Good morning guys. First post. Have been reading a lot about setups on here.
I have a 97 HydraSports 185 DC with a 175 intruder that I picked up last week. We ran it on the lake last week before I bought it, and it ran well.
Lake was calm and was me 215 and an old man 150. It is immaculate on the bottom. Not even a chip. Had full load of fuel, and 3 batteries in back. It came out of the hole well, but had a little chine walk on top end. I went ahead and purchased it thinking it just needed some setup work.
Yesterday, my brother and I took it out to mess around. My brother is about 220 and I at 215. There was a good chop yesterday as well. The boat comes out of the hole well, but once it planes, seems like there is a a little drag and vibration until I get it trimmed up to where it likes. We were capable of getting 55mph at 5500 rpm working the trim, but I could hear the prop ventilating at anything past that, or a slight turn. It also seemed like once it started ventilating, I couldnt get it to "grab" by just trimming down. I would have to slow the boat down and start over. The water pressure stayed good the whole time.
The prop centerline is 4.5 below the bottom of the boat, and I only have one more hole to go up. But I worry that going up another hole will make it ventilate worse. The prop is a stainless michigan wheel 14.25 x 25. Doing some reading, I know these props aren't the best out there, and I figure this is where the vibes are coming from.
I will be doing a compression test today just to be sure the engine is healthy. My problem is that I don't know what I should expect from the boat/motor combo as far as speed.
Will raising the motor make it ventilate worse?
Can I benefit from a jackplate with good setback?
Is the 25 michigan wheel doing me justice? I see a lot of setups on here with 24 Raker.
Thanks for any info that you guys can give. I will have compression numbers this evening.