I ran into this situation last year while pulling younger kids on a tube. They don't want to go fast, at least not the first couple times out. In order to go slow enough for them I'm stuck going slower than the speed I need to be on plane and I'm plowing water. This not only pitches the nose of the boat up, bogs the motor down, but it also wastes gas.<br /><br />I have a 19 1/2' Cheetah fish and ski with a 1998 90hp Force setup with a 3 blade aluminum 13 1/4 x 17 pitch prop which I use for skiing and tubing. Even with the boat fully loaded I'm under propped but that helps out getting the skiers out of the water.<br /><br />The max RMP on the motor is 5250. I would guess the motor would easily turn 6000 with this prop. Since I have a lot of room to work with prop is there anything that can be done to keep the boat on plane at slower speeds or do I really need to look at going to a 4 or 5 blade prop? Or would something like smart tabs help? Also since I have a lot of RPMs to play with on the 17 pitch prop what can I do to give it more even bite when pulling a skier up? It would seem like changes needed for the two goals of slower plane and more bite would be similar.
