# weight placement. do I have too much in back?



## AR.223 (Jun 5, 2014)

I bought a new old stock Xpress xp170. Runs good but sets pretty low in back imo. Factory has 3 trays for the batteries (which I have batteries in),18 gallon built in fuel tank, livewell, and the 4 stroke Yamaha 50. This is all behind me(~550lbs worth). To me it seems a like at lease, the trolling moter batteries could be up front. Other than the obvious sign of setting low, what is some other signs of too much weight in back.


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## lckstckn2smknbrls (Jun 5, 2014)

How does it ride on plane?


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## TNtroller (Jun 6, 2014)

My tracker PT175 rides low in the back due to a 20gal tank and 2 batteries, and a 60 2s, moving the 2 TM batteries up would move help but could cause the boat to plow the water all the time. Easy test would be to move the batteries up front for a short ride, or just place equal weight up front, remove the TM batteries and see. could try using just buckets of water or such for the weight up front as well, but could get messy with that.


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## AR.223 (Jun 6, 2014)

today i was able to go out on the river by myself just to play around with the boat. I did grabed both TM batteries and moved them farward and to the left side. That help counter balance the weight of myself, making the boat more level side to side. I noticed the back did come up alittle. It handled great. The only down side is the batteries are in my rod storage. So before I reroute wires, I'm going to give it more thought.





To this


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## richg99 (Jun 7, 2014)

Is there a way to put the TM batteries right under the TM?


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## TNtroller (Jun 8, 2014)

If you have access to underneath the front floor via a removable panel, is there room under the floor for mounting the batteries. My PT175 has a removable panel up front and I've thought about doing some measuring to see if batteries would work way up front but under the floor. I can also remove the entire front deck via screws, so that is another option for me. 

If you don't have a removable access, call the boat mfgr, and inquire, then possible just put a large hatch in the front deck for access to the new battery compartment. just an idea.


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## flatboat (Jun 10, 2014)

Before I made a permanent move on them there batteries I would do a trial run and see how it runs .Boat builders do a lot of trial and error on placement of stuff in a boat to see how it sits and runs in the water . Some hulls don't do good with that much weight in the front. If you look at all bass boats all the weight is in the back and is balanced left to right , that's to let the front lift and get out of the water to reduce parasitic drag on the hull .Most of the time you are running on the back 2 or 3 ft of the hull at speed . What i'm getting at , you may open up a whole new can of worms by moving the balance point forward.
as always "and your results may vary "


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## SquiggyFreud (Jun 10, 2014)

I have a 16 footer, when I bought the boat all weight was in the back. I could only trim the engine 2-3 clicks on the gauge, and a passenger had to sit up front. By moving my starter battery next to the console(50 lbs) about 3 1/2 feet from the original location, I was able to have much more freedom to trim the engine along with gaining 500RPM's and more speed. Since then I have added a trolling battery up front, and now my wife can sit in the back of the boat with me and not on the floor up front.

I guess my point is moving weight only a couple of feet will make a difference.


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## RiverBottomOutdoors (Jun 10, 2014)

Looks to me like you only succeeding in making the boat list to the port side when fishing from the bow seat.


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## onthewater102 (Jun 10, 2014)

When designing boats they're engineered such that the weight load carried by the boat remains in contact with the water. If you put weight up into the section that rises out of the water it puts a tremendous amount of torque on the transom. When on the plane figure out where your boat contacts the water and what parts are lifted out and above - don't place weight forward of this position.

If you're having planing issues you can always add a hydrofoil to your motor. I've got the StingRay Jr. https://www.basspro.com/StingRay-SpeedXP-Hydrofoil-Stabilizers-for-Boat-Motors/product/45204/ for my 20hp Mariner outboard and my 14' jon planes almost instantly and never has any bow rise. I never ran it prior to adding the hydro, so I'm not sure how much top end speed it is or isn't costing me, but with ~500lbs between the motors, battery, fuel, gear & me (on top of the 145 lbs of the boat itself) I can hit 30 mph as measured on the GPS - which is more than fast enough to make me nervous, and seems to be in line with speeds that others quote with similar setups... I keep all the weight at the back of the boat - battery and tackle bag are just forward of the rear bench seat just like it's laid out in my bass boat. The only weight in the front are the trolling motor and anchor (unavoidable as they're fixed mounted.)

Also - make sure your motor is installed correctly - too often people don't pay attention to the angle between the bottom of the boat and the cavitation plate or the fact that the two are on planes separated by 5 or 6 inches. You want the plate as close to the plane of the bottom of the boat as you can and maintain water below the plate at all times. The size of the motor/boat combination will dictate what this distance should be, typically its within an inch or so of being on the same plane. Based on anecdotal support I'd wager this is the cause of issues the vast majority of the time, but people don't recognize it and spend forever re-arranging their boats and doing more harm than good...


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