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Post by Fritz on May 29, 2023 20:44:15 GMT -5
Finally got the boat in the water in Hatteras. Got delayed at the start of trip as the wife and I both got the RSV virus. Nasty little bugger. About a week of feeling crappy(fever, congestion, cough etc.) then 2 1/2 weeks of feeling tired and that stupid cough. Last week and half of weather has been brutal. Anyway ,we are here and have another 10 to 12 days to play around. Back to the props, I went with 14 1/4 x 17 4 blade Solas with the rubex hubs. 1st thing i noticed was no prop chatter (yea }. The second thing was the in tight handling around the dock. As I mentioned before, I have ran this hull for over 15 years. I know how it handles and what to expect. It was just so responsive, it was a joy backing her in the slip. Wife looked at me with a smile with the boat hook in her hand and said "why did you tell me to grab this" lol. Running wise, found a nice cruise at 3800 burning 12.3 gal/hr. Speedometer was showing 31 mph. I opened it up a little, Running into a 1 1/2 ft chop with little white caps. Was running with a full tank of fuel and all my gear, only missing was 100 lbs of ice. Was able to get 5500 rpm and showed 49 mph on the speedo. I will check the GPS speed number some more this week. I really liked the extra stern lift, pushed the nose down a bit and hardly was using any tab. I am looking forward to an offshore trip and putting her thru the paces on a long run. Really impressed with F200's so far. Having ran F150's for 15 years , I'm liking this set up on the 200's and the 4 blades. Will update if we can get an offshore trip in. But as always, its Hatteras, you never know what your gonna get weatherwise.
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jerryk
Captain
When not online I'm likely on Knot Online
Posts: 597
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Post by jerryk on May 29, 2023 20:59:31 GMT -5
Glad you are feeling better and trying the 4 blade. Sounds similar to my experience on a Carver 28 Express cuiser with a single 7.4 litres mercruiser I/O Bravo II... the stern lift and slow handling improvements were noticeable and while I lost a little bit of top end speed at WOT I seldom ran there and the stern lift helped me stay on plane at slower speeds. For the waves of Lake Michigan it helped my cruising a lot.
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Post by fishnfool on May 29, 2023 21:12:42 GMT -5
Thanks for the update Fritz. Sounds like a winner. As said, I really liked this prop on my F150 on my 218, lots of stern lift.
Even sounds like you got raise the engined a hole or two and get even better performance.
Let us know how it looks after some more testing on the gps.
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Post by Fritz on Jun 20, 2023 20:00:06 GMT -5
The weather settled down and we got to take her offshore for 3 days in a row. The fuel economy has been outstanding. I am using 12 to 15 gallons less on the same runs I did with my old 2660 with twin 150's. I am really digging the 4 blade set up, again great stern lift and nice mid range cruise. Opened it up a bit and was able to get her to turn 5800 rpm and running 53 mph (GPS and Speedo where both showing almost same #s) Had a good dolphin bite, with some really nice gaffers. Hooked a wahoo each day but getting them to the boat was a challenge ( 0 for 3 ). Some really nice blackfins and rose a sailfish that we hooked and jumped off. We have some deeper bottom spots we like to fish for big triggers. We can get numbers in shallower, but we catch some slobs out deeper. The pic of the one on the 5 gallon bucket lid was caught in 235'. Did a quick chunk ,dunk & chum trip in the sound for cobia for a few hours on our last day before we pulled the boat. Was able to pull this nice 35 lb to finish out the trip. Decided to head back for 2 more weeks towards the end of July.
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jerryk
Captain
When not online I'm likely on Knot Online
Posts: 597
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Post by jerryk on Jun 20, 2023 20:24:15 GMT -5
Great looking fish and glad you are liking the 4 blade set up. At $4-5/gallon your payback is real!
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Post by Fritz on Jun 20, 2023 20:44:29 GMT -5
I hear ya! Our marina was at $5.19 a gallon when we left, I'll take it for sure, who can't use an extra $60 to $75 in their pocket.
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Post by fishnfool on Jun 20, 2023 21:11:00 GMT -5
That's a slob of a trigger!
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Post by Fritz on Jun 20, 2023 21:55:07 GMT -5
Thanks, lots of fun & great eats. Always get those big ones out deeper. We had 7 that size that day and a couple not far off of those. Most guys fish them in 100' or so. If you can find some structure, hard bottom, ledges etc in deeper water, there will usually be some bucket lid size fish swimming around for sure.
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Post by fishnfool on Jun 21, 2023 8:34:59 GMT -5
Hey Fritz, how does the torque compare on hole shot between the F200s and F150s?
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Post by Fritz on Jun 21, 2023 9:23:45 GMT -5
Its really fantastic. She pops right up. Honestly, I wasn't really expecting that much of a difference from the 150's vs the 200's. My old 2660 WAC was around 500 lbs heavier than my 270 cc. I knew the old 150's where getting around 163 hp or so at the prop, so in my head I was thinking I was only gaining another 75 hp which should be no big seal. That turned out to be very wrong, The way the boat handles and fuel economy blow the old set up away. The Yamaha performance bulletin shows the boat getting on plane with the 3 blade reliance at 4.8 seconds. I will check that in few weeks when we head back down. I know its under that, curious to see by how much
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Post by abouttime2fish on Jun 21, 2023 21:19:21 GMT -5
Currently running 20 pitch, I think they are 14.25, but maybe 14.5 inch, 3 bladed props. I’ve always wanted to try some 4 bladed props, 14.25” and 17 pitch I think would work great on my 2360 with twin 150’s. I tend to run heavy. 5400 rpm at wot is common. 5600 rpm a bit lighter, flat water, trimmed chine walk high. So I think the 17 pitch would give me a couple hundred more rpm at top end. Stern lift and mid range economy are where it’s at for me.
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Post by Fritz on Jun 21, 2023 22:13:43 GMT -5
I can say I am very very happy. Shopped around for the props and hub kits. I think I was right around $750 all in. In tight handling in the marina and backing into the slip have greatly improved as well. So glad I did it!
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Post by abouttime2fish on Jun 22, 2023 7:29:54 GMT -5
I can say I am very very happy. Shopped around for the props and hub kits. I think I was right around $750 all in. In tight handling in the marina and backing into the slip have greatly improved as well. So glad I did it! Where did you purchase from if you don’t mind me asking?
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Post by fishnfool on Jun 22, 2023 7:47:42 GMT -5
What model Rubex did you go with?
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Post by abouttime2fish on Jun 22, 2023 9:19:13 GMT -5
Been playing with this…. www.solaspropellers.com/index.php/boat/prop-finderFor my 2360 w/twin 150 I’ve been selecting 24’ boat and adjusting weights from 3500 lbs to 5500 lbs. the only rubex it recommends is the HR4. The 17 pitch seems to be the answer more often than not in those parameters. The rule of thumb (so I’ve heard) when going 3 to 4 blades is to reduce pitch by 2”. My rpm have always been on the low side so I agree with their modeling to reduce by 3”. Now if I can convince the Admiral….
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