1995 Sea Ray 195 BR ... stock, most recent or different?

[stephenson]

Have owned boat since new - very few hours. 4.3LX (180HP) with what I think is the 1.84 gear ratio on Alpha 1. 4800 RPM limit.

Ate up stock three blade aluminum prop (13.75X21) almost immediately and switched to a three blade 14 1/4 X 20 stainless (Turbo). Tried another stainless prop while we were experimenting, but it was way slow out of hole. Ended up with 20 and it has been OK, but slower out of hole (with significant nose high attitude) - stills runs on light boat with smooth water at about 50 MPH (indicated) at about 4800 RPM. Turns well and runs pretty quietly - except terribe torque steer at idle and very slow speeds.

Going to do more skiing in near future on smaller lake where I won't notice a slight degradation in top end as much ... is there a four blade solution that would make sense in my situation - help hole and keep nose down a bit? Skiing usually end up with 4 people in boat.

I would probably swap back and forth between props when I wanted to do more skiing ...

Thanks - appreciate everyone's comments!

 

[stephenson]

Re: 1995 Sea Ray 195 BR ... stock, most recent or different?

I would really appreciate comments and opinions, experiences, etc!

Thanks!

 

[stephenson]

Re: 1995 Sea Ray 195 BR ... stock, most recent or different?

Is it unusual to get zero interest in a thread on a common topic like this?

Something I did wrong in the write-up?

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: 1995 Sea Ray 195 BR ... stock, most recent or different?

Sometiimes your boat is properly propped for the way you're using the boat.

The best investment I ever made in my inboard-outboard was a set of Bennett hydraulic trim tabs. They're only used at slow speeds to get the bow down, and then I retract them up. Because the boat can be planed out @ 10 mph, I don't have to fight to get my bow down. The boat pulls like it's got 50 horsepower more since it's not fighting to plane off.

Another good thing is that you get two fat people on one side at a cruise, you can drop down one tab, and the boat will level off. (I hate asking weight challenged people to change seats.) They're very easy to install, too.

As far as a propeller issue, see if you can find a prop shop in your area. They're usually able to tell you exactly what you need to do from past experiences. Some boat dealerships have people that can also give you some advice--hopefully for free.