.8 mph. Depending on how and where they are attached, they may work well or they may make boat handling a challenge, especially in a wind. Attach a line to the tail end of each bag to make bag retrieval easier. Sometimes the bag can be in the way when landing a fish.

Depending on the boat, a small outboard might be a more expensive option.

A bow mount electric trolling motor is a good choice, but mounting it may be a challenge. Either a gas or electric motor will cost at least we eral hundred dollars.

I looked at several of these options with my 95 190 Horizon, but couldn't find an economical or practical way to mount a motor. I stuck with a pair of bags from the front cleats that were under the boat so they were out of the way. Handling was challenging at times and it takes a bit of time to deploy or retrieve.

www.iFourWinns.com

is it possible to adjust the speed of my boat to go slower

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