CalicoKid
Lieutenant Commander
- Joined
- May 27, 2002
- Messages
- 1,599
I've been running my Baja SS164 with 110hp Johnson for a long time with a 13x19 ss OMC prop, 3 blade. I've always had good performance but wanted more. This winter I changed out all of my instruments and rewired the entire boat so that I could have a water pressure gauge (projects get a little out of hand around here). I did all of this in hopes of adding a jack-plate and trying out some props this summer to get my speed up. I figured I'd better not try jacking the motor without a pressure gauge, anyway..<br /><br />I was typically getting 47-48 mph(gps) with 3 people and a tank of gas. Trimming up would get my rpms and speed up to a point but then the rpms would continue to climb and speed would drop. I could usully turn around 5500-5800 rpms depending on the surface of the water but I always felt the hull was a little too "wetted". This prop slipped a lot in the turns too.<br /><br />I havn't put on a jackplate yet and my motor is still way too low, the cav plate is an inch or so below the bottom of my hull. But I did have the chance to borrow an OMC Raker 13x22 prop this weekend. I did notice that my holeshot was just marginally worse but that I could take off at a higher trim angle without slippage. My boat seemed more responsive than before despite the increase in pitch which is probably due to the amount of slippage the old prop allowed. The really big difference came at top end. When hammered (the boat, not me) we were able to get up to 45mph at 5000 rpms quickly, about the same as before, and then I started trimming out. The bow lifted some, I felt the hull break loose and we began to accelerate. I trimmed to the point where the old prop would slip badly but the Raker held on. My speedo went up to 50mph as I trimmed up and then dropped quickly to 45 mph as I continued to trim out. I checked the gps and we here going 50.5 mph at around 5500rpm. The boat felt like it had only the prop in the water and nothing else, I continued to trim out, I've never been able to do this, and the rpms climbed some more and the hull seemed to be in flight. I couldn't believe it, I couldn't get this prop to slip. I didn't have a chance to look at the gps again as we hit a wake that threw the boat into the air in a way that reminded me of those spectacular hydroplane crashes where they bounce from sponson to sponson before flipping over backwards a couple of dozen times. When I get up the nerve I'm going to go test this setup out some more to see where I'm getting the optimum speed and rpms to determine whether or not this is an ideal prop.<br /><br />Questions: My speedo worked fine before the prop change, is it possible I'm lifting the pitot right out of the water? It's mounted about 16" to the right of center of my transom on this very shallow vee hull (like a bassboat).<br /><br />Does my speed and rpm range sound ok? It seems to me it's hard to use the wot rpms as a guide with this type of boat because there is no way you could run around at 50 mph plus all the time on a river with plenty of traffic, obstacles, etc.<br /><br />Would a jackplate improve the STABILITY of my boat? I'm sure It would go faster yet with the motor higher and farther back but (I'm a little spooked right now) how are handling and ride generally affected?<br /><br />Those guys who run 80-100 mph in Bullets and Allisons are absolutely nuts! 
