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I'm looking to see if anyone has put a hydraulic jack plate on a Whaler 13' or 15' sport. If so was it worth the investment and what were the benefits. I'm considering one for repowering of boats with 2015 4 Stroke 40HP on 13' and/or 70hp on the 15'. with a Atlas Micro Jacker. I'll be running the boat on the Texas Gulf Coast where the is very skinny water. Thank you.

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I added that exact plate to my Sport 15 this year. Outstanding results. It added 1-2 mph to my top speed and allows me to go into very skinny water (just got back from a week at the NC coast and it was really handy running the shallows of the intracoastal waterway). Another benefit was the result of moving the engine almost completely out of the boat. To compensate for moving the CG aft I moved the battery from the stern to under the rear thwart seat. There are some pictures of my setup on my personal page.

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Excellent! Thanks for the feedback, it is very much appreciated!

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Also, the micro jacker is a great plate. Fast motion, very light, hydraulics contained within the plate (so no extra space taken up in a boat with already limited space), and the quality of the machining of the aluminum is excellent. I can also now trailer the boat without tilting the engine.

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Watch out, the OP is installing a new 4 stroke motor.

The added weight of the 4 stroke and the jackplate may be too much. Figure out the added weight and then do a mock-up on the boat to determine if it will work.

Adding a fixed jackplate will only result in reducing your draft by an inch or two but will add undesirable weight and cost.

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Agree with Phil look at the total weight. My total with the JP is about 190#. The microjacker is one of the lightest hydraulic JPs on the market at 23#.

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I have a 260# 2 stroke motor on my classic 15' SS with a mechanical jackplate. The boat doesn't sit that low with the jack plate (the water line is at the rear splash well). The 70 Mercury of the era were 275#. I think if you used a new Yamaha 70hp (which weights about 260#) with a light jack plate that you would be fine. Any other current 70 or 75 motor is going to be too heavy. I am pretty sure the 13' and a new four stroke 40 is going to be too heavy as well.

IMO the jack plate is worth 2mph. I have my motor raises another 2.5" higher than I could have run it with the motor on the transom. It planes off easily (much better in fact than the too low of position that it was mounted when I purchased the motor). If you into speed (or higher cruise speeds). The 15' with 70 is almost 10 mph faster than the 13' 40hp, plus it has a much higher cruising speed. The 15' ride better then only down side besides cost is the 13' has more lateral stability and a slower planning speed.

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Bob's Machine Hydraulic Jack Plate gives you the option of self contained or hydraulic motor mounted in a protected area at another part of the boat. Would save some weight on the transom.
Garris