1996 ProCraft 185 Pro Struggling to plane out

[MrNoseItAall]

I've got a 1996 ProCraft 185 Pro with a Mercury XR4 150 with I believe a 23p prop that is struggling to get on plane at tournament weight (Rods, Tackle, Full fuel tanks, and Full livewells). Looking for opinions on why.

Motor runs fantastic, starts easy, idles good, doesn't stubble at all any other time. The prop is visibly flattened out (not terribly) on all three blades, assumed to be from the almost 30 years of use. And If I remember correctly, prop to pad is somewhere in the 4 range which I believe to be pretty close to optimal from everything else I've read.

My questions are:

Could that little bit of wear and tear on the prop make a large difference in it's performance?
Could the hub be spinning ever so slightly but not necessarily spinning to the point where the motor is spinning freely be creating these issues?
I've been contemplating moving the motor up or down to see if I can get some better top speed performance, could this help with the planning issue also?
Or
Should I be looking more into the motor... compression, or something else?

Full Story:
I bought this boat from my late grandfather so the boat has been in the family since it was bought new in 1996. Many, many hours have been put on this boat and motor. As a teen (140ish lbs), my dad (265ish lbs) and my grandfather (240ish lbs) (total weight of 645ish lbs) would go fishing and the boat never had a problem getting on plane. Side note: they claimed the boat would run 70 ish mph.

Since my ownership I haven't been able to get the boat over 62, which is when it starts to walk but there's not any throttle left to get it through the walk. On top of that, over the weekend my dad (still 265ish lbs) and I (now 190lbs) fished a tournament and the boat was struggling to get on plane heading back for weigh in. My dad had to basically sit on the front deck to get the boat on plane. The livewells were full which I'm estimating to be about 150 lbs which would bring the total to 605ish lbs. Moral of the story being the weights then and now are not that far off and now the boat won't get on plane.

The claim that the boat used to run 70 and the fact that it was struggling to plane out makes me think something is going on.

[CatFan]

What RPM does it turn at WOT?

Are your speeds GPS or speedometer? A lot of boats slowed way down with the advent of GPS.

If the prop is suspect, try another one. Easy swap and you’ll have an answer. Some dealers will loan you a prop.

[MrNoseItAall]

What RPM does it turn at WOT?

Are your speeds GPS or speedometer? A lot of boats slowed way down with the advent of GPS.

If the prop is suspect, try another one. Easy swap and you’ll have an answer. Some dealers will loan you a prop.

Honestly RPM seems to fluctuate a bit... typically around 5000-5500 at WOT. Tach will run up to 6000 occasionally but I always assumed the fluctuation was because of some interference as the tone of the motor doesn't change significantly.

All speeds were done with GPS. The speedometer on the boat has pretty much never worked due to the fact that we are in Louisiana and the muddy water typically clogs them up pretty quickly.

Prop could be suspect but I wasn't sure exactly how much wear/damage a prop could take before you expect to see performance loses.

[jcuts9]

try putting plugs in 2 of the 4 holes in the prop, will give you a little better hole shot

[MrNoseItAall]

Update the prop is a 24p not a 23p

[Andrebass]

I put a newer 24p Trophy un my 2000 185DC and it made a difference. I had cracked and bent my old 24p Trophy and sent it in for repairs, never worked the same till I put that newer one on.