Just picked this Stratos 273 up a couple of days ago. Previous owner is telling me about 220 hours on the motor, but the boat condition is telling me something a little different. The price was good though so I moved on it after a test ride and going over it pretty well. Titles were clear and current. The Johnson starts immediately on the first hit so far. Will do a compression check this weekend, but my first time out, other than the pre-sale ride, with me and my son in the boat, I am 250 lbs he is 220 lbs, we got it to 56 MPH with a max RPM of 5000. I could get 2 more MPH out of it by going a little higher on the trim but then it started to chine walk and I didn't care for that so I would trim it down a tad and it would settle back down keep 56 MPH. It cruised nicely at 46 MPH and seem to be able to run that all day long. The steering was a little more than I thought it would be but without any hydraulics it was still good, just two hands for sure. No hotfoot here. Currently it has the CMC ML-65 jake plate and a 4 blade renegade bass prop. I have looked all over the outside of the prop turning it slowly and I cannot find any part numbers or pitch numbers anywhere so what am I missing there? The right rear trailer brake/tail light is burned out so I have a new one on order there, but it stays dry, the live wells work, the motor starts good, puts out good charge to starting battery so I am still going over it. I did change the gear oil last night on the foot and it was clean and not milky so no water there, but it did seem to hold more oil than what I put in it. It is full now though for sure as I filled it from the bottom until I got a good flow out the top and then quickly got the bottom one back in tight.
Does anyone have any Stratos 273 manuals or info they can share with me? Any current Stratos owners with the 273 and Johnson 150 Fast Strike willing to share prop data and jack plate adjustments? I am thinking it should turn more than 5000 RPM, but there is a part of me that says leave it alone at 56 MPH with us two and the boat loaded to not work the engine any harder than we have to. It would be cool to hit 60, but now I am just pushing it to push it. LOL.
Thanks!
Kevin