1998 Johnson 200 "Venom" peformance gains... what would you do?!??!?! Opinions!!!

[towman2277]

Hey All! I picked up a really SWEET deal on a 1998 Javelin 409 fish and ski, thats in immaculate shape! It's powered by a Johnson 200 Venom, and I jsut don't know too much about them! Boat runs excellent, and has a 13 1/2 X 23 Pitch Renegade Prop. I haven't GPS'd it yet, but it feels like i'm running top end around 53-55 mph. It gets out of the hole pretty good, but could use more low-end grunt! The hull is as straight as it was from the factory, and real clean bottom.
My question is... What would you do to help performance to begin with?? Now I know some of you die-hard Merc' guys will say "Get a 300 Merc!", but i'm leaning towards staying with this motor for now!

What do you think OMC guys?!?!?!?!

[towman2277]

227552 Here's a pic to show what style of boat we're talking about here ;-)

[ar300johnson]

The first thing you need to do is run your boat and see how fast it is on gps and how many rpms your motor is turning. Fish and ski boats are usually bow heavy. You can probably gain more speed with the motor raised, adding setback, and using a good bow lifting prop. Just a guess, try prop shaft 2 1/2 inches below the pad with 6- 8 inch set back and try a 24'' trophy or hydromotive p4x. You can probably gain 4-7 mph with the right setup. Trail and error is the only way to get your boat dailed in. You will probably need to have a lot of time and patience. After you get your setup right, then you can increase compression, add reeds, and if that is not enough, you can send your motor to Monty for porting and what ever else you want to spend.

[bigbluechevy454]

i'm not a omc guy but i think that the prop you have is all wrong thats to small of a diameter prop you should have a 14.5 instead of a 13.5 i would try a 14.5x 21 or 22 raker they seem to have a lot of bow lift and with that boat you need all you can get

[wrechin2]

4 blade props are generally smaller in diameter than 3 blade props. Another rule is the bigger the pitch, the smaller the diameter.

[87action19]

22 raker should do it , I own one