88 stratos 201 pro

[toomanytoys1988stratos]

hi all been reading onsite for a while and finally decided to sign up and post
I bought my first boat last year 1988 stratos 201-pro . It has a 81-2 mercury 2.4 Bridgeport EFI motor with QS 25 pitch prop and a super plate jack plate that is currently not working but in its current setup will do 68-69 gps mph with 3 guys and gear and 40 gallons of fuel . only issue i have with boat is its ability to get up out of the water and go other than that love the boat as it is very stable and even handles 4' chop fairly well .
any suggestions other than getting the JP fixed cause that is what i am working on now.
thanks Tim295063

[stokernick]

welcome to the site, be careful, can be addictive!!

[Corona Mike]

hi all been reading onsite for a while and finally decided to sign up and post
I bought my first boat last year 1988 stratos 201-pro . It has a 81-2 mercury 2.4 Bridgeport EFI motor with QS 25 pitch prop and a super plate jack plate that is currently not working but in its current setup will do 68-69 gps mph with 3 guys and gear and 40 gallons of fuel . only issue i have with boat is its ability to get up out of the water and go other than that love the boat as it is very stable and even handles 4' chop fairly well .
any suggestions other than getting the JP fixed cause that is what i am working on now.
thanks Tim295063

1ST. Welcome To Scream And Fly! Quickest Way To Improve Performance Is With Props. Get Your Motor Set Where It Runs Best All Around...With Or Without The Extra weight, Drives Best, Motor Performs Best, ETC...And Try Some Different Props. It Mite Like A Different Type. Todd At HydraMotive Makes A GREAT 4-Blade O/T Prop. That Over-All Performes Super, So, He Would Be One Sorce. If You Are Going To Pick Up Much More Speed, Get You A Good Quality Life Jacket! The Normal Bassin' Vests Will Peel Off Of You Like A Cheep Suit If Something Bad Were To Happen So, Safety 1st! Good Luck And Be Carefull! Mike T.

[toomanytoys1988stratos]

that was the first thing i bought was snug fitting zippered,strapped vests! not really looking to go any faster just all around perform better so if it gets out of the water faster but drops some mph's im fine with that . when we do run it i usually stay around 50 its old no need to push it , most lakes we fish are really too small to go very fast anyway

[Motv18]

If the prop isn't ported it's worth looking into having it drilled. That should help hole shot. A good target is 3-4000 on a hard hammer down take off.

If you mean it just takes forever to get up to speed. Have someone read the pistons and see if your to rich/lean or something and check the timing. Well all kinds of tune up stuff.

[Lockjaw]

I would put a tempest on it, probably something around a 25p and see how it runs. Or a Fury.

[toomanytoys1988stratos]

has a quicksilver 2 stainless 25 on it not sure if it is ported
after fist time i had it out i did
plugs
cleaned injectors
drained fuel and filled with 93 non-oxy and amsoil mixed @60-1
new fuel lines/filter
best way to describe how it feels is a 800hp car with a 1.90 rear end gear, it just labors to get out of its own way till it gets on plane and gets up in the rpms
also saw a similar motor with a alternator on it , is there someone that makes a kit or is that a custom built deal?

[Motv18]

If the motor has any work done to it. It might be light in the low end to build high rpm power. Since you mentioned cars slip your portable o2 up the relief hole see if it's too rich down low or lean.

[Lockjaw]

has a quicksilver 2 stainless 25 on it not sure if it is ported
after fist time i had it out i did
plugs
cleaned injectors
drained fuel and filled with 93 non-oxy and amsoil mixed @60-1
new fuel lines/filter
best way to describe how it feels is a 800hp car with a 1.90 rear end gear, it just labors to get out of its own way till it gets on plane and gets up in the rpms
also saw a similar motor with a alternator on it , is there someone that makes a kit or is that a custom built deal?

I'd be concerned about your low speed timing being wrong if it won't come out of the hole. Even my waterlogged boat with a 200 and a 25 gade would come out of the hole pretty decent.

Have you done a compression check to make sure its got good compression on all 6 cylinders? I'd do that, and either get a factory manual or have someone perform a good sync and link on it.

Can you post a pic of the prop?

[Lockjaw]

Also does it have a CLE lower unit?

[toomanytoys1988stratos]

[


Compression is at 110-112 all holes



295315
QUOTE=Lockjaw;2618574]I'd be concerned about your low speed timing being wrong if it won't come out of the hole. Even my waterlogged boat with a 200 and a 25 gade would come out of the hole pretty decent.

Have you done a compression check to make sure its got good compression on all 6 cylinders? I'd do that, and either get a factory manual or have someone perform a good sync and link on it.

Can you post a pic of the prop?[/QUOTE]

[toomanytoys1988stratos]

Also does it have a CLE lower unit?

What is a cle ?

[Motv18]

Yep your wide open on the ports. Compression looks ok so it's not worked over.you also seam pitched good.

Guess ss we have to look at driver controlled conditions. Trimmed in all the way, weight distribution, clean hull, leaks through bilge outlet or other places. (That's mainly a older boat issue low mounted holes going under and back flowing common on tin boats) and any thing else.

[toomanytoys1988stratos]

in stockish form what should compression be on this motor?
yep when trying to tear out motor is always all in'
id say weight distribution is biased towards the back with 80% of the weight being fuel,all the batteries,driver/passenger, would say 80-100#'s of gear including the trolling motor on front.
I had the boat to gpi performance and had randy pierson put a new lower unit on the motor , said he test drove it but im not too sure as i think it shouldn't struggle as hard as it does to take off
hull is very clean/smooth.
i did have a phantom leak that i tried finding by filling the boat up with water in the driveway but it leaked out nowhere , tried a different plug and that seemed to take care of that

[Motv18]

Almost want to say working as intended. Sucks hearing that when I'm told it.

[Hirk]

that engine doesnt have the lowend grunt to get things moving,its a race engine designed to make power up high and turn big r's,on that boat it will struggle to get going.

[rideordie]

My grandfather had a 201 pro 22ft with a 200 johnson high output and it wouldrun high 70s fully loaded. It was slow out the hole but one she plained out it was all on how u trimmed it out on how she would run

[RiChavis]

Trash the laser 2 prop and put a Tempest plus 25p and it will be like day and night . It will be a tad lower grunt on bottom end with any 2.5 motor race or stock . But it will be better with a tempest and less slipping.