Stratos setup

[Bender]

Just got a jackplate for my 285 XL / 150 Yammie and 23M prop and put it on today. It is a 6" setback manual. From the stealership the prop was set 4.5" below the pad. I put the plate on today and set the center of the prop at 3.5" below the pad. The cavitation plate is about 5" above pad.
Hit 65 MPH on the GPS with 17 psi of water, motor runs 20 when trimmed down. Hole shot is great, very little bow lift.
I am really happy with it and all of the performance it has added for $150. Any suggestions about changing this for more?
Other than that it will be getting a double cup on the prop and line sanding the pad if it is possible to do since the pad is not flat, but I'll add that to the winter "to do" list.

[zooker]

your doing pretty good right there..

zooker

[1FASTLASER]

Ok Bender glad to see someone really trying to set there boat for OPTIMUM performance. OK what you need to do now is raise the motor 1/4" at a time with a tourney load and everything the way you normally fish. Such as the tackle and all in the same place and fuel where it normally is. Now run the boat and record your findings. A stop watch and your GPS are your best friends right now. Make at LEAST 3 trials runs with EACH 1/4 of an inch raise. What you are looking for is of course TOPEND speed WITHOUT loosing water pressure or TOO much holeshot. As long as you dont drop below 15PSI when fully trimmed out and still hooking up with the prop you can raise another 1/4". WATCH THAT WATER PRESSURE and YOUR TACH. DO NOT push her over the top (too many rpms) I dont know what engine you have. If its a EFI engine she has a rev limiter. Record each and every run. Whenyou start loosing water pressure below 15psi at WOT STOP!!!!!!!! Back the motor back down a 1/4" and leave her there. You will be at optimum Motor height with your present setup. Any more questions just holler.

[1FASTLASER]

After reading my post forgot to tell ya that the stopwatch is for holeshot times. After you get some recordings I can better clarify what they mean and how to get more improvement. You may just want to have the prop balanced and blueprinted for optimum performance. I have a couple people that are #1 and artists with props I can send ya too. THEY STAND BEHIND THERE WORK

[zooker]

belive he has a hpdi..

zooker

[Bender]

Thanks for the input, it's not an HPDI, just a carbed VMAX. What speeds should I time with a stopwatch, 0-30, 40, 50? Just wondering since I am still learning to drive the boat and trimming up as soon as she is coming on plane.
Also I'm not sure what the redline is of this motor. I'll look in the book tomorrow but I think it is between 5.8-6k.
Laser, since I have only one prop right now I can't be out for the time it would take to get it worked. If you know of somebody selling a 23M or 24M I'm interested since if I had a spare I could get one worked over.
My friend who was big on top speeds back in the day with his Gambler told me about linear sanding the pad. He said to use a heavy grit in a linear direction to decrease on the "suction" of a smooth bottom. Have you ever heard of this? He says he has done it several times with great success on top speed and handling.

[1FASTLASER]

Ok what you are timing is your deadstop to on plane times with each increase ofheight. See there is a trade off to a point withoptimum performance. Its really hard to have aneck snappin holeshot AND blazing toped but you will reach a happy medium. Redline for thatmotor is 6000. Really dont want to go spinning her past that. As far as a good prop I will put the feelers out and see what I can dig up. Yes there are gains from sanding the pad but I dont use heavy grit. Wet sanding is a GREAT way of doing this but it will be somewhat messy. I usually sand the last 2ft of the pad and strakes INCLUDING sharpeniing th corners (lengthwise corners). I did a article for some folks on another board to demonmstarte this. Usually there is anywhere from a 2-5mph but have seen as much as a 7mph increase. I usually use a 22- grit first to take any high spots down then go to 400 and then 800. This has also straightened out handling issues on boats that I have done. This is why I haveposted before that you DO NOT wax a hull on the bottom. It will actually slow a hull down. The suction or grip on the hull is released after sanding the pad. One word of caution when doing this .it's a slow process and you need to pay close attention to the gelcoat on the bottom. A LITTLE GOES ALONG WAY.

[zooker]

yamaha ox66 -carbed vmax- rev limiter is at 6150 rpm..

zooker

[1FASTLASER]

AND SO THE PLOT thickens. The more r's ya can turn the better performance up to a point. Man it would be just GREAT ifn I new what gears Bender has in the lower. This could get real interesting with a little prop magic. I done put out the feelers for another prop to use while one gets "magic" worked on it.Our target rpm's that we are going to work on is having the notor still pulling hard right up to 5900 rpm's Maybe a tad more if everything works out. What propping a boat to run as close to the limiter as possible does is keep the motor running in its powerband and effectively propelling the boat forward.

[1FASTLASER]

Originally Posted by Bender

Thanks for the input, it's not an HPDI, just a carbed VMAX. What speeds should I time with a stopwatch, 0-30, 40, 50? Just wondering since I am still learning to drive the boat and trimming up as soon as she is coming on plane.
Also I'm not sure what the redline is of this motor. I'll look in the book tomorrow but I think it is between 5.8-6k.
Laser, since I have only one prop right now I can't be out for the time it would take to get it worked. If you know of somebody selling a 23M or 24M I'm interested since if I had a spare I could get one worked over.
My friend who was big on top speeds back in the day with his Gambler told me about linear sanding the pad. He said to use a heavy grit in a linear direction to decrease on the "suction" of a smooth bottom. Have you ever heard of this? He says he has done it several times with great success on top speed and handling.

Just a quick note Bender when hitting the trim try and hit it JUST as the nose starts to drop. Usually thats the best place to get her on plane the quickest.

[Bender]

I'll give that a shot and hope to get out either tomorrow or on Saturday at the latest, thanks! Overall I am really impressed with the boat.
From the book:
Drive Unit Gear Ratio: 2.00 (18/24). I usually see it as a ratio, but assume it is 2:1? It is a 2.6 liter 90mm x 68mm bore/stroke. Also the manual doesn't say a redline, only that "full throttle operating range: 4500-5500 r/min" and the 150HP is developed at 5000.

It may be a silly question, but why is the redline so low on outboards in general? On smaller single and twin 2 stroke the max is insane, 12-15,000+ since there is no valve bounce to worry about. Is it the lower end gears that are the issue?

[Bender]

Does sanding a hull take away any strength? I am only worried about this because Lake Saint Clair (and possible Erie someday for me) get rough. The hull really takes a beating out there and I don't want it to break under any circumstances. (LSC is so shallow I think I could swim for it though)

[1FASTLASER]

Ok on the sanding you are only taking out the imperfections that 90% of the boats made have due to mass production. That would be why you use a SANDING BLOCK. To Let you know when you have sanded enough..............you can mask off the area that you wish to starightenthen take any ole color of CHEAP enamel spray paint. VERY VERY lightly splatter the area that you are working on. let dry for a few minutes and get sanding. This process lets you know when you have gotten rid of any imperfections. USE A LONG BOARD such as a 12". Remeber you are only making the hull SLICK and producing a surface that water will let go of with ease. No strenghth issues AT ALL because you are only removing high spots.

Yes the gear ratio is 2.00-1.........you are correct

As far as the red;ine question Stock outboards do not have the neceassry power packs/and or ECU's to turn those type of r's. Also the reciprocating assembly is NOT balanced enough to handle the vibration that would set in at thise high rpms. NOW you are beginning to see why MERCURY...........zooker is gonna cring at this...........IS THE FASTEST out there. On the higher end motors they have the necessary equipment available to turn up the r's such as programable ECU's, light weight BALANCED flywheeels etc etc. Some of the components in the reciprocating assembly on MERCURY's are already bal;anced to a point AND the tolerances on Mercury engines are much close unlike the rest of the motors which have "looser" tolerances. Yamaha has started toying around with the tighter tolerances hence the reason they run close to MERC's.

[zooker]

one thing is bender if you dail it in when it is hot and humid. don't exspect it to perform the same when it is cold out..i actually change props as does onefastrockhitter.. my cold weather prop is almost stone stock but my summer prop is vented and worked over but good..




zooker

[Bender]

Well this fishing was slow today so I raised it one notch, 1/4". I don't have a stopwatch but I counted to myself and the holeshot is slower, not much though. It is now 3 1/4" below pad. Also I couldn't get over 60.1, the water was a little rough and I was running out of room.

Edit: ran it a couple of times this morning, but the fishing was better so I didn't adjust anything. I could just get to 60 running at 6000 RPM. I think I am going to lower it back to 3.5" and see if my top end comes back. The prop seemed to be blowing out a bit more when I trimmed up at this height.

[1FASTLASER]

Ok now that I have reread what you posted yes you need to drop her back down. You originally posted that you could obtain 65 at 3.5 below the pad. With the prop you are presently running you are at its limits. The only thing that I can suggest is a TRUE blueprinted and balanced prop now. Just about all mass produced props right outta the box.......unless they are Mercury lab, mazco's ron hills, spinelli's you get the idea are mass produced and they do not take the time to balance and blueprint. Running a worked prop is so much better its unreal. I have seen some REAL improvements with a worked prop. To give ya an example I just got through about a month ago setting up a Sprint bass boat running a XR6 150. Motor was slightly modified with some of my special little tweaks and she was running 66.7. This was with a STOCK Laser 2. Owner asked what next. Prop work. Shipped out the prop for balancing and blueprinting. After the prop came back simply put it back on. Same motor height same driver same fuel and relativly close same temperatures. Motor banged out a quick 73 on 3 different passes.

[1FASTLASER]

OOPS forgot to tell ya still hunting for a 23M fer ya.

[1FASTLASER]

Ok bud. I have found a couple of props that have been freshened up. They are NOT Yamaha props they are Merc Props. Which is NO problem they can be hubbed for a Yammer and work VERY well. VERY VERY reasonable price. I can get one of the 2 for $200. As I said they have been cleaned up and repolished all I would have to do his givee him a call and tell him to hub for Yammer and then we can start getting the 23M ready ifn ya want. Shoot out of the 2 you might find out the Merc prop is a better wheel for ya. Lemme know ASAP.

Also did some more calculating with the different programs I have and you are right at the OPTIMUM with your prsent setop. Definatley prop work is the next step. Ifn ya want I have a boat that I am supposed to do the pad on this weekend. The fella is trying so dang hard to break 80. He's done all the rest of the work but cant hit 80 right now with his setup. Ifn ya want I can set up a smalll vid of the process that would better help you on the process.

[Bender]

Laser, Sorry about the delay, I just got back from Canada...again. That would be great if it is not too much trouble with the video. Also please PM me about the props.
I will drop her back down tomorrow since I'm heading out the Saint Clair on Saturday morning to make sure I can get back up to 65. If the lake is calm enough, the tuna boats out there can be brutal.

[1FASTLASER]

So bender hows things coming wit da bote. Did you make contact with the link I sent ya??????????

[Bender]

I just got back from vacation in NC and I need to respond to them. Both props he had he sold a couple weeks ago.
I wasn't able to get too much more than 60 or so on the Saint Clair River though, it did get a little rough even though I was following a Bass Cat through the heavy stuff. I was popping up over 6 grand again so I'm convinced a taller prop is the answer.

[1FASTLASER]

Hey bud lookie lookie what I found fer ya


http://www.wmi.org/multi_boards/prop...sale/T3026.htm

[Bender]

Thanks Laser, but I want to get the Rs down a bit and try a 24 or 25. The deal fell through on the TR04 25 pitch that for sale locally, but I am worried it might be too much.