Cavitation problem 1990 290 enticer???
 

I bought a 90 enticer last year and we love it. I have noticed this boat wants to cavitate more than any boat i have ever owned. It never really is a big problem but figured i'd throw this out and get some insite. It is stock power with stock bravo 1's. I have "mercruiser bravo" four (4) blade 24 pitch. It wants to cavitate at low speeds coming off plane or just getting on plane, and if i don't play with throttle and/or trim it will not go away. Ofcourse, when cavitating it will vibrate, but does not vibrate all the time, no major problems, bent shafts or any thing like that....that i know of. My other 24' baja had marage plus 3 blade and didn't realy have much problem. Should I have these props reworked, or go to another kind. They are in really good shape, not all beat up or anything like that. I have been around boats all my life and there arn't any noticable signs why it does what it does. Now, being said all that, this is my first pq, maybe nature of the beast???

Buddy of mine has a '97 Enticer with 7.4L's/Bravo I drives. He had the same problem coming on plane with the props wanting to blow out. He is running 25" Mirage Plus 3 blades. He had Brett at BBlades work the props and all but eliminated the problem.

interesting other have experienced the same problem, but still no fix?? Like i mentioned, its not a real big problem cause i can get it to go away, but I was pulling a 3 person tube with young kids on and had to go slow and all it wanted to do is pretty much cavitate the whole time.

no more input.....so these are the only two boats that do this???

had 3 290s and none of them had any issues like that,,
are you sure the plastic spacers on the trim cylinders are on correctly?

Again, prop work by BBlades took care of the problem. Talk to Brett.

Im sorry, I misunderstood what you said, are you saying they did in fact fix the problem?? got # to this guy??

My '97 Enticer with 7.4L's/Bravo I drives does the exact same thing, but i mostly noticed this once I added drive showers. My solution is to sell the boat = problem gone :drink:! If I still have it in the spring I will try running it with the drive shower pick-up disconnected. I also did chat with BBlades and they described the different things we could try doing. So if the boat is still here in the spring that is the direction I will be going, especially since BBlades is only about 45 minutes away.

drive showers will do that if you have them on the wrong side off the cavitation plate..
make sure the drive shower is on the up swing/turn of the prop..if its on the down turn of the prop it will suck air down the tube and into your props and you will cavitate

Tip cup on the props and problem will be solved solved, and yes drive showers make a huge difference.

I did talk to brett at bblades, we did talk about drive showers...he instructed me to cut/shorten the pick-ups under the cav plate. Mine are like 1"- 1 1/4" long, he said they shouldn't be no longer than 1/2" long. I cut them down yesterday and we are gonna take her out 2morrow and see if this makes a difference, if not, im gonna see what engine is doing it the most, exact w.o.t. speed and send him the props to have reworked. He talked about doing some things to increase top speed and w.o.t. with adjusting cup on blades...we'll see what happens?

Good point, never really thought about pickup placement, I looked at mine and found the starboard is on the upstroke of prop, the port is mounted on the DOWN stroke of the prop????? I have the solid line cooler that follows the contour of the drive, if i put it on the other side, the bend at the top will be the wrong way??? Im gonna pay close attention to this, I may have just found the culprit!! I will post results..

I bet thats your issue...just remove the driver shower and try it...dont worry about the hole on the cavatation plate it wont make any difference..

im gonna modify the ss tube and install it on the correct side of the plate....I still need a drive shower.