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Tagged: prop height
My boat is an 04 Pantera Classic with a Mercury 200 EFI (2.5), running a 24P Trophy Plus.
With my standard load the boat will run 70 in the Winter and 65 in the Summer and has a decent holeshot. Over the years it seems like I have to run the boat at higher speeds to keep the boat on plane (around 40 mph). I don’t remember having to run this fast to keep the boat out of the water years ago and I’ve been in others, like a friends Sabre, that would stay up at lower speeds. I now carry less in the rod boxes and storage than I used too. I had a Gorilla hull installed a couple of years ago, but I noticed the change before that.
There are a few really tight narrow boat runs at some of the places I fish and it would be nice to stay on plane at a little lower speed for safer navigation.
Am I just dealing with physics like weight, hull design, etc or can a change in motor height or prop selection improve this? I have tried the motor moved up and down about 1/2 inch with no obvious change.
On the topic of props, how does the Fury 4 and the Bravo compare to my Trophy Plus. Could I see performance gains with one of these? I did try a Tempest 25 and my boat didn’t like it.
Thanks
Cheapest easiest way is to get your prop tuned to what you’re looking for. I’d contact Ronnie Gilbert and have him tune up to your specifics. His number (337) 380-1437
I have an ’08, except I have a 3.0 ProXS. I can stay on plane at 25 easily, and by “driving” (AKA throttle management) I can keep it out of the water down to maybe 20. I also have a 21P prop for those rare occasions when someone wants to ski/tube. That makes it MUCH easier to stay on plane at 20 or so because the motor is up into its power band and doesn’t get lugged down when a skier swings wide. To go lower you will probably have to resort to some sort of planing aide, but they do look ugly on the motor’s cavitation plate. 40 seems pretty odd. Do you have any sacks of bird shot hidden around on the boat or something? 🙂 Weight will do the trick. It is always possible that the boat is water-logged. No wood that year, but lots of foam. If you get water into those areas it is not always easy to get it out (IE drilling “drain” holes in the rod boxes and such. That will kill you. But you should probably not be able to hit 70 if that is the case, so it might just be a bad prop, motor too high on jack plate, etc.
The 2.5L 200 is pretty weak on it low end coupled with a Trophy prop which is decent but is not known for lots of grip at low RPM. Changing the motor is an option but expensive one. Changing the prop is the only way to go. A Fury 4 or a Bravo would be good choices. The Powertech TRO4 is another really good one too. It just comes down to pitch and what works great on your boat. On the Fury 4, a 23P would probably be best (if they make that size). The Bravo and the TRO4 would be a 24P but could be up or down 1”.
GOOD LUCK!
I agree the 2.5 is light on torque, but needing to go 40mph to stay on plane is odd. I remember dad’s old classic with a 2.7 150hp Suzuki pulling us around on the tube at 20-25mph easily with 25” trophy, granted it had 2.07 gears in the lower unit. Regardless under 30 shouldn’t be an issue, I can get down to 20 with my Sabre and 150 with 1.92 gears and 24” trophy pulling kids in tube as well. What is your pad to prop measurement and are you running an exhaust ring or plugs in the prop by chance?
Five blade
Thanks for the replies.
I have two plugs out of the prop and no exhaust ring. This does help the weak 2.5 with holeshot.
I will have to measure the prop to pad height again, as I have been moving it around. If I rember, just in passing, the motor is down about a 1/2 – 3/4″ from being level on the jackplate.
Several years ago, I had a 90 Caracal with a 135, 2.0 and 2:1 gears with the same problem. Since it was easily overtrimmed, meaning after I got over halfway it was just throwing a rooster tail with no extra speed. I installed wedges between the motor and jackplate. gave a better holes shot with more tuck and with the more tuck made it easier to keep on plane at low speeds. At WOT and full trim I didn’t loose anything. It was a 60mph boat.
John
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