Bobs nose cone and low water pickup

[tyst67]

I am interested in purchasing a bobs nose cone but I am concerned with the assembly! My biggest concern is getting the cone on perfectly straight! Who has put a nose cone on and can you send me some pictures and help me out! Is this task extremely hard or is it fairly easy?

[pdt]

there is a little vid on youtube showing a fella fitting one using a lazer to make sure its level before he tack welds it.
this same thing can easily be set up for using just epoxy if that is going to be your method.

the fella puts the lazer from centre of propshaft through the line of the bullet of the gearbox and along the nose cone.

once you get it right from the side its then a simple case of doing the same from either top or bottom.

main thing is to make a simple wooden cradle to hold it still if its off the engine, or on full tilt if still on the boat etc.

do post some pics of putting on and let us know the results performance wise, I am seriously thing about same sort of thing.

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[Fast Fred]

i've done it, a bunch of times. i glue it on then have it tacked, then i don't have to think about if they gots straight. worked at a body shop many moons ago,so it goes easy for me, you need the "feel" to fair it out nice. there is shots on hear of a Nitro lower with a bigfoot cone bein installed on hear, i used all epoxy to fair it out, wet sanded epoxy primer finish.

[pdt]

is it you who has the super nitro gearcases fred ?
if so ive seen your work on those cones, very nice finishes.

[omcstratos]

I used a plum bob and some eyeballin on the nose cone I did. It turned out pretty well.

[pdt]

by using a nosecone are you just wanting it so as to get better water pressure ?
or will it actually give you speed gain ?

the reason I asked is because I fancy this as well, but when reading up on cones lots of people have said it would slow you down unless you
already have a boat that can go over 70mph !!!!!

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[Ron Hill]

A low water nose cone allows you to get water pressure when you raise the motor up. A gearcase with side water pick ups, can be raised about 2-3 inches higher with a low water pick up. Then, you can put a "BIG ***" wheel on your boat and go like "Jack the Bear". I you just put a cone one you will go slower as you have added drag. And if you jut raise the motor without changing the prop, you may also go slower as your small propeller will slip more than it does now.

[pdt]

ok
so lets say the engine is up and you are doing say 45mph with the BIG prop running up high and that's all she can do.

will the cone slow you down at this speed ?
do the cones help with any lift under 70mph or is this realy a myth ? I ask as I don't know.

yes I understand about the low water pick up, I see the cones as being great for this purpose.

but is the cone only good for water pressure ? and below a certain speed would infact hinder speed. ?.

and could this be put on using something like technoweld or similar low heat alloy welding ?



sorry if I am asking too much, but have mainly read from people who try the big sell rather than someone who realy says it like it is.



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[R Pierson]

Ron is 100% correct..All things being the same ( you haven't changed anything set up wise) the cone will slow you down. And...it will add tail lift! Some boats hate that. Example: Hydrostream Valero YT...a 175 Merc with a std lower runs about 70mph. Add the cone and it runs so flat it struggles to get 65. Add a jack plate and different prop and you get back to the 70s but the same thing happened with the stock case. In a exceptional case a cone might be faster if it straightened the angle of attack. ( crab angle too great...we had a laugh about that last time....) Running the gearcase straight has less drag than the cone adds. But the tail lift deal is real. Slower boats ( under 75mph) will find that hard to deal with imo.

[HankFrazier]

Ron is 100% correct..All things being the same ( you haven't changed anything set up wise) the cone will slow you down. And...it will add tail lift! Some boats hate that. Example: Hydrostream Valero YT...a 175 Merc with a std lower runs about 70mph. Add the cone and it runs so flat it struggles to get 65. Add a jack plate and different prop and you get back to the 70s but the same thing happened with the stock case. In a exceptional case a cone might be faster if it straightened the angle of attack. ( crab angle too great...we had a laugh about that last time....) Running the gearcase straight has less drag than the cone adds. But the tail lift deal is real. Slower boats ( under 75mph) will find that hard to deal with imo.

we don't run the factory shape on the bobs we buy we shape them to run like we want them to.