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Hydraullic Jack Plate vs Manual? #11623241 05/24/16 08:14 PM
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 4,053
txsuperman Offline OP
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What's the benefit and why do you prefer it?

Re: Hydraullic Jack Plate vs Manual? [Re: txsuperman] #11625415 05/25/16 04:13 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
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Capt Craig Offline
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I totally prefer a hydraulic, but I have a tunnel hull. At various times I want to make adjustments for conditions. I know some prefer to set it and forget it. Personal choices. On my 24' stand hull boat, once it was adjusted, I never touched it again for the 5 years I owned it.


Capt. Craig Copeland
Licensed by the US Coast Guard

2019 Nautic Star 215 XTS Shallow Bay Boat
Humminbird HELIX 12 CHIRP MEGA SI GPS G3N
Nautic Star Boats Pro Staff (nauticstarboats.com)
Redneck Fish'n Jigs Pro Staff (redneckfishn.com)
Re: Hydraullic Jack Plate vs Manual? [Re: txsuperman] #11625553 05/25/16 04:58 PM
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 4,724
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Flippin-Out Offline
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For any boat with 200 HP and up, I prefer hydraulic. The only reason I am not as strong about it at less than 200 HP rigs is that extra weight is often more critical on smaller boats.

I run a different prop in hot weather vs. winter, and they don't like the exact same pad height setting. I can set it for optimal speed in average water conditions, or move it to the deepest setting to keep the prop "hooked up" a little better if the lake is really rough. My favored feature is to be able to jack it all the way up when idling in shallow or obstacle-infested water. Getting the motor up vertically using the jackplate is preferred over trim-up which disturbs more water and makes the stern squat deeper.

For my 5 inch adjustment range, I like to mount the engine so I have movement down 1 inch, and up 4 inches (from my standard setting). Others may set the sweet spot more in the middle; I like having lots of up for idling in water with hidden things.

Re: Hydraullic Jack Plate vs Manual? [Re: txsuperman] #11626410 05/25/16 10:23 PM
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Bob Landry Offline
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I had one of Steve's jack plates on my Seaark for about a year. It was a very nice piece of equipment, but it stayed set the same just because it was such a PITA to adjust on the water, and it's one of the easier ones.
One trip to the coast and returning on an outgoing tide convinced me that I needed to be able to adjust it easily, so now it's a Bob's Hydraulic. It's just nice to know that an adjustment is only a button push away.
The best ain't cheap, but cheap and quality do not work well in the same sentence.


2015 Seaark 1872 MV CC Etec-90
Two Helix 12 CHIRP SI's, , MinnKota Riptide ST80/i-pilot Link, Bob's Hydraulic
2020 Robalo R200 CC, Yamaha 150

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Re: Hydraullic Jack Plate vs Manual? [Re: txsuperman] #11626614 05/26/16 12:02 AM
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Flippin-Out Offline
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Bob, my moment of conversion was years ago in the backcountry flats trails of the Everglades....

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