Sorry for the long post, but as a new member, I've learned a lot from posters and am seeking input. My 2022 RT188P is my 3rd boat. Drove a 1991 22' Ranger 395VS with a Yamaha 225 2 stroke for 20 years and a 15' Gregor jon boat with a 25hp Mercury for 10 years.
For my first outing, it was 57 degrees, sunny, and glass calm. I had all of my fishing gear (only 1/2 of the storage lockers were filled), 1/2 tank of 92 octane with 2 oz of octane boost and 1 ounce of ethanol treatment. I have a Mercury 115 pro XS CT on a 6" manual jackplate set at the 2nd hole from the top. Had 2 OEM folding fishing seats, 24V Ultrex in front, 2 lithium batteries, and the OEM 24P Tempest prop w/o a plug. All speed and tach readings were from a Garmin 93sv GPS and Mercury Vessel View.
During break in, it ran 29-30 mph at 4000 RPMs and 34 mph at 4500 RPMs trimmed a little less than 1/4. There is very little rooster tail and relatively limited bow lift. The wake started around the helm at these speeds. This boat is bow heavy . When I trim it enough to get on pad, the rooster tail is at the top or slightly above the cowl. It doesn't take much throttle or trim to go from hull dragging to full pad.
At WOT, I reached 6380 RPMS and 49.7 mph max, but here's the catch. At that speed and RPMs, the rooster tail was 4' higher than the cowl (trimmed to about 5/16th), there was very little pad in the water, and I had a lot of prop slippage. I also had a warning alert of overheating which makes me think that the engine was over-trimmed and/or mounted too high. Trimmed down a bit and got 46 mph at 6000-6100 RPMs. Again, there isn't much difference in trim to go from 3' of hull in the water to less than 1' of hull in the water (completely on pad or over-trimmed).
My hole shot is very fast. My estimate is 3-4 seconds from a dead stop to on plane. Trimmed all the way down, my wake splash starts just behind the bow seat whether i am going 35 mph or 45 mph, which is a little scary. At WOT and trimmed up, the hull barely touches the water, the boat gets really light. I suspect it would not like any chop on the water.
My question is: should I consider a different prop or lowering the motor? While I would like to touch 50 mph, i don't often run at this speed, even when I had my 22' fiberglass. Sorry for the long post, but I hope it makes my issue easier to diagnose. Thanks.