Bobs Machine Shop

[Dave LeGear]

As many of you here know, I am a huge fan of BMS products! I was turned onto their product line many years ago by my friend Blair Wiggins who is the host of the TV show "Addictive Fishing" and I was the one who years back, turned everybody here onto the BMS metal lower unit stabilizer plate that has served me and many here so well over the last 5 years or so. In my opinion bang for the buck, that stabilizer plate is one of the best ROI upgrades you can make to any engine to help save on fuel and give one better handling and the ability to launch the boat onto a plane faster.

Well I was at the last Florida Sportsman show at the Florida State Fairgrounds here not long ago, and I had a real nice chat with Robert Avery the Operations Manager of BMS about my Big Foot lower unit on my Honda, as well as some other concerns I was having. One of them being seagrass slowing down the water flow and on a few occasions while motoring real slow down the ICW, my low water flow warning light and buzzer came on till I stopped the boat backed up, and let it fall off... One of the other subjects we chatted about, was the Skeg Guard I had installed a few years back, but how I was never really happy with the fit (my skeg is not stock) or the fact it may be killing some of my power due to causing too many air bubbles to run over my prop at all speeds.

So Robert and I exchanged E-mails and phone calls several times before I was finally able to get the boat into BMS for inspection and repair. A few days in their shop and it came back home looking great! They did a excellent job with the skeg in removing the skeg guard... They torched it off, filled in the screw holes, and re-painted some of the lower unit. They also pulled a full system check and service of the lower unit and some other systems I have. I even picked up (did not know about such before) a new freshwater flush kit for my lower unit that fits over my lower unit nose cone. So I can now better keep my lower unit free of salt build up also. You see, your standard flush muffs will NOT work with a low water pick up modified lower unit in case you are wondering thus, I was only able to use the normal flush port which worked OK well over the years, but did little about getting all that salt crud out of my lower unit as you can well figure.

So hopefully if the winds will lay down some in the morning, I will get to run the boat with repairs and modifications now made as I try and pick a fight with some Trout and Redfish. It will be interesting to see how the boat now performs with those changes and I will let you know how they work out in speed numbers if I can find some flat water to run WOT in

My thanks again to the Guys and Gals at BMS Bob's Machine Shop Boating Marine Performance Products and Boating Accessories,Outboard Jack Plates,Outboard jackplates, Hydraulic Jack Plates, Hydraulic Lift Plates who were so nice and very professional in the care and handling of my boat! Robert and his staff are first class and I cannot recommend them or their products high enough... Feel free to call them and let them know how you heard about them here and the rave reviews several of us have given their products. Believe me, they can help you special equip your boat for "your" fishing needs that help increase performance while saving on fuel in short order as they have mine and others here over the years

 

[BigG]

Bms

Dave, Thanks for all the good info you put on this site. Gary

 

[BigBird]

thanks

Tnanks Dave,
I watch Blair when i get a chance on the dvr. He's a hoot!
Thanks for the post on BMS. I have a couple of projects brewing and 1 will include BMS.

 

[Dave LeGear]

Thanks for all the comments guys and now for the results!

The boat performed and handled like never before, what was fast boat to get on plane now goes like a Space Shuttle launch and I have picked up several MPH on the top end and still have prop bite at almost full outboard trim which was unheard before for me. At most, I was only able to run at 4 if lucky before a blow out. I can now pitch the engine out another whole number which was great since I could really get the bow to come up while running in the chop like today.

It will be really interested to now see how this all affects future fuel burn rates. My last tank average was 1.55 GPH which makes for some really low cost running and fishing. My last tank was also at the height of the soaring fuel cost thus I have now dropped from 6 to now 3 bucks per hour operation for fuel That is some pretty low cost boat operation and really shocking to many when they hear this is on a 19 foot boat running a 150 HP engine.

So what is my opinion of the Skeg guard now you ask? Well on a stock engine with a stock skeg you might not suffer much if any performance loss. On a high performance lower unit with a low water pick up like I have, not that smart Dave... I was being lazy by installing one thinking it was saving me time from having to paint the skeg all the time. Little did I know how much it was costing me in raw performance since I have a 1 inch shorter (top depth wise) skeg than stock, and all the air bubbles it was causing from that gap to run over my prop must have been a lot and much more than I first suspected.

So my thanks again to the guys at BMS for reworking my lower unit and other items they attended to on the boat. Engine and speed wise, she is just that much closer to Redfish Tour work which is the end game of all of this design, testing, and trials Now if the dude driving this puppy can just get a little better at finding and putting fish into the live well it might be worth all this effort! Yep, I need some sponsors for sure! Ha-Ha...

 

[wschapinjr]

Plate installation

Good Day- Just bought the BMS plate for my 170dc with a Yamaha 60 4 stroke. Got a dumb question to ask before starting to drill.
The cavation plate on the motor is smaller than the area that it fits into on the BMS plate. Should the cavation plate butt up to the ridges and be centered on the BMS plate. Any info would be helpful....I just want to drill one set of holes. Guess it is like measuring twice and cutting once.
Thanks

 

[fridaysoff]

wschapinjr,
I put a BMS stabilizer plate on my 170CC 60HP Yamaha 4 stroke a few years ago. I don't have it now to look at but I think I remember having to slide the BMS plate back an inch or two on the cavitation plate in order to center the holes. there was a small gap between the end of the motor and the BMS plate. It did not butt up to the ridges. I think the instuctions mentioned that or I called BMS before I drilled. I do not remember. I do remember how much of a difference it made in the performance of my 170CC. I loved it. I could run on plane at a lower speed which helped a great deal when it was choppy. Hope this helped.
John D.

 

[wschapinjr]

Appreciate the info. I am thinking I'll center the plate and then drill the holes. No rush right now as we are deep into winter and I won't be out in the boat for another three months or so.