2007 1850 Sportfish

Another question about recently purchased 1850 Sportfish. It has a convertible deck in the bow so the battery compartment is pretty close to the front of the boat. With 2 deep cycle batteries and a 50 lb plus trolling motor on the front the boat seems extremely bow heavy. I can’t get the bow up out of the water after I am on plane and seems like I scow along like a tug boat. I switched to a stainless prop and it helped a little but the 150 merc opti should push that boat close to 50 mph with one passenger. My old 96 Pro Am 1850 would do 55 GPS speed and better than that at lower elevation also with a 150 pushing it. Is there any place in the Sportfish to relocate the batteries to get some weight out of the bow? Makes me wonder if the boat design was ever water tested by the company with a trolling motor and batteries in the front compartment. Really effects performance and fuel consumption.

I have a 1850 Sportfish I think it’s a 2002. I haven’t had any trouble with what you are experiencing and absolutely love the layout and floor plan of the boat. Really can’t be beat for multi-purpose / family / and fishing IMO.

I highly doubt the battery weight is the problem. I don’t know much about them, but I would try different pitch props first and then make sure your motor including trim is working correctly.

lindyrig79 wrote:

make sure your motor including trim is working correctly.

I’m no expert on anything, but this is the first thing I thought of.

Seems the bow on that boat should rise well enough with the 150 and ride proper, even if you don’t go 50 mph.

If it isn’t a trim issue pull the batteries and try it that way. My guess is you aren’t trimmed all the way down.

I have an ’06 Mirage 1800 that I think is the same hull and layout as your Sportfish (I commented on your previous post too).

I would classify my boat as “slightly bow heavy” – so I agree the convertible bow pushes the battery further forward than optimal (I run 2 group 27’s with my 80 terrova). With that said, it has never bothered me or hindered performance enough to make me consider moving the batteries. I also don’t think there’s a logical place to put them given the storage constraints.

I can get 43-44 MPH with 1 guy in calm conditions with my 150 suzuki 4S, but I usually cruise around in the low 30’s. I am happy the performance and thankful I didn’t settle for one of the many 115 or 125’s you see out there. Given the deeper hull design I don’t think this is a 50mph boat, but you can probably get to 46-47 with your Opti and the correct prop?

Something seems off with the motor and/or trim. But if you are sure it’s the batteries I’d look into getting some Lithium batteries, they are significantly less weight and last a lot longer.

I appreciate the responses. I have owned several boats over the years and have been around boats since my dad bought his firs boat in 1970. I have mounted motors myself, repowered boats I have owned, have owned I/O’s and 2 stroke and 4 stroke outboards. Sold my ski boat last Summer and right now I am down to 2 boats and a jet ski. I am pretty confident I know how a boat should run trimmed out on plane and at wide open throttle (WOT). The spray pattern on a properly trimmed out boat at WOT should be at the back 1/3 of the boat and I can barely get the spray pattern on this boat even with the drivers seat.

I would be interested to see if anyone else has a checked the spray pattern on plane and at WOT on their Sportfish to see where it is in relation to the driver seat. It makes a huge difference on performance, ride and fuel usage. I will have to try the Sportfish with the batteries and trolling motor removed to see if that makes a difference.

Pull the batteries and try that. If that doesn’t work pull your prop. Make sure everything is hooking up properly and you aren’t having prop slip. A 150 should push that boat fine no matter how much weight is up front.

Two trolling motor batteries and a trolling motor shouldn’t make that big of a difference in an 18 foot boat. Something is going on.

@ Mark – What is your top speed right now?

what is your WOT RPM when you are in the trimmed position??
if its under 5200 you are over propped,or are carrying too much weight.
a misfire can cause low RPM’S as well,for every cylinder that may be misfiring you will lose 700 RPM.
trust me,on those big opti’s a misfire can be hard to hear or feel.

Iowaboy, wot and trimmed I am getting right at 5100 runs 40 mph on gps. bow won’t lift and if trim past 6.5 to 7 on smart trim gauge prop blows out. Not sure if maybe dropping the motor one notch on mounting holes would help. It is one notch up from lowest setting. I just put a 14.5 x 19 ballistic stainless prop on to replace the 19 pitch factory prop, designed with more rake to get more bow lift, it improved the cavitation and does get the bow up some but not like it should. Also cavitates pretty heavily during turns while up on plane.
Doesn’t seem to be any misfire going on but could be.
I would also guess that with 2 group 27 batteries and trolling motor there is 200 pound right on the nose.

I have have an 07′ 1800 Mirage which is the basically the same boat as yours (I added the front Sportfish seating as well), I also have a 150hp Opti on it. My series 27 batteries are mounted in the front compartment and have no issues with bow lift. I am running a SS Tempest 19 pitch prop. I pay attention to the spray pattern and mine is in the back few feet of the boat at WOT like what you are looking for. I can do 47-48 mph.

My guess is you may have a cylinder not firing if you are only getting 40 mph. The batteries are definitely not your issue. I had a cylinder misfire issue one time and the only thing I noticed was slower to plane and I could not get near 47-48 MPH, I think it was only around 38-40 mph max. The engine seemed to be running fine otherwise I just could not reach top speed.