Need Propeller Help

[Crappiecrazy]

Greetings All,

Anyone out there have a 20 foot Bass Boat with a 175 or 200 HP outboard ?

I need some help with a propeller that will work with me rig.
I have a 1992 Skeeter SX200 with a Mercury 175hp EFI. I tried a Solas Titan 3 blade 21 pitch. Great hole shot but it runs my rpm’s past 5500 at WOT. It also seems to slip some when decelerating and also at medium cruising speed. I also tried a Solas Titan 4 blade 23 pitch. This propeller gave me a terrible hole shot and the engine will only run about 4600 rpm’s at WOT.

Looking for suggestions from anyone that has this same type/size bass boat with 175 or 200 HP engine. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[LakeFever]

Merc mota? Enertia would likely haul the mail on there

[OnPad]

Try a 23p tempest, prop shaft about 3 1/2 below the boat. Plug off a couple of the top intake holes on lower unit. That is the setup I used on a 20' champion, 200 merc, except with 25p tempest. Was the fastest prop I had, but loaded a bit much as I would prefer to run over 5500rpm.
I have since switched over to a 225efi and run the same prop, gained about 10mph, and uses twice the gas.

Bass boat central has some good boat specific setup info.

If you can bum some different wheels to test, you might end up with less hanging on the wall than I have.
2 loaned out at the moment, and three more mounted on my boats.

[rgsauger]

BBC has a great Skeeter forum. You can probably get good first hand experience there.

whats your setup? Jack plate? Prop to pad height?

[Crappiecrazy]

I will try the 23 Tempest. I tried a 21 Tempest in the past but it seemed like that prop rattled a lot at idle in gear. I took it off because it sounded like it was chewing up the gears in the lower unit. Might have just been because the Tempest was being bigger and heavier than the High Five that was previously on it.

Did you ever experience that issue ?

Thanks for your help !

[OnPad]

I haven't noticed any noise out of mine. I do have a fairly new hub in it, with the plastic bushing on the thrust side, recommended for surface applications.

[Crappiecrazy]

The rattling could also be that the engine seems to idle too low. I will see if I can figure out how to idle it up some. It’s a 92 Merc 175 EFI. I’m thinking that the idle may be controlled by the electronic module. I’m not a mechanic but I’ll do some research.

Thanks

[Crappiecrazy]

Unfortunately I do not have a jack plate. I purchased the rig in 2018 and the motor is mounted to the transom up about an inch above top of the transom drain well. I’m sure it’s not high enough or back enough to get its best performance. When we got it it had a 26 pitched High Five. Great hole shot but top end only about 47mph on GPS. I’m not wanting to hot rod the engine but I would like to be able to get a few more mph out of the motor. The engine runs great and seems to me should be able to run at least mid 50’s.

[OnPad]

If it stays running it's good enough, about 650 in gear.
The idle stabilizer module does add timing to increase rpm.
The next time your lower unit is off, make sure your exhaust tuner hasn't rattled off, laying in the bottom of your midsection.
A pic of your low speed timing bolt used to adjust idle.

[rgsauger]

You will probably find the speed that you are looking for in boat set up and not in motor modification. Look at the forums on BBC and see what people are doing with your boat and motor. You probably need a jack plate in the 8 inch to 10 inch range and then need to jack your motor up two or 3 inches. Set up should pay big dividends and mid 50s or even more should be achievable.