HPBCANADA.COM

Looking for some opinions on setting up a Voodoo for recreational use. Late this summer I got my 12 year old a 1988 Voodoo with a 1989 50hp Evinrude. We just put it in the water and ran it for the rest of the summer, ran great and will do 42mph gps at around 5500rpm with just me in it (210lbs) Motor does not have power trim and it is on the all the way down trim hole and motor is bolted to the transom on the lowest mounting holes. Prop is a 11 1/4 x 21 OMC SST. How does this setup sound? Not looking to squeeze every ounce of speed out of it. Will setting the trim up a notch help speed without hurting take off? The hull is running pretty wet as is. Any better prop choices? Any other setup hints would be great.
Thanks

The Voodoo is an awesome starter boat. Post some pics of it.
I got my son Mike a voodoo with a 4 cylinder 40 Merc when he turned 12. ( I believe 40 hp is max under 16 when accompanied with adult). His did around the same 42-44 with aluminum prop. It didn't take him long to achieve 50+ with a little 18p chopper ( the fast prop )

40hp is the max for 12-16 years old driving alone, no adult needed. 40-60hp OMC's are basically the same motor so I changed out the decals for 40hp. It's a step up from the Mini most sea flea he has had for the last couple of years.

With the motor sitting on the transom and the trim pin in the first hole, you have the most conservative set up possible. You need power trim! The original power trim units for that motor was a bolt on unit. Costly and difficult to find.
Here is what I would do:
- find a CMC trim unit ...get the one for the 130 hp max...used $400 to $600.
- find a set of bobs machine shop wedges ....used they're $50.
- check the main jets ...you want 56D
- buy a set of plastic reed...Boyesen or similar
- if the motor is oil injected get rid of the injection and run pre-mix 32 to one.

The CMC unit will give you both trim and set back. Advantage is you can use it for any motor in the future and they are very dependable.
The wedges will give you extra negative trim for take off.
The jets make the motor 60 hp
The reeds allow you to run higher rpm without hurting the motor. 6500 rpm is OK.

It will run 50 mph, handle better at speed and still take off the same.

Top of bullet even with bottom of pad was what I was told when I had a VooDoo and it worked well enough. That was as high as I could go without a jack plate. Easy enough to try trim a pin at a time if you don't want to spend for the CMC unit.

Thanks for the info guys. Yeah power trim would really help. Hopefully I can find a decent priced used CMC, I also see there is a Panther 55 brand that looks pretty good. Got all off season to look for one. VRO has been disconnected.

you need to find a T750 driver who has a race prop that doesn't work great for them and will part with it. If you are trying to be cheap about it you can make a set back using 2X4 on the transom. Some racers use this method and its fine. You can manually trim it up with the pin and get decent performance. Harder to plane but it should still plane no problem and it wont turn great but will still be ok. Also fill the top holes on the water pick up and run a hose where you can see it. I think you would want to be in the 1.5 below the pad on the 2x4 set back but a lot depends on the prop.

Is the extra setback with a trim plate OK for the Voodoo, can the transom handle the extra stress of the extra 6-7" setback? I know my Allison GS likes the extra setback but my old Vector performed better with minimal setback.

Would a voo doo even need motor setback? as there is a step in the pad?

2011 video of new era Voodoo, heavier than concave deck, Jr was ~ 195#, 60hp, 4" setback, 11.5x21 cleaver, pinned at 3rd hole, no trim.
Watch @ 2:30, ~50mph
Watch @ 3:15, lighter ~140# driver, aired out nice, ~52mph

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31nSIe2OUOo

2012 Voodoo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmlKLqPpBSc

My recommendation: don't go to much expense/time now with trims, props, etc... wait until son approaches age to install 49/56ci, then 'invest' in the right hardware.
For now, test set back results with cheap 2x4 blocks, raise engine, tilt out, confirm results. Per Houndog, then do next level acquisitions. That'll be enough for your son to get a handle/experience until you upgrade to larger engine, see 13Checkmate's recent results.