School me on outboard engine placement/set up for twins

[MARCYTECH]

Winter project time.1989 hallet vector with twin Mercury outboards. Why am I doing this? Current set back is 26” with 10” tabs. The boat porpoises a lot if trimmed out. I think it could be set up better with less setback and bigger tabs.

I’m gonna be re doing my transom and engine brackets. Switching to dual jackplates I think. My thoughts are to mount the jack plates so that at the lowest setting it’s where my engines currently sit (I have no adjustment)

My question… would I want them lower than where they are currently for any reason?? Rough water handling or anything? My goal here isn’t top speed on glass. It’s maximum comfort for all water conditions.

I tried to draw to the best of my chicken scratch ability all my measurements currently. This is a twin engine boat so there’s an extra factor here.
Center of props is 1” below most bottom part of the V
If measuring straight forward from the lower unit prop centerline is 3” below the point in the hull that’s inline with center of lower unit. I hope that makes sense.

Second part of question is how close do I want the engines? Currently they are 24.5” center to center. They are clam shell cowlings so they can’t be too close but they can be closer for sure.

Thanks in advance!

 

[NeedlesRat]

What about ditching the twins and setting it up with a newer single? Might increase performance, efficiency, and reliability.

 

[ChrisV]

450r