2100xlvee Norris craft

[rickriddle]

How much prop slip should i see with this boat? I have a 1993 200 mercury xri on the 21' boat. Currently it will run around 55 mph at 5400 rpms. Prop calculator i used said theoretical speed should be 66 mph. I have 1.87 gear with bobs nose cone. I am currently running a 24p big ear chopper prop. prop slip on the calculator with the above numbers was 17 percent. I've tried raising the motor but my speed decreses and steering gets real bad pull very hard to the right.

Any sugestions on how to get my speed up?

[Ted Stryker]

That boat should be in the low to mid 70's with a fishing load I'd assume.. 17% is way too much slip, is your prop in good condition and/or has it been worked... A pretty common slip % for a High Performance fish rig is around 10-12%... Are you keeping an eye on your water pressure... Try raising your engine in small increments until you see the water pressure start to read irratically, that's your inlets beginning to suck air... At that point I'd recommend lowering the engine about a 1/2" to get the good pressure back... That is not likely to be the sweet spot, but it will give a ballpark and sort of a baseline of where your at.. It is always a good plan to try as many different props as possible, a 4-blader might work well on a boat that size... When all else fails, call the Norris factory... They can probably get you real close to optimum right off the bat, and save you a bunch of time and fuel... Good luck and keep us posted...