Prop for Merc 90

[cojab]

Hey everyone,
I'm looking for some advice on a prop.
My boat is a 98 Bass Tracker PT185. This boat came from Kansas/Missouri area and was jetted for that elevation. It came here to Colorado and sat for about 6 years. I bought it from the original owner and had to take it in and get the carbs rebuilt. The shop was thinking about jetting for the higher altitude but we decided that most of my fishing would be done no higher than I am now and when I travelled it would be to lower elevations so we left it where it was.
The current prop is stainless, I believe 22 pitch 3 blade. My first time out on the lake I was surprised how long it took to get on plane, how slow it was out of the hole, and I felt the top speed was a little slow. I figured this boat should pretty easily do 35-38. My speedo isn't working yet and I have no electronics but comparing to my other boat I felt like it MIGHT be doing 30. I did have three people in the boat and full fuel but a light tackle load.
Does anyone have some prop selection advice or do you think the jetting could be hindering me?
Thanks for any help.

[cojab]

Thoughts anybody??

[Mike Cork]

Do you know what kind of RPMs you were getting?

You're obviously aware of the altitude issue, summer weather is another on warm humid days it's hard on performance.

I was originally thinking a 19-21 pitch prop. So you might be a little over propped and with the other two conditions, it will be sluggish out of the hole. Top speed is really hard to judge. If the boat is bigger than your previous boats then the same speeds will seem slower.

[Bigwrench]

You could also use mercurys prop selector tool and get an idea.  Just going by what you have posted so far and not having all the info,  here is what I came up with at Lake Casitas altitude. You can probably fill in more info than I have,  as Mike said they like to know the rpm and weight/loaded etc. I used just the boat length option.... 
https://www.mercurymarine.com/en/us/propellers/selector/#/step-one
Hope this helps

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[cojab]

Thanks for the replies Mike and Bigwrench,
So double checking the prop, it is a laser 2, 22 pitch 3 blade. I have only been out one time where I could run the gas engine. It seems to me that the max rpm I got out of it was around 5400. Later in the day I made a mental note to look at the rpm's and it seems it was only around 4700. That could have just been from playing around with the trim on it. I am definitly not used to an outboard with trim controls. My other boats have been jets and inboard ski boats. I just learned the other day that I need to start out with the trim all the way down and then adjust it up from there while running.
I am about ready to buy a gps sonar unit for the console. This will give me a better idea of the speed I'm getting. After I do that and get it on another lake where I can run the outboard I will post back my results.

Just for reference, the elevation it was jetted to was about 850' The elevation at the lake I was at is around 4500. (I just looked that up. To be honest I didnt realize there was that big of a difference in the elevation) I think this could be hurting the performance significantly. I might need to reevaluate the jetting on this.

[Mike Cork]

On the jetting, you'll have to set it where you fish the most and expect the other. Keeping in mind that running an outboard "lean" is hard on it. So I'd set up for lower elevations to be on the safe side.

Keep us posted when you get some good numbers