Terrible hole shot after hydraulic jack plate installed

[Merc 2.5]

Definitely worth trying a 4. better while shot and most have good #s up top. U scared me a little with ur timin , what's it set at now?

[tristanlee85]

Timing as in ignition timing? I assume factory. It's something I have never touched and no mention that he did either. He was pretty conservative on keeping the motor as-is and only making external adjustments.

Not being familiar with timing on these motors, any picture I can reference that would better help answer your question?

[KIRCHNER]

DONT go with a over hub, a 24trophy will take off like rocket 4 bld. and great top end! they look like a plane jane but impressive performance IMO.

[KIRCHNER]

When you suggest a lower pitch, should I still stay with the 3 blade or would it be worth trying a 4?

LOWER pitch and 4 blade.

[rocketman6965]

I think you're overpropped. What performance did you have before jackplate? Did you remove throttle and shift cables when installing new jackplate? May have affected reaching WOT?

[tristanlee85]

Cables weren't touched. Motor was just lifted enough and trailer rolled forward to give the extra clearance for install. I have no issue reaching WOT, but hole shot with the pedal down hovers me around 4000 rpm. Like what was being said, sounds like I am grabbing too much, reducing my RPMs and getting me up slowly.

Performance before the new jack plate was better, but could have still been improved.

Previous setup: whale-tail stabilizer fins (21" wide), 6" manual jack plate, 27 pitch prop
New setup: flat stabilizer plate (10" wide), 10" hydraulic jack plate, same prop

Even on the previous setup hole shot was not great, but certainly worsened with the new. I am going to put the old fins back on just as a test this weekend to see if that improves. Got a call into DAH about a prop and going to compare their suggestion to what has been given here and hopefully get a new one on the way soon.

[tristanlee85]

Just spoke with John at DAH and good to hear he is in agreement with the same suggestions. Says the Trophy props are excellent, and that Mercury discontinued to the 26, 27, and 28 pitch because they kept throwing blades. His recommendation was to try to find a good deal on a 25 pitch and then down to a 24 if 25 is hard to find. Still suggests that I get it balanced and cupped after the fact since I am still looking for that good top speed.

[rocketman6965]

If it was not great before, it would not improve now. More setback MAY give you better top end with SAME prop but not help holeshot. Depending on boat, you can have TOO much setback where prop is behind hull swell. Food for thought.

[KIRCHNER]

If it was not great before, it would not improve now. More setback MAY give you better top end with SAME prop but not help holeshot. Depending on boat, you can have TOO much setback where prop is behind hull swell. Food for thought.

EBAY has lotsof trophys saw one for 220$. a solas L4 pro would work but big bucks 500.

[tristanlee85]

I found 2:
24 pitch: https://www.ebay.com/itm/MERCURY-TRO...UAAOSwkchc6WDC
25 pitch: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Used-Mercur...wAAOSwRChc1DdP

[Whaaaaat]

Need a ski planner under the Jack plate. It should help break the vacuum behind the boat when coming out of the hole. If there's room get some foam or soccer ball in the Jack plate to float the stern higher at rest. There's a lot of band aids you could do but less set back is probably the real fix.

[tristanlee85]

... but less set back is probably the real fix.

Agree with you there. I probably went a bit gung-ho with the additional offset. Working to see about doing an exchange to revert to a smaller version. If that doesn't work, I have a brand new jack plate for sale

[Merc 2.5]

I got a 8in detwiler ( measures 7 3/4 I think)
Hydraulic
I need 10 in on mine. was bout add spacers maybe a trade

[bullet20vee]

Do you have pvs holes in the prop hub? Sounds like you need more venting on the holeshot. You should be able to remove plugs to allow the prop to slip to get enough rpms to launch pretty quick on a 17.5' boat with a 200.

[tristanlee85]

Do you have pvs holes in the prop hub? Sounds like you need more venting on the holeshot. You should be able to remove plugs to allow the prop to slip to get enough rpms to launch pretty quick on a 17.5' boat with a 200.

Current prop is an over-hub and there's no plugs to allow venting unfortunately.

Some better news: I am able to exchange the current plate back to a 6" with a small restocking fee, certainly much less of a loss than would be involved with adding these additional bandaids. However, I still plan on getting one of the Trophy props to go along with everything else.