Top End Speed

[ray6r]

Looking for a little help. I have a 2000 Stratos 19SS Extreme with a Johnson 200. It has a 4 blade Renegade Bass prop 13 1/2 x 25. Loaded for tournament fishing. When planed out with just myself in the boat it will run approx. 56 mph at 5100 rpm. When my tournament partner goes with me it will only run about 43 mph at 5100 rpm. Guessing approx. 250 lbs. extra. I have the motor set as low as it can go without hitting the fiberglass when tilted up, using a manual jackplate. Any ideas to what might be the issue? Don't know if changing the prop is fix for this issue. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Wayne P.]

Evidently you don't know much about setting up a boat for performance. You are dragging the lower unit too much.

The purpose of the jackplate is to RAISE the motor to decrease drag.

If your prop is in good shape, the 25" pitch should be the correct one.

If your motor is performing as it should, you should get about 70mph WOT

[Way2slow]

I have a couple of concerns.

The first is the fact the rpm is the same at both speeds. If that is true, I would have to quetion the tach.

Next, 5,100 rpm is way two low. With you and your normal load, you should have it proped to turn 5,800 to 6,100 rpm.

I would think a 23" would be closer to the right pitch, but until you can be sure of the tach readings, there's not much you can do with setup.

I've not had any dealing with the Xtreme but the 19' Stratos normally only runs in the upper 60's with a 200 and average load.

I would set my prop at 4 1/2" below the pad and then start adjusting up from their 1/4" at the time. However, like I said, you have to be sure of the tach first.

Something else I would do is a compression test on the engine.

[james 14]

Oh yeah...motor has to come up as high as it can go without causing the prop to cavitate and ensuring you still have water going in the pump.

Also...I could be mistaken but I think you could still squeeze a few RPM out which would mean a prop change, however, I would wait until after you raise the motor to see what that does first.

[uabasspro]

Looking for a little help. I have a 2000 Stratos 19SS Extreme with a Johnson 200. It has a 4 blade Renegade Bass prop 13 1/2 x 25. Loaded for tournament fishing. When planed out with just myself in the boat it will run approx. 56 mph at 5100 rpm. When my tournament partner goes with me it will only run about 43 mph at 5100 rpm. Guessing approx. 250 lbs. extra. I have the motor set as low as it can go without hitting the fiberglass when tilted up, using a manual jackplate. Any ideas to what might be the issue? Don't know if changing the prop is fix for this issue. Any help is greatly appreciated.

You don't want the motor as low as it can go. You want the opposite.

[Wayne P.]

The Extreme SS is a light weight, fast hull, made for speed. If you can handle its performance you want as low drag from the motor as you can get.

[ray6r]

I raised the motor 1 1/4 to put the prop shaft just about 3 1/4 inches below the pad. It ran below 50 mph. still had 22 psi.. Raised motor another 1/8 inch, and speed decreased again. Also the antiventilation plate on motor was out of the water. Started going back down and eventually reached 60 mph with just myself and equipment in the boat. 58 with both livewells full.

[ctf58]

All boats are different in set-up.

When you had the motor dropped all the way down, what was the prop height? I have a BassCat Sabre 18'4" with a 150 Merc and 24 pitch Trophy prop. When I got it the prop was 3" below the pad and I would lose water pressure at WOT (Wide Open Throttle) 6300rpms. I dropped the motor in 1/4" steps until I got a steady 15Psi water pressure. Now my RPMs are still to high (6200) for my liking and I am going to try a few props in the 25 pitch range as long as it does not affect my holeshot.

By the way I am getting 60mph with 2 big guys and tourny gear at 5900 rpms which is not WOT for me, The one time a spun it all the way out (6200+) it was just me and all my gear and I reached 71 one dash and the one time I could look at handheld gps in my lap it was reading 68.2.

If you have a boat shop around ask if you can try out a few props. It could make a huge difference. Going from a 25p to a 24p prop in theory will give you 200 more rpms if it is the same style prop. If 5100 is your current WOT I would be looking at 23p props to get you into the 5500-5600 rpm range. Going from 4 blade to 3 blade can get some people more speed. Look at the tag on the transom mount of your motor, it should say what max rpm is.

BTW I rarely go over 50 in my boat .

Good luck and stay safe.

[GLADES]

Another thing you should check is the throttle linkage. May the throttle cable is not adjusted correctly for WOT?

Definitely need to verify or replace the tach.

[ray6r]

I appreciate all the input. Put a new tach in a couple of months ago.(Have not verified) I have found another issue with the hull. The gelcoat is blistering and one piece about 2"x 4" has come off. I don't know how much of a drag issue this can cause. Also I have done a compression test and all cylinders check out good. Planning on taking it to the shop to have the carbs looked at and find out who can repair the gelcoat. Heard it isn't cheap.

[Way2slow]

It may pay you to contact Stratos directly. They gave a very extensive warrenty on those hulls. I know when they first came out, they had to swap out a lot of the hulls because of a serious handling problem. As for a large plug missing out of the hull, if it's on the pad where the boat is running at WOT, it can cause some serious slow down. A blister like that is where water has gotten under the gelcoat and into the fiberglass.

[GLADES]

If the boat is out of warranty, you might have to live with it, or try to lightly repair it.The pad on my 1987 Ranger 373 has gotten a lot of use in shallow water, so it has quite a few scratches and wear. The boat still does 57-60 MPH with a 150 Merc on the back. I am sure the boat probably was faster when the hull was new and the pad slick, but the boat gets me there safe and sound. 57 -60 MPH is plenty fast enough for me.

Regarding your boat, if the motor checks out, and nothing can be done about the hull except for repair, try to remove any extra gear that you don't normally use. Keep one live well dry if not in use. A couple of hundred pounds here and there can really affect your speed.

For example, when I bought my used 1987 Ranger 373 I told you about above, was completely stripped(no trolling motor or extra batteries, or gear) just the motor, 5 gallons of gas, and me, ran 68 MPH at 6400 RPM.

Once I loaded it down, now it runs 57-60 at 5800 RPM.