Hailing all Devlin Mallard owners!!!!

Linhardt

Linhardt

Active member
Supporter
I have a devlin mallard that I bought and was wondering how you run under outboard power. I have a 15 hp (short shaft) outboard on her, and when it is just me in the boat and she gets going slow the bow is extremely high in air and feels like it is going to flip over, but once she gets more speed the bow goes down then starts to porpoise real bad. When she is at rest she is perfectly level in the water with the outboard on back, so motor weight is not an issue. I have the outboard on the back at the set at the lowest level (adjustment angle). The only way to get it to have more angle is to put a wedge on the transom to cock the outboard down more in the water.

How are you setting up or running outboards on the mallards?

Are you moving your weight more to the middle of the boat? Weight in the front?

I know they are not made to go real fast because of the displacement hull, but the specs say that it does good under power.

I have thought about adding to the bottom in the back to make it more into a planing hull than a displacement hull.

Maybe I need more of a broadbill, bluebill, or BBIII. (I have a WTB in the classified section to see what comes up)

I bought this one cause it was close to me (Central Missouri) and was an excellent price and could not pass it up.

Any of your ideas and tips would be greatly appreciated.
 
Anthony

As you stated the Mallard is a displacement hull and you should not expect to set any speed records with your boat. The dispacement hull is what I love about my mallard, the ability to get the nose up in snotty weather gives me a comfort factor I'm not sure I'd get in some of the other smaller planing hull devlin designs. The boat poles wonderfully, drafts very little water, and in my opinion has the nicest lines out of the small devlin boats. I run the exact same setup as you on mine and like yours it did porpoise at top speed when it decided to step up on plane. My solution was to add a hydorfoil to my outboard and add a transom wedge to increase the outboards angle of attack. In hindsight the wedges are probably not necessary if you add the hydrofoil. I'd say I evenly distribute weight when I'm loaded for hunting and with myself (240lbs), lab (95lbs), and all necessary hunting gear I can still step up on plane and get speeds between 13-15 mph, most importantly I can slow things down and still get the nose up to handle larger water. Add a second adult to the above equation and all bets are off to get even close to planing.
Again, you may have to leave the dock a little earlier but the mallard will safely get you to your spot.

Good Luck. I'd be happy to answer any other questions you may have or take pictures of my setup.

Joe Lane
 
Thanks for detailed info. Joe. I will try the hydrofoil. Do you sit on the back deck while running or sit/kneel within the cockpit? Do you have a handle extension on your outboard? I see what you mean about nose up in snotty weather, but I guess I am just afraid that a good wave would knock me over. When I was running it for the first time last Friday, I sat on the edge of the back deck and not in the cockpit, so maybe sitting on the back deck is a no-no. I only weight 205 and did not have any weight up front. I guessing that I would need to see a video how someone runs their mallard in order for me to get a better understanding of how to run it. I am not used to running in a displacement hull and only jon boats and vee hulls, so the nose up is something I am not used to. I felt like I was popping a wheelie and standing it on end the whole time and it just felt strange.

I would love to see any pics of your setup you can provide. Wouldn't have a video of you running would you? :)

Thanks
 
I sit on the rear deck when underway. I don't think the mallard was designed for so much power and as you stated without the hydofoil mine was uncomfortably nose high at higher RPM's. The hydrofoil will tame that a bit. I don't have any video or any action pictures of the boat underway. Stay tuned and you may get a chance to see a few pictures of my boat from the DHBP get together in the LaCrosse area this past weekend.

Joe
 
Hey Joe,

Do you happen to have any pics of your mallard from a side view showing how your motor and everything else is setup? I saw the pics from the [font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]DHBP get together but so far there were no good side pics of all the boats. Any pics you want to post or email me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

EMail: linhardt@mowaterfowl.org
[/font]
 
I'll be busy with 4th of July festivities over the next few days. I'll try to post a few pics by the end of the week. If you don't see any by then repost a reminder.

JL
 
1 think you have to much power and motor weight on your mallard, when its legal to use a motor I run a 3hp duck twin and it goes along just fine, the boat was designed to be rowed or sailed so you won't get a real safe quick plane out of a displacement hull. I would suggest a smaller motor or you should get a different boat. My mallard works just fine with 2 hunters and a dog and gear, we sometimes tow an aquapod, not the fastest rig but we get there and draw very little water.
 
"she sure ain't fast, but she sure is slow".....we still laugh about that when we're hunting little boats.....

As has been said the Mallard wasn't designed for SPEED.....recognize that the spec's saying "does well" means nothing at all as it doesn't give a speed or a comparison to any other boat.

Not disputing Joe as he appears to have figured out the set up but I'm personally shocked that he's getting 15 out of his set up.....I "might" get that out of a 15 hp and my Barnegat and I used to run away from Greg when we were running together. I remeber one day on a Brant hunt we had several miles to run to the ramp at the end of the day. First I ran with Greg but quickly got bored at that speed....then I ran big circles around him but tiredof that as well....finally I just gave up, ran to the ramp, recovered, had a beer, went to the bathroom, washed the truck, curried the dog, re-painted some decoys, called my Mom, polished the wheels on the truck, beachcombed awhile, changed the air in the tires and took a nap...When I woke up I could see Gregg on the horizon which allowed me to finally relax.....

Seriously the Mallard is a SLOW boat...its designed to be a SLOW boat and theres not much you're going to be able to do to change that.....you didn't say but is you're motor a 2 or 4 stroke....a 4 stroke would be a kiss of death due to wt. Some things you can do to "trim" the boat, (assuming the water is calm)...stow your decoys on the front deck, run your gas tank up under the front deck. Stow your anchors under the front deck. Wear flippers, hang your feet off the rear deck and kick like hell.

In the end the Mallard is a nice boat, just a slow one.

Steve
 
Thats fine Joe, thanks.

The motor is a 2 stroke. I know it is a slow boat, I just want to tweak my 15 hp setup to the most optimum as far a performance is concerned. Devlin specs rate it up to 15 hp. and 15 mph with medium load.
 
But isn't adding more HP to a displacement hull worthless after reaching the "hull speed" of the boat? Sounds like anything over 6 hp is wasted even if it is rated for 15.
Rating & hull speed are two seperate and unrelated specifications, correct?
 
should help, but I'd be shocked if you attained 15knots......I'd bet that given the wt. rating that just the motor, you and gas tank would qualify for "medium" load.....by the time you dress for hunting, load the boat with decoys, shells, gun, lunch, anchors and such I'd BET that you'll be close, if not over, the rating of the boat which would then bring you back to a lower speed.....

The interesting things about displacement hulls is that past a certain point the application of moe HP means nothing. I ran a pair of fiberglass Barnegats for atime that had pure displacement hulls. I ran a 9.9 on one and a 15 on the other. Both were all but identical in speed with equal loads. The hull with the 15 pushed a bigger bow wave but that addtional application of HP wasn't going to overcome the characteristics of the displacement hull....

Either way GOOD LUCk with whatever you try....

Steve
 
I think that is an accurate assesment Carl. I know with a sail boat, another displacement hull, the only time you are going to go faster than hull speed is if you are falling down a monster wave and the boat planes for just an instant. Here is a brief discussion of hull speed; http://powerboat.about.com/od/hulls/a/displacement.htm . If you don't want to figure out the formulae you can just plug in your LWL here; http://www.sailingusa.info/cal__hull_speed.htm. Not sure what a mallards LWL is but assuming 14 ft., it's hull speed is 5.01 knots.
 
Anthony

Pictures as promised.

IMG_2006.JPG
IMG_2007.JPG
IMG_2008.JPG
IMG_2009.JPG
IMG_2010.JPG
I'm working on a hull repair right now. When it's finished I'll get some action shots. I'm almost positive I got 15mph (GPS) out of the boat but it's been 5 years so I'll recheck. The one thing I'm sure of is that I am able to get it on plane with myself, dog, and gear.

Good Luck.


Joe Lane
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top