florida gator

New boat isn't getting as much speed as I would like. 26' Wellcraft Scarab Sport w/a 225 Johnson. Motor checks out fine. Prop is 14x20 3 blade stainless. Turning 5600 RPM and 43 on GPS. Local dealer said all sounds well. Any ideas?

throttleup

Considering the boat and power your speed seems appropriate.

If you want to pick up a little more speed you may want to consider a pair of 250 Etec's or a pair of the new Merc 300 opti's. That would give you a speed increase you would really notice!

Matt

florida gator

Thanks for the diappointing news.

Max power is 300. I probably will upgrade to a 300 opti at some point but not just yet. I have a hard time justifying that with a perfectly fine motor.

bbladesprops

What's your gear ratio?

A little more diameter in the prop and precise geometry may help the over all cause. Most likely it won't be big steps though.

florida gator

Not sure the ratio. I would assume everything is stock.

bbladesprops

With the year designation of your OB we can check the g.r.

I don't know it off the top of my head. I ran the numbers with my ratio memory and it seemed your efficiancy was a little low.

If I'm right, top speed may not be able to be helped to much concidering the rig, but overall performance may be tweaked a some.

throttleup

You have a 1.86 gear ratio.

bbladesprops

Thanks,

That would make the efficiancy pretty poor at WOT.

24-25% slip. A little more diam. might help.

florida gator

When you say efficiency, is that primarily cruising or should I get a little more speed?

bbladesprops

More could be gained across the board.

Do you have anything else you could test with?