Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Recently purchased a 25ft 3/4 tritoon from Berkshire with a Yamaha F200LB on back. The boat is propped with a Powertech WBB3R13PCL200.

I don't pretend to know much at all about outboards and proper props. We've had the boat out once since purchase and hit 34 MPH on the GPS. This is without messing with the trim though.

Any idea if this is the proper prop size for my setup?

Also any idea what I should be able to see top speed once trimmed out?

And, at what point have I trimmed to much?

Last, what is a good cruising speed (or RPM ?) to be able to get around at a decent pace but not burn tons of fuel?

Thanks for the info! Still new to the whole outboard world.

Robert,

We also have a 233 Berkshire Tri toon with full center toon and lifting strakes. We also have the same engine you do. Ours is also new like yours. We now have about 8 hours on the meter.

I'm getting 42 to 44 mph GPS with 2 people, 3/4 tank of fuel. Our prop is the Yamaha Reliance SS 14.5 X 15. I'm not sure what the number you referenced is. By using the trim it varies the speed by about 2 mph. With the size and pitch prop we have, I am able to get 5700 RPM. These are supposed to be able to get 5000 to 6000 rpm at WOT.

I like cruising at 3000 rpm which on our boat is about 18 mph. Nice, comfortable speed and VERY easy on the fuel.

Hope this helps.

Richard

I've actually got the 253RFX so just a little bit longer and heavier. Looking up the specs on the prop it's 15.5" diameter and I assume 13 deg pitch.

It's interesting your getting so much more speed. We will be taking the boat out this weekend so will do some more thorough testing.

You bought a very nice, well rounded package. The F200 is about a good an engine as there is for a tritoon.

After you get a few hours on your motor, it'll be time to throw the throttle to it. Get up to 4000 rpm's and hit the up button on the power trim--and you'll see the nose of your boat lift. The speed and efficiency comes from getting the nosecones out of the water. You can feel some prop ventilation when the engine's raised too high. Just drop the engine slightly.

With a couple of people and 1/2 tank of fuel, you should be seeing 6000 rpm's if properly setup--no more and little less.

I cannot tell what your propeller is, but it may be a 13 pitch prop. If it easily over-revs and hits the rev limiter at 6300 rpm's, ask your dealer to replace it with a Yamaha Reliance 15 pitch prop. Then see what rpm's you're going to get--fully trimmed out. I would expect you're going to be in the 42-44 mph range properly setup.

My dealer setup my engine 1 notch or 3/4" above the lowest point on the engine pod, and it's perfect. Different brands might be setup differently however.

For best cruising speeds, most would be running 3000 rpm's with the engine trimmed up just enough to get the nosecones out of the water. It's going to be very quiet and efficient at that speed. We've done some long distance river cruising, and it's a very pleasurable ride.

Ok thanks for the info. Didn't realize I should be trimming it at cruise speed as well. I will try 3000 rpms for cruise.

Will report back on the top speed results.

One thing I was surprised about on our check out ride with the dealer was they immediately opened it up. Top speed about 2 minutes after being in the water for the first time. He said it was no problem. Isn't there any type of break in procedure?

Also do you guys normally let the motor warm up for a bit before opening up?

You know I'm asking things that are most likely in the literature that came with the motor. I will pull it all out tonight and read.

They are test ran from idle to WOT at the factory on a prop dyno to make sure each engine is healthy and making proper horsepower before being sold. One reason why Evinrude advertises "No Break in needed". The piston rings are already set. Run it like ya stole it!
Note your RPM's, load and speed at mid-range and WOT and where the cav plate is riding in the water, we can work some numbers for propping.

Yamaha does have a break in procedure...... since I have the same engine as you, here's what they say:

First Hour: Operate engine at varying speeds up to 2000 rpm or approx 1/2 throttle.

Second Hour: Increase the engine speed until the boat is on a plane ( but avoid full throttle operation) and then back off on the throttle while keeping the boat at a planing speed.

Next 8 hours: Run the engine at any speed however avoid operating at full throttle for more than 5 minutes at a time.

Those were all direct quotes from Yamaha's free APP on my iPhone which is personalized to my engine and boat.

Now, just as I wondered, so how does the dealer (or me) feel about running it brand spanking new at full throttle to see that it is set up properly reaching the max 5000 to 6000 RPM for prop selection ?????

I figured that it's OK as they do it on each new engine to get the correct prop. I have also run it at full throttle several times for less than a minute to see what it will do MAX speed, and RPM. In the meanwhile, I am varying the speed constantly. I'm now at about 8 hours on the meter, if I remember correctly. First service is at 20 hours......

If I had to guess, when propped correctly I would expect around 40mph top speed. My boat seems to go 43-44mph at 5900rpms but ive got a full center tube.

I would be upset with any dealer that didn't fully warm a zero hour engine and threw the throttle to it. I'd also be upset if they didn't fully warn me about the specific engine's very important break in procedure.

Four stroke motors run very cool, and they often have difficulties breaking in the piston rings. If the rings are not seated properly, they'll be what they call "making oil." That means your oil level will increase as gas seeps past the unseated piston rings into the dry sump. The F150-F200's are not bad about making oil, but the larger Yamaha SHO's are notorious for having such problems.

Until you get your motor properly broken in, I would suggest you start out with the cool engine oil level in the middle of the "range" on the dipstick. And check your oil level every time you go out on the lake. The chances are that you'll be all right on your break in.

FYI: The factory method for SHO's making oil is to bring them into the dealership and change the oil and filter. Then go to the lake, warm up the engine at an idle and go out to run the tee total piss out of the motor. That can be a pretty wild ride at 75 mph on many bass boats. After about 20 hours, they may quit making oil. The later model SHO's have performed well, but it was a rough first 18 months for owners when SHO's came out 3 years ago. The trick is to be aware of the 4 stroke quirk, and keep your eye out on your motor.

Howdy- we have a 22 ft Manitou Tritoon with a Yamaha 150 4-stroke @ 5700 rpm's with our Yamaha Reliance 14.5 X 15 stainless prop at WOT speed is 37-39mph with 2 people and 1/2 tank of gas, with motor trimmed up some.

Read through the Yamaha break-in procedure last night. Everything stated here is spot on. I'm not too worried about the single top RPM event. Agreed the dealer probably shouldn’t have done it but they are the largest volume Forest River Marine dealer in the country so they have a pretty good take on things. I do plan on following the standard break-in procedure from here on out.

What I am more curious about than anything is the prop I have on back. Doesn’t seem like anyone on here has the same one. Researching it appears to be 15.5” x 13 deg. Any thoughts on this size?

Here’s a link to the manuf page:

http://www.ptprop.com/index.php?page=sh ... 6&vmcchk=1

I also emailed the prop manuf to ask what he thinks of that unit with my setup. No word back yet.

Thanks

Its hard to guess on a prop without knowing the specifics. You should wait until its broken in. We need to look at where the motor is running in the water, loading and WOT RPM's. What works on an identical boat with the identical motor may not work on yours, passenger weight and personal items vary. I have 4 different props, one for different uses. If its just me going out on a fun run, I use a 21 pitch Mirage Plus, Denise and I and a few friends, I'll toss on my 19 M/P. If we have the whole family, I'll put on my 18 Enertia. If the kids want to water ski or tube, I stick on my 18 4 blade Revolution. All give me great results for each purpose. Sounds like I have a ton of $ in props. Not really, I buy them off Ebay. I probably have $800 invested in all of those. Plus I still have a few left over from my Manitou's 250 Etec. I saved for bartering tools.
Get yours broken in, then we can get it dialed in.

Bryden24shp wrote:Its hard to guess on a prop without knowing the specifics. You should wait until its broken in. We need to look at where the motor is running in the water, loading and WOT RPM's. What works on an identical boat with the identical motor may not work on yours, passenger weight and personal items vary. I have 4 different props, one for different uses. If its just me going out on a fun run, I use a 21 pitch Mirage Plus, Denise and I and a few friends, I'll toss on my 19 M/P. If we have the whole family, I'll put on my 18 Enertia. If the kids want to water ski or tube, I stick on my 18 4 blade Revolution. All give me great results for each purpose. Sounds like I have a ton of $ in props. Not really, I buy them off Ebay. I probably have $800 invested in all of those. Plus I still have a few left over from my Manitou's 250 Etec. I saved for bartering tools.
Get yours broken in, then we can get it dialed in.

Curious, do you see much difference in top end between the 21 pitch and the 19 pitch? I'm contemplating buying a 14.25 X 17" Reliance SS to go with my 14.5 X 15" Reliance SS. Right now I'm getting 5700 rpm and 42 to 44 mph..... thought I might be able to get some more top end !!!

Not really, I look at the RPM difference. Running the 19 by myself, I'm banging the rev limiters at 6500. The 21 runs about 6200. If I run the 21 with Denise and some friends and coolers, I'll be down to 5700. So the 19 works great for us for booze cruising.
My notes are in the boat, I think the 21 pushed me around 52 and the 19 was about the same at WOT.

We puttered around at different RPMs for about an hr until the meter hit 2.1 hrs.

At 3000 RPMS I’m at 15-16 mph on GPS. Trim didn’t seem to have any effect at this speed.

At 5700 RPMS (topped out) the boat made 36 mph on GPS. Trim didn’t have a lot of effect, maybe 2 MPH.

The max RPMs and limited trim speed increase seems in line with Strake’s results. The top speed is just lacking.

This is with with 320 lbs of people and 25 gallons fuel on board.

I feel like I should be able to see 40 mph, so a bit dissapointed. Also, are most of you cruising at 15 mph? Coming from a jet boat this feels like crawling.

I’m in touch with the prop manuf and will give him these results as well.

Thoughts/ideas? I guess I should preface all this with the fact that we will be usually taking 4-8 people out on the boat. Will pull a big tube as well.

Thanks again for the help!