Get the popcorn and a cold beer!
Bought this 2002 year model boat from a dealer. Who knows what the PO (old man...like me....I'm told) had for setup or what happened to the boat at the dealers from the time it was traded till I drove out with it but:
The boat is a 2002 Crestliner Fish Hawk 1750.
Engine 2002 Merc 115 2+2 2 stroke. Compression was 129 3 places and 131 on #4.....wink!
Prop was a Ballistic SS 22P
Engine height was 4th hole up off transom.
Farina tach inop.
First time out I punched it out of the no wake zone and it didn't get even want to try to get on plane....daaaaa somebody been messin with the recipe!
Fast forward,
New Farina tach. Setup at low speed on muffs and checked the Farina readout with a digital tach I use for machine work and it was real close.
Tossed the 22P and started with TPH 19 3 blade. Looked like I was overloading as rpms would barely hit the 4750 low end of the WOT number.
Overloading, ok bought a 3 blade 17. Performance didn't hardly change.....daaaa somebody been messin with the recipe. Now this was on the same rig that I bought with a 22P SS Ballistic. I have run the Ballistic 24P on my last boat so I know how that prop runs.
Checking things I find that the throttle advance set screw lock nut was loose and the throttle linkage stop screw had vibrated out of position such that the throttle linkage couldn't rotate far enough to fully engage the bottom two cylinders.
Whipped out the manual and got that fixed.
Thought I'd try the 4 bladeTPH 17P as I wanted to do a lot of mid range running....about 3k rpm, 25 mph give or take range. Ran up to test the WOT rpms and it hit the rev limiter......daaaaa that's more like it. Hole shot and acceleration were more than ample and did a great job of holding the 25ish range.
Finally put on the 19P TPH4 and that solved the over rev limiter but I had blow out problems when running at ¾ throttle to firewall if I did it fast. If I advanced slowly it'd take it and everything was where I wanted it.
So, yesterday I dropped it down to the first hole, clamp bracket on the transom and that's where it'll stay.