Joe, it is a lot scarier to run your motor with that much of a load on it at all times. Think of it like having a toyota car with large racing slicks on the front wheel drive and then only having 3rd gear for everything from takeoff to top speed and going up a 45 degree incline all the time. Can you imagine the load that is putting on your motor all the time. Mercury makes what they call a high altitude kit for boats that run at higher altitudes, what it does is change your outdrive gear ratio from your current 1.47:1 to a 2:1 gear ratio, and that is more like having your car be able to start and run in 2nd gear to take the load off the motor, there are other options but I need you to fill this form out so I have a better basis for my analysis for the carb.
Iboats Boat and Motor Info
1. Year, make and model of boat 2006 Tahoe 228
2. Length, width and base weight of boat, look for boat decal on back of boat 22' 5" long 102" beam 3950 lb dry
2a.What is the recommended HP for your boat 260 HP
3. Number of people and gallons of gas normally on boat 4 people 48 gal
4. What do you use the boat for Cruising
5. Is it a Deep Vee and if so how many degrees of deadrise Deep Vee 20 degree
6. Year, make and model of motor 2006 mercruiser 5.0 MPI
7. HP and gear ratio of motor IMPORTANT260 HP Alpha 1 1.47:1
If you don?t know the ratio, you need to pull the plugs out and put a piece of tape across the prop and the lower unit and then cut it between the prop and the housing and turn the motor until the tape lines up with each other, it is easier if two people do this, so one can watch the prop while the other counts the revolutions of the motor
8. Manufacturer?s recommended Wide Open Throttle (WOT) range 4600-5000
9. Anti-ventilation Plate height above keel of boat if it is an outboard in inches
10. Is it a bass boat or does it have a pad bottom
11. Does it have a hydrafoil, dolefin or trim tabs
12. Make, model, diameter, pitch and whether SS or aluminum prop Black Diamond 14 1/2 x 17 3 blade AL and 14.25 x 17 PowerTech 4 blade SS
13. WOT RPM and speed from your current prop and how much gas and how many people were in the boat for the test data and is the speed by GPS. If you do not have a tach you can buy a Tiny Tach for $ 503900 rpm 35 mph and 3500 rpm 32 mph 48 gal of fuel, four people 435 lbs. speed via GPS
14. Are you at sea level or a higher elevation, give us the elevation in feet 3600 ft
15. Has your motor been tuned up lately and have you checked that the carburetor butterfly is opening all the way, checked compression, and looked at the plugs and checked spark, all of the foregoing could be the reason your prop is not attaining full RPM no
16. How long has this prop been on the boat and why, at this time, do you think it is the wrong prop one year, testing props to match my usage
17. Does the prop show any damage that you can see no
18. What problems are you trying to cure or what are you looking for the boat to do that it is not doing the way you think it should or to your expectations slow to plane
19. If you are trying to attain a better cruising speed and fuel savings or trying to attain a faster speed I will want you to take your boat and run it with 1 or 2 people and give me the RPM and speed readings starting at 3,000 RPM in 500 RPM increments all the way to WOT.
REMEMBER, The numbers I give you will be NO better than the information you give me
The only thing I ask of you is to come back and give me a report of WOT RPM and speed for my database.
H
