1999 Evinrude Ficht 200 prop question

[sbonvillain]

Running this motor on a 2001 Stratos 20SS Extreme. The prop that is currently on it is a 4 blade Renegade Bass 13.5x25P. I’m hearing this is too much prop and is the culprit to only achieving 4800rpm @ 45mph. What would be the best starting point in prop size/selection? The boat does have a jackplate.

[wareagle24]

Welcome to the boards!

You will probably get a good answer in the Evinrude forum. Here is the link for it:

https://www.bbcboards.net/forumdisplay.php?f=4

[JR19]

Renegade Bass props are a small diameter 4 blade. It should be very easy to spin if the prop is in good condition and your getting full 100% movement of the throttle on a healthy motor with the correct prop to pad height. There are people with 150's that can turn a 25 Renegade Bass due to its small diameter. If we was talking about a large diameter 4 blade prop like a Bravo I or Razor 4 I would say you have too much pitch for a large diameter but the specific prop you have is a small diameter thus allowing it to easily turn more pitch...hopefully that made sense the way I explain it.

There are a lot of variables that can effect why your not getting the results you should be getting. I listed the most common issues why performance numbers are low. There is some odd things like a water logged transom but a 2001 transom is composite so its rare that its water logged. I would start buy borrowing a know good prop and see what your performance numbers are. In 2001 on a 200 Evinrude a 25 Renegade Bass was a common 4 blade. A 24 Raker was a common 3 blade. There is other props that work but these were the most common rigged from the factory. To verify throttle movement you can hook up a lap top to your boats computer and there is a way to verify what % the throttle is opening. I don't know but I would say you can also pull the cover and visually look to see if its getting full movement. A good prop to pad is 3.5 to 3.25 Up/Down .25 of an inch may not sound like a lot but sometimes it is worth 100-150 rpm. The thing is if you go up in motor height watch your water pressure because there will be a point when you get too high and you can lose too much water pressure. You can also inspect the spark plugs to verify they look good. No offense but you own a odd ball motor. Its very specific with the EXACT type spark plug to run and they need to be indexed. I have zero idea about your technical skills or knowledge of that particular motor but a 200 Ficht is not your "typical" motor. It also best that you run XD100 or Amsoil HP or some type of full 100% synthetic oil. Hopefully you can verify all this. If you don't know then possibly you have a buddy that can help you adjust/verify. If not then maybe its time to take it to a shop.

[agreynolds]

JR 19 is right on the money. For instance my 225 ficht on .y 2004 stratos 201 turns a 28 pitch raker to 5900 rpm.

[mactlman]

i had a 2000 200hp ficht on a 2000 20ss and a 25 gade worked by boger, was an awesome prop with a weed ring. something not right on engine? down a cylinder maybe? my other prop was a 26p raker also a great prop on that boat

make sure prop to pad in 3.5 inches maybe 3.25 no more

[sbonvillain]

i had a 2000 200hp ficht on a 2000 20ss and a 25 gade worked by boger, was an awesome prop with a weed ring. something not right on engine? down a cylinder maybe? my other prop was a 26p raker also a great prop on that boat

make sure prop to pad in 3.5 inches maybe 3.25 no more

Appreciate the insight...don't think I have a cylinder down. Will follow up with updates, but thankful to hear yours ran well with a similar setup.

[sbonvillain]

Renegade Bass props are a small diameter 4 blade. It should be very easy to spin if the prop is in good condition and your getting full 100% movement of the throttle on a healthy motor with the correct prop to pad height. There are people with 150's that can turn a 25 Renegade Bass due to its small diameter. If we was talking about a large diameter 4 blade prop like a Bravo I or Razor 4 I would say you have too much pitch for a large diameter but the specific prop you have is a small diameter thus allowing it to easily turn more pitch...hopefully that made sense the way I explain it.

There are a lot of variables that can effect why your not getting the results you should be getting. I listed the most common issues why performance numbers are low. There is some odd things like a water logged transom but a 2001 transom is composite so its rare that its water logged. I would start buy borrowing a know good prop and see what your performance numbers are. In 2001 on a 200 Evinrude a 25 Renegade Bass was a common 4 blade. A 24 Raker was a common 3 blade. There is other props that work but these were the most common rigged from the factory. To verify throttle movement you can hook up a lap top to your boats computer and there is a way to verify what % the throttle is opening. I don't know but I would say you can also pull the cover and visually look to see if its getting full movement. A good prop to pad is 3.5 to 3.25 Up/Down .25 of an inch may not sound like a lot but sometimes it is worth 100-150 rpm. The thing is if you go up in motor height watch your water pressure because there will be a point when you get too high and you can lose too much water pressure. You can also inspect the spark plugs to verify they look good. No offense but you own a odd ball motor. Its very specific with the EXACT type spark plug to run and they need to be indexed. I have zero idea about your technical skills or knowledge of that particular motor but a 200 Ficht is not your "typical" motor. It also best that you run XD100 or Amsoil HP or some type of full 100% synthetic oil. Hopefully you can verify all this. If you don't know then possibly you have a buddy that can help you adjust/verify. If not then maybe its time to take it to a shop.

Thanks for all of the info, JR! No offense taken! My technical skills are above average and I've already solved a few of the initial concerns. There is a long idle screw inside the cowling that had backed out and was stopping when contacting the engine block. That has been reconciled. I pulled the plugs and changed those to the QC10WEP's as recommended (and successfully indexed) by some of the experts on this and other informative sites. What will be looked into today wil be the hot foot bottoming against the stop. Hopefully this is the lingering issue. The motor sounds great and performs well up to the speed/rpm mentioned. I do not think there is a functionality concern currently with the operating characterists at this time. I am somewhat relieved to hear some of the combinations (boat/motor/props) mentioned are quite common and mine should be capable of performing well all things considered. I have also played with the engine/jackplate height, but will continue until I hit the sweetspot.

[charg295]

I had a Ficht that was running great, turning right rpms then would only turn about 4500 rpms. What I finally found was one of the lower throttle blades wasn't opening. The lower thottle blade shafts are connected with the middle one with a piece of rubber hose. It had loosened and wouldn't open when the others did.

[JR19]

Thanks for all of the info, JR! No offense taken! My technical skills are above average and I've already solved a few of the initial concerns. There is a long idle screw inside the cowling that had backed out and was stopping when contacting the engine block. That has been reconciled. I pulled the plugs and changed those to the QC10WEP's as recommended (and successfully indexed) by some of the experts on this and other informative sites. What will be looked into today wil be the hot foot bottoming against the stop. Hopefully this is the lingering issue. The motor sounds great and performs well up to the speed/rpm mentioned. I do not think there is a functionality concern currently with the operating characterists at this time. I am somewhat relieved to hear some of the combinations (boat/motor/props) mentioned are quite common and mine should be capable of performing well all things considered. I have also played with the engine/jackplate height, but will continue until I hit the sweetspot.

^^^^


FYI buy no means do I claim to be a boat motor mechanic. I jokingly tell people I'm full of useless knowledge to 99.9% of the people Anyways what I'm am about to post about the throttle you need to research because I very well could be wrong...if you adjust the travel to allow the hot foot to open up the throttle more you can reach a point where you will get a check engine alarm for over travel on the TPS (throttle position sensor). The reason I say this is because I saw someone replace a TPS sensor on a motor very similiar to yours (99 150 Ficht) and they had to set the the position of the TPS sensor to match what the actual throttle was when it was fully open. In other words if the TPS sensor thinks 100% throttle is at X position but it travels all the way past X to Y position it will alarm for overtravel. Again I very well could be wrong but if you adjust your throttle to open up more and get a check engine light at full throttle I would say I was right but as I said I very well could be wrong. I hope you get your issue resolved. IMO if you get your RPM to the 5800 range with everything else being correct you should see around upper 60's and possibly touch 70. Keep us posted and let us know what the issue was

[mactlman]

check for missing roller on throttle linkage- make sure plates are fully open also

[nitromorris]

Had a 175 ficht. ran a 24 raker. don't overlook having the emm checked also. D you have a manual and the software to connect to the engine.

[sbonvillain]

Had a 175 ficht. ran a 24 raker. don't overlook having the emm checked also. D you have a manual and the software to connect to the engine.

I do not have either

[mactlman]

I do not have either

Evinrude Diagnostic kit + EvDiag

[nitromorris]

Send me your email and i will send you a service manual file for your ficht .

[Jumping Jimmy]

I had a Ficht that was running great, turning right rpms then would only turn about 4500 rpms. What I finally found was one of the lower throttle blades wasn't opening. The lower thottle blade shafts are connected with the middle one with a piece of rubber hose. It had loosened and wouldn't open when the others did.

Check this!