noobie prop question
 

I just bought a 95 23' centra lazer with a 300hp 7.4 mercruiser and a bravo 1 outdrive. well i had a mechanic do a tune up, reseal the outdrive, and check it out and he said everything is good to go. So last weekend i take it to raystown and i cant get the boat on plane. it only pushes water till 2500 rpm and thats it. the engine runs awesome in neutral. i can hold it at 4500 rpm in neutral and it sounds great. In gear it almost feels like im trying to pull out in 4th gear in a car. The mechanic is telling me the boat has the wrong prop on it. It has a 3 blade stainless mirage quicksilver a41 23p. so my question is does this sound like the wrong prop. or is something else wrong? The boat weighs approximately 3850 pounds empty plus 3 people and 60 gallons of gas.

It's sounds a little big to me. I would probably try a 19 or 21p. A friend of mine has a '97 23' Rinker Captiva with the same motor and drive as you and is running a 21p Mirage. I think he said his weighs about 4000 lbs and to be honest with you he could probably go down to a 19p as his rpm's are a touch low at WOT. Once you do get it on plane your rpm's should be 4200-4600 I believe at WOT. I'm sure others will chime in as well.

I think something else is wrong, timing and or fuel starvation maybe. I don't think going down to 21's or even 19's is going to make up for 2K in rpms. Each step up or down should only change the rpm by 2-300. I had a 25 Checkmate with the same engine/drive combo and I ran a 23 or 25 depending on pulling a skier or tube. Make sure your fuel pressure is keeping up with your rpms under a load and play with the timing. Just my 2ct's.

looks like the ignition module is going out thanks for the help!!