PROBLEM NOW SOLVED! : Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

[hawkboat]

A couple months ago I bought a 1997 21' John Storie's Hawk bass boat with a 225 hp Mariner. It has a 25 pitch 4 blade stainless steel vented prop. There are four vent holes, and two of the holes have plugs with what looks like medium or large holes. It also has a jack plate.

This boat will only run about 58 mph, which seems way slower than this boat should run. It also blows out of the hole on takeoff...in other words, it starts to shoot you out of the hole but just before it planes out the rpm's increase drastically but you aren't gaining any speed.

I tried this boat skiing over the weekend and was very disappointed. I had an old 85 hp last year that performed as good as this boat.

When there are only two people in the boat it doesn't jerk the skier out of the water like you think it should. I tried double-skiing (pulling up two skiers at once) and it took 4 tries and pulling the skiers all over the lake before it pulled them up. It just seems like it doesn't have enought power to get them up.

Is this a prop issue? Do I need a lower pitched prop, plug more vents, plug vents with smaller holes?????

Any help you can give is greatly appreciated.

 

[junior1113]

Re: Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

Re: Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

current wot rpm?? needs to be in the 5400 range

 

[hawkboat]

Re: Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

Re: Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

Thanks for your reply.

This will sound like a stupid question, but what does wot stand for?

I know the rpm's are around 3200 or so when I'm planed out at top speed, but I haven't paid any attention to the RPM's when I take off.

When it blows out of the hole the rpm's are around 5200 or so.

Thanks again.

 

[jdsgrog]

Re: Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

Re: Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

wot stands for "wide open throttle" or in layman's terms, full throttle. When the boat is run at wot, the rpm should reach about or near 5400. If it is running only at around 3000, then you are likely not propped correctly (do not have the proper propeller for the load) or may possibly not be running on all cylinders or other possible engine troubles.

 

[junior1113]

Re: Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

Re: Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

so 3200rpms when when planed out at top speed. u need to run this this wide open while raising jack untill u hear captivation the rpm right before captivation is your wot rpm and i believe it is higher than 3200 more like 4000come back with the new #'s. probably going to need to go to like 21 or 20pitch 4 blade. post back

 

[modsrx]

Re: Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

Re: Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

sounds like your jack plate is to high to make ski or tube u will need to drop the motor a little .....not sure about the 4 blade but i'm pretty sure that pitch is way to big to pull someone on ski its made for top speed ..try something around 22 pitch u will have awsome result ...but u can't go fast and have a lots of torque ...u go fast or u pull like a train ....try to run around 5600 at maximum rpm at top speed .. engine will run higher rpm if u select smaller pitch but it will have a awsome hole shot ..

 

[junior1113]

Re: Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

Re: Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

sounds like your jack plate is to high to make ski or tube u will need to drop the motor a little .....not sure about the 4 blade but i'm pretty sure that pitch is way to big to pull someone on ski its made for top speed ..try something around 22 pitch u will have awsome result ...but u can't go fast and have a lots of torque ...u go fast or u pull like a train ....try to run around 5600 at maximum rpm at top speed .. engine will run higher rpm if u select smaller pitch but it will have a awsome hole shot ..

u can go fast and have torque with an appropriate 4 blade. i switched and got better hole shots and higher top speed and to top it off better gas milage 4 blade is the only way. back to the thread i would check better for a wot rpm. if its at 3200 i would do compression test and spark test.

 

[hawkboat]

UPDATE!!! - Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

UPDATE!!! - Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

OK, I finally had a chance to take my boat out and run it again. I was way off on the RPM's. The WOT RPM's was 4850.

Again, my prop is a 4 blade 25 pitch. What pitch to you think I need to get up to 5400 RPM? How much more power do you think it will add?

Also, I don't have a Hydrofoil (aka whale tail) on the motor. Would this help as well? Several folks around here have said I should add one as well.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[junior1113]

Re: UPDATE : Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

Re: UPDATE : Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

4x 21 will put you around 5450 and a 4x 20 will put you around 5600 personally id perfer the 21 you will notice a big difference with the hole shot and i believe u wont lose any top speed. hydrafoils put a lot of stress on transom and i pesonally hate them. there good on a 60hp to get a heavy boat up but thats it good luck

 

[steelespike]

Re: UPDATE : Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

Re: UPDATE : Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

Trim tabs are much better than foils.Smart tabs are reasonable and easy to install.Inprove hole shot,stay on plane with less power and resist no wake speed wander.

 

[hawkboat]

Re: PROBLEM NOW SOLVED! : Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

Well, thanks to the folks that replied, my problem is now solved. I followed Junior's advise and got a 21 pitch prop. Its like driving a different boat!

My WOT rpm's are now around 5500, and my speed has increased about 6 MPH. The biggest part is that I'm now able to jerk skiers, wakeboarders, etc right out of the water.

Before I'd have to drag wakeboarders several feet before they could come up. Now they're up instantly. I basically couldn't pull up double skiers before, and now they too come up instantly.

The difference is simply unbelievable. The boat used to blow out of the hole on takeoff, and now you can't make it blow out of the hole.

Thanks to all who helped in getting my problems solved!

 

[junior1113]

Re: PROBLEM NOW SOLVED! : Trouble pulling up skiers with a 225

always like to hear out come of recomended props. glad to help. happy boating