TR185 with Merc 200 EFI

[lilred]

Hello all! Im a newbie here searching for your input. I have an '03 TR185. It had a 150 XR6 that met its fate when the oil injection failed. She ran pretty good with the XR6, no jackplate and a Tempest Plus 23P. I could get to 60 (gps) at about 5800 rpm then she'd chine walk line crazy and eventually blow out the prop kicking the aft end of the boat to right and scare the poop out of me. Anyway, I located a wholesaler who did not have a replacement 150 but had a Merc 200 EFI. I don't fish tournaments out of this boat so I said what the heck. Also had a him ad a 6-inch JP for an additional 100 bucks. This motor, from what I've been told has the 2:1 gear ratio rather than the 1.87 or whatever on the XR6. My hope was to get close to 70 mph. Im still running the 23P and can reach 5800 rpm but only getting about 63 with the propshaft approximately 4-inches below the "pad" or v i this hulls case. I've only opened it up for short periods (10-15 secs.) due to having ran about a tank full with double oil. So, does it sound feasible to get 70 mph with this setup?

[Smallie_Stalker]

Hey lilred. Welcome to the Ultimate Bass Family! It's great to have you with us. This is a little out of my area of knowledge, but I am sure someone will jump in and help. It just gets a little slow around  here sometimes on  the weekends this time of year. 

In the meantime if you are interested in winning some free gear from some of the great sponsors we have here, we have a New Members Contest and Weekly contests so be sure and put your name in for them if you like.

If you need a hand with anything while you are getting familiar with the site just let me or any other staff member know.

Once again, Welcome aboard !!!

[Donald Garner]

lilred

Welcome to the UltimateBass Family we're glad you're here 

[lilred]

Thanks for the welcome! Glad to be here. I pretty much decided that the old Triton isn't a race boat anyway and very few fish can swim that fast, especially a big fat bass. Once again thanks for having me and we'll be talking.

[Mike Cork]

Going up 50 horsepower probably won't get you quite 10 mph in speed. However you should be able to do better than 3 mph.

One thing that concerns me about your set up right away is how low the prop shaft is. It's been a long time since I've played with a Triton but that seems really low. I'd look at raising it. Do it slowly so that you get a feel for the boat as you go, but normally they are much closer to 3 inches below pad.

Also a few seconds isn't going to get you top end. That hull needs some time to work. Bring it out slow and trim up easy and you can probably hit 65 now if you stay in it and have a light chop on the water.

[lilred]

Thanks Mike! I did toy with it a lil more this past weekend. I leveled the boat at the "pad", then leveled the motor at the cavitation plate with trim. Measured the center rear bottom, then center of propshaft to ground and got right at 3-inches. Installed a water pressure gauge and ran it. Best water pressure at WOT was 12 psi. I could only get 5600-5800 out of her. So I lowered approximately 3/8-inch. Much better water pressure and she would wind up easily past 6000. Got about 64 mph per GPS but didn't want to keep it wound up that high. Im gonna get the 25 Tempest and run again this weekend. BTW freaking water temp here on Toledo is 90 degrees at midday. I don't want to buy another powerhead...lol.

[Mike Cork]

I'm just north of you in Shreveport, water temps are crazy!

Keep an eye on that water pressure I think 12 is the minimum for that motor

Keep us posted on your progress.