What to expect

[steve76]

 I got the boat out yesterday to get the motor broke in. I think I might be under propped. With 3 people, full gas tank, and a lot of rods and tackle I was hitting 6000 rpm and 31 mph. It was very slow to get on plane. Didn't plane out until around 4800 rpm and 22 mph. I am worried that when I run it with a lighter load I will max out rpm's and the motor will go into guardian mode. I have a 13 pitch 4 blade right now. What would I gain if anything by switching to a 14 pitch. It is a 60hp Mercury fourstroke.

[Princeton_Man]

Sounds like you're right Steve.

[Mike Cork]

Steve, before swapping props can you drop the motor some? Dropping the motor can drop your RPMs and greatly shorten your planing time.

It might have been set too high. I don't reckon you have a jack plate on your rig, so dropping the motor may require quit a bit of work. First I'd do a prop shaft measurement, to see how far below pad your prop shaft is. Should be at least 3 inches below the pad of your boat, possibly even 4 inches below.

Going up in pitch on your prop can be an option too. Hitting 4800 when trying to get on pad seems pretty high. So a larger prop will bite more getting the RPMs down and could provide a faster planing in doing so. However, typically slow planing is do to over pitch props or motor being to high.

[steve76]

 Thanks Mike, I think your right about the motor being mounted to high. It is in the top hole and if I give it very little trim I start blowing out.