i have just recently bought a 2000 basscat pantera III. The current prop has no name nor pitch on it. I measured it from center of hub to end of blade and multiplied that by 2. did i do something wrong? It came out to be 16 1/2. It is a 4 blade ss prop in excellent condition. I am 3" below pad. Run around 65-66 on gps at 5800 rpm. cannot trim up all the way or a bouncing chime walk begins. Please help
getting the diameter may help you with identifying it a little........are there any numbers at all on the inside of the center hub or the outside of the hub?......thats kinda unusual if not........if not there, it's usually on the outside of the hub.......anyway, the trimming all the way up and chine walking is normal.......once most rigs approach 80% of their top speed, this is the norm and there is typically a little bit of driving required as opposed to just cruising.........without knowing your motor size/type/setback, it will be very hard to tell the specifics, but there is a chance you may be overtrimming it........give a bit more detail about your rig and lots of folks will be along with advise
------Co-founder of Post Derailment, LLC---------
its a 200efi merc. prop shaft 3in. below pad. not sure the setback.
Bouncing would be called Porpoising(sp)
CHINE Walking would be a side to side wobble of the bow.
Don't believe it would be doing both at the same time.
thanks for clearing that up. novice i am. i was calling porpoise the boat standing up trying to take off like it wanted to flip over backwards. had trim down, maybe not enough throttle. i didnt realize it needed to be full throttle when taking off even to just cruise. ignorance is bliss! and a pain in the butt!!
That would just be called bow rise. Are you looking at a "guage" to let you know you are all the way down? If so, I would say don't. Run your motor trim down until you hear the pump motor load up and then stop. That will be all the way down and tucked under. Don't abusively hold the button down, just until your hear the pump motor whine a split second. Once you know this is all the way down, you can confirm that the "guage" is reading as such. The porpoising will happen mostly at a mid range throttle if you have your motor trimmed to high. The prop tries to lift the bow but cannot carry it so it falls down, then the cycle repeats. If this happens either apply more throttle or lower the trim a bit. I would say usually lowering the trim first is the safest. Chine walk will happen more at top end and is something your boat may or may not have issues with.
Like the others have stated; trim your motor down ALL THE WAY DOWN and mash your motor. If your boat is set up right and not overloaded it should jump up on plane and you can start backing off the throttle and trimming up within a few seconds of blast off. On my Nitro 591, I am trimming up almost as soon as I hit the throttle. Every boat is different so just play with it until you get the hang of it.
Also, learn to trim down as you start to slow down. This will prevent the purposing you may be experiencing. I used to fish with a guy who would never learn this. We would come flopping into weigh-in every time.
Don't worry Ma'am....
I'm only here for the Bass.
lol! well i definately dont want to go "flopping in" anywhere! trim down. i got it. thanks, and i will have a little more info after this lovely weekend in louisiana. suppose to be in the low 70's!!! plenty of seat time fo me.
If you have a jack plate drop your motor down 1/4" and try running it again. Your a little high for a Cat. Your losing bite and that lets the bow drop and then it picks it up and then it drops. You may have to go down to 3 1/2" under pad. Measure across the baldes tip to tip to get the diameter and that might help figure out which prop it is. Posting a picture would help to. Look on the front and back of hub for numbers.
Tried dropping the jack plate down 1/4" . Water pressure went to about 17 psi at wot. Hole shot is worse. Much worse. Top speed was 66/gps at 5700-5750 rpms. Porpoising at 80% throttle is worse. I think I will lift it back up. But shouldn't I have gotten a better hole shot lowering the motor? I don't know but I think it performed better on low and top end with the motor 1/4" higher. That's with the(don't know what) 4 blade prop, 6" setback, and prop shaft lowered to 3 1/4" below pad.
I would guess if you are porpoising at 80% throttle, you are trimming up to much. Just because you still have trim angle remaining, that doesn't mean you can run it at there. You need to remove the prop and check the back of the barrel to see what size prop you have.
I will take it off and check. I want to put the 25p tempest plus on it anyway. Then I will check it out and maybe post a few pics when I learn how.
If your reading the trim gauge on a mercury motor you can't trim up all the way on the gauge. Before you put the boat in the water trim the motor up until it reaches tilt mode where the single ram takes over raising the motor. Bring the motor back down until it touches the tilt rams and read the gauge. That is maximum tilt. Most gauges will read less than half on the gauge. Now you will know when you are at max trim. Don't over trim when running or you will porpoise. You can also have a prop that will not carry the bow and will loose lift and drop the bow if its set too high. You may need the tempest to get enough bow lift. You don't know what kind of prop the four blade is but does it have black plastic plugs in the barrel that say PVS. The tempest should have the same type plugs in it. These are for adjusting the hole shot by allowing the prop to vent (slip) when you take off and bring the motor rpms up to 3500 or so. Thats whats wrong with your hole shot not having the motor too deep but not venting enough on take off.
Modified by mdtritn21 at 11:48 AM 12/16/2011
The prop doesn't have any vent holes. If I take a fine point marker and mark the max trim would that always apply? The reason I ask is because when fishing this past weekend I noticed that when trimmed all the way down my needle was just a tiny bit above the lowest mark on the Trim gauge. But later I noticed when I trimmed all the way down the needle was about 3/32" below the bottom line. Does this mean something may be wrong with the trim or does this sometimes happen?
Was the motor off or on both times you looked at the gauge.
The motor had just been cranked. Both times is when I had picks trolling motor up to move spots. Was idleing getting ready to take off. That's how I know for sure it was trimmed all the was down.
As far as what the gauge reads when it is all of the way down, that can be adjusted. There is a puck on the side of the motor. near the pivot. It will have two elongated slots with screws. Loosen screws and adjust puck until the gauge aligns where you want it.
If its reading different every time you trim down the sensor could be bad. Check and see if its actually screwed in place tite and not moving. Also check the trim rod pin that is attached to the motor to make sure it is still moving when the tilt and trim is moved up or down. If the screw that holds the pin in place breaks the pin can move and come out of the motor bracket.
Hey Scotty, the prop on your boat is a Turbo TXP OT-4. It was worked by Bo's Propeller and is about a 25 1/2 pitch. I have a 25 pitch tempest if you would like to try it.
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