1985 Baja 220 Sport Prop Selection Help

[fastback180]

I have a 1985 Baja 220 Sport and I am trying to get it dialed in. Its 22ft closed bow Its got a 1984 Mariner 200HP V6 outboard with a set back plate. The previous owner could only "tell" me what was done to the engine but said that it has a 225 hp power head and an opened up exhaust. (it is pretty loud even at idle). It runs fantastic. I picked up a shop manual for it and it says operating range at WOT is between 5200-5800. it currently 14 1/4 diameter 19 pitch prop on it. It also looks like the previous owner took a grinder to the stainless steel prop to try and make it look better but I feel its hurting the performance significantly from the research I have done. I'm a noob when it comes to the technicalities of all this and don't want to spend money aimlessly when it comes to a nice prop.

Anyways, it jumps out of the water pretty quick and im at 5800-5900rpm's pretty quick as well and GPS's @ 55MPH.

I do not do any type of towing with it and would like to get it going as fast as possible for the river runs. I am willing to sacrifice take off in favor for top speed. Four blade 23p? three blade 23p? Anyone with a similar boat set up?

 

[steelespike]

Using 1.87 ratio 55 at 5900 rpm nets only 3% slip highly unlikely. Wondering if it might be current or wind aided?
It is possible the tach isn't accurate,reading low?I think a 21" is a better bet . At 55mph don't expect much by a prop change.

 

[fastback180]

Nope, it does 55mph all the time. Ive clocked it 3 or 4 times with different weight and trim positions. 53-55mph. I'm pretty sure my tach is correct but it is possible it is incorrect. If it is incorrect, it can't be by much. I got a free 25p aluminum prop from my neighbor and threw it on and it was an epic fail yesterday! wouldn't even plane out and when it did plane out (making my girlfriend sit along with the cooler in the front of the boat in the crawl space lol) it planed out and wouldnt get past 4800 and maybe 35-40mph. immediately swapped the 19p back on. I just wanted to see how the boat would react to it mainly knowing it wasn't going work properly but hey, it was free!

What about going to a 4 blade stainless 19p?