Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Hi all,

I've had my brand new premier Sunsation 220, with Honda bf115 for a couple weeks now.

I've noticed that when I'm half throttle or so, going around 20mph, there is a lot of spray coming from the pontoons in back. To the point it's spraying straight up and falling back on the motor.

If I trim the motor down more, It gets better. Is it because I'm not getting on plane? I'm still breaking the motor in and I haven't "gunned" it yet...maybe I'm just kinda plowing through the water?

Sorry for the newb questions...but that's what I am.

Also, trim gauge question. A little over half way on the gauge is when the anticavitation plate is coming out of the water while stopped. Also, when I trim it down, the gauge will go below the "dn" position...like a gas gauge showing below "e". Is this normal?

Thanks again all!!

I always understood that when at cruising speed, you knew your engine was at the right height on the transom if you could look down and see the anticavitation plate.

My prop slip is relatively low. When I hit a tight turn, I'll trim the engine down for about a second and I see zero prop ventilation. In other words, my boat appears to be optimally setup.

When I look down at my anticavitation plate, all I see is splashing water. I think it's just the general nature of the beast--to throw a rooster tail. And all the brands are the same. It's the ability to hit the engine's redline and ability to make tight turns without ventilation that's really important. Just let it splash.

My old pontoon boat would ventilate any time 3 or more people sat in the front of the boat--raising the motor slightly. I never could get it to quit--and had to ask riders to sit in the rear.

Bamaman wrote:I always understood that when at cruising speed, you knew your engine was at the right height on the transom if you could look down and see the anticavitation plate.

My prop slip is relatively low. When I hit a tight turn, I'll trim the engine down for about a second and I see zero prop ventilation. In other words, my boat appears to be optimally setup.

When I look down at my anticavitation plate, all I see is splashing water. I think it's just the general nature of the beast--to throw a rooster tail. And all the brands are the same. It's the ability to hit the engine's redline and ability to make tight turns without ventilation that's really important. Just let it splash.

My old pontoon boat would ventilate any time 3 or more people sat in the front of the boat--raising the motor slightly. I never could get it to quit--and had to ask riders to sit in the rear.

Thanks for the reply. I think I wasn't clear in my original post. The spray is actually coming directly from behind each pontoon, not the motor itself. The spray is coming back down from going straight up behind each pontoon, and landing on the motor.

Kinda all sounds normal to me. I don't think I would worry until you get your break-in over and can try running the boat normal settings and not reduced to specific settings. You might find these go away 99.9% of the time.

Depending on speed and trim settings you can see some wild and wonky spray patterns. I can all but flood my motor pod at some settings to shooting a tiny jet stream 6 foot in the air when water finds an unused drill hole out back...

Most likely caused by the brakets on the back that are made to hold water pumps and mount transducers to. A little splash of water never hurts the motor, a major constant spray could though.

jimrs wrote:Kinda all sounds normal to me. I don't think I would worry until you get your break-in over and can try running the boat normal settings and not reduced to specific settings. You might find these go away 99.9% of the time.

Ok thanks,

I can't wait to open Er up!

rancherlee wrote:Most likely caused by the brakets on the back that are made to hold water pumps and mount transducers to. A little splash of water never hurts the motor, a major constant spray could though.

Thanks.

I think you're right. The starboard side sprays MUCH more than the port side. The spray that hits the outboard is from the starboard side, which is where the transducer is mounted. I have a live well pump on the port side, but I don't get a rooster tail from there.

I'll wait for my lift to arrive, and try to adjust the transducer.