have to questions new to boats.

[k.mine]

To start out the boat is a 1988 373v BMC Ranger. Boat is 17' 10" with a 1988 Yamaha ProV150. Boat is clean needs carpet and currently working on the finish hand polishing and waxing. its work but seem to be working well.

question 1. for running the motor out of water got the water muffs but how long can the motor be run with them? have got alot of diffent anwsers.

question 2. found crack in the prop and cant seem to figure which is better the current prop has 25-M stamped on it which i believe is 25 pitch. but have read 14.5, 14, and 14.25 which is the best?

any help would be great. thanks

[Donald Garner]

I have a 2004 Yamaha VMax 150 and the service techs told me its wasn't good to run the motor for a long period of time using the water muffs.  The question is "What is a long time"?

As far as which prop, have you had the boat in the water yet?  Do you want a "Hole Shot" or you in for "Speed".  I have a 23in 3 bladed SS on mine and I got a great hole shot and it runs plenty fast enough for me.

I have mine sitting on a 2004 Stratos 285 Pro XL.

[k.mine]

Yes it is a good question what is long? i have it ran well it being older its cold very cold starter but once warmed up ran well. take a while to plane and speed seem good. but not fishing turns just enjoy going out fishing.

[Mike Cork]

Any routine maintance should be fine on the muffs. Things like decarboning takes time. The instructions say to run it ten minutes let sit and run ten more minutes. I would say that ten minutes or so at a time wouldn't hurt anything.

Now I'm not a boat mechanic, but if you have muffs on and a good stream (indicating good flow) why couldn't you run it as long as you would in a lake? The muff are all about the cooling of the motor and if you have a stream then the waters working. Makes no sense to this uneducated outboard mechanic why this would be an issue.

As far as prop, 25 pitch might be a little steap for a 150. I will be hard to determine the best without some RPM numbers and MPH numbers to tell you where to go next. If you're happy with it's performance I'd stick with it. Well after getting the crack fixed, or if two big then replace it.

[k.mine]

Mike the only reason i was asking about the prop was the tips are pretty ate up and on of the blades is cracked in the middle. think its not worth the time to have fixed. i mean the crack. and as far as the RPM'S only got to launched the boat once.here is what happen, i got it and called the department of wild life office to see what they would need they said Bill of sales, Boat Title and Registration paperwork and that was it to include fees but got the paperwork back a month later. called they said i needed a tax slip and sent all the paper work back but the bill of sales called and they now say i must have not sent it which is upsetting to make it worse the guy i bought it from moved to from TX to Maryland what a headache. so just been taken care of the all the hand polishing and waxing. but did get in contact with the guy and we're get everything done all over via email and faxes. but would rather be done and out fishing.