Best jackplate for 03' Stratos 200 proxl w/ 225 ho rude

i have a slidemaster6" jack plate on my boat, was wondering if maybe a 10" or 8" would show improvements. what's the best set back for these boats......

I don't know if the improvements would be worth the time and money. I don't think you'll see much if any change. You see the biggest difference going from no jackplate to a 6 or 8. The difference between those is minimal. I wouldn't go 10.

I've always had 6" plates on all of my Stratos's (had 6). I ran better than guys with 8's. But, supposedly the 8" is the 'best' plate for these boats. I'm getting an 8" on my '08 boat so we'll see. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/wink.gif

I have a '06 200 PXL with the 225 HO Etec. I started with a 6" plate and changed to an 8" plate because I could not lift the boat the way I wanted too. I did not really get any speed gains from the 8" plate but I did see was some gains in load carrying capacity. I can lift my boat a little more with the 8" plate so when you get the boat heavy, mine seems to perform slighly better. If you carry a moderately heavy load, the 8" plate will help you some.

I think there is a hull warranty issue if you go over an 8" plate. Maybe someone else could elaborate on that. If there were not any warranty issues, I would try the 10" plate myself.

Stratos does not like the 10...

David

Anything over 8 inches and Stratos will void the hull warranty. That came straight from, I think his name was Robbie, at the Stratos plant when I was picking up my boat this spring for some warranty repairs. I mentioned swapping plates on mine and he said to just make sure I do not go over 8 inches.

I went from the 6" slidemaster to an 8" Bob's Hydraulic on my boat. I picked up about 1 mph on it. Handling is about the same. The biggest advantage I have seen is that if I want to just cruise along at a moderate speed, I can lower the motor all the way down and it lifts VERY well at low speeds and rpm's. You can also hit a magic spot on it where there is little to no steering torque at just about any speed range.

All in all, I like it, but no real significant performance gains. I have also been told by people that work for Stratos that anything over an 8" will void your warranty.