200 HP Mariner

Bob La Londe

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jan 26, 2004
Messages
196
I have a 200HP 1994 Mariner on my 20' Baker Tunnel Hull. I have tried to find somebody who worked for Baker to tell me what speed should be able to get out of it, but I haven't found anybody.<br /><br />Anyway, I am sure I got more speed out of it when I first got it, but somewhere along the way it faded. According to my GPS I get 59-61 MPH at WOT with a 14 1/4 X 23 stainless prop. I am sure it was much faster when I first got the boat, but I didn't have a GPS then. <br /><br />It is a little hard starting on cold mornings, or when I haven't run it for a couple weeks. Yes I am pumping up the bulb fully, and its a new bulb. It has about 125 on all six cylinders, and after it warms up it seems to run fine and start easy all day. <br /><br />It has almost imperceptible miss at high speeds though. I took it to a local shop that boast an MMI certified Mercury mechanic. He claims my motor is running perfectly. He claims he had diagnostics hooked to the motor while he took it out to the lake and test ran it. He claimed the "miss" I felt at high speed was due to prop slip, but I have experienced it with three different props. <br /><br />My gut reaction is that it isn't getting enough fuel at WOT. Between the hard start (for an FI motor) and the minor miss at high speed my first thought is that it has an injectory problem. Either they aren't working properly or they are dirty. When I talked to my local guy I specifically asked about this, but he made excuses about it being a pain to get to the injectors to check them. That just didn't seem right to me. <br /><br />Any suggestions?
 

Kenny Bush

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Mar 24, 2002
Messages
564
Re: 200 HP Mariner

What kind of max RPM's are you getting? How much does your boat weigh? Do you have a Jack plate?
 

Bob La Londe

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jan 26, 2004
Messages
196
Re: 200 HP Mariner

A little over 5200, do not know (thats why I have been trying to find somebody from Baker), and yes. I get my top speed by trimming the motor up, raising the jack until the prop starts to blow out, and then trimming the motor down slightly.
 

Kenny Bush

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Mar 24, 2002
Messages
564
Re: 200 HP Mariner

You should be pulling more RPM's than that.... I would say you need to be at 5500 WOT. I have chased a few of those high RPM misses, and they are tough. Sometimes a coil, sometimes stator voltage, sometimes other things. That Merc Tech should have checked all that. I have seen other bass boats run about 65+ with 200's. It is probably going to be a lot of work to get a few hundred more R's.
 
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