Top Speed

[Shipfaced]

My wife and I are brand new pontoon owners and I'm starting to wonder if we need to try a different prop or something (I have no idea what we have, just what it came from the dealer with) we have a 22ft with a Suzuki 90 4 stroke and at WOT and messing with the trim we get 24mph if we are lucky on a glass smooth lake with no wind. 2 toons and under skinning. No strakes. Anyone have any thoughts?

Brand new boat...

[cwag911]

Without strakes you'll be hard pressed for more speed. What is the rpms at WOT?

[Shipfaced]

Without strakes you'll be hard pressed for more speed. What is the rpms at WOT?

The RPMs are right at the factory recommended 6300. We aren't disappointed with it necessarily just thought it would be more toward 30mph. This was entry level and we went with the pontoon over something fast because it fits our lifestyle.

[cwag911]

You might want to try to go up in pitch.

[rancherlee]

My wife and I are brand new pontoon owners and I'm starting to wonder if we need to try a different prop or something (I have no idea what we have, just what it came from the dealer with) we have a 22ft with a Suzuki 90 4 stroke and at WOT and messing with the trim we get 24mph if we are lucky on a glass smooth lake with no wind. 2 toons and under skinning. No strakes. Anyone have any thoughts?

Brand new boat...

More pitch or more Blade area. should see a bit better that 24mph with a light load light that, not much more though. Your current prop should be a great backup or watersports/heavy load prop. I've got a Mercury Spitfire 4 blade 13.8x11 on the way to try out on my toon, couldn't pass it up the deal I got on it. I'll be reporting on it in a few weeks on how it does compared to my stock OMC aluminum 14x11 , 14x13, and Turbo Pontoon Stainless 14x13. I really haven't seen much chat about the Spitfire prop but it looks like I nice aluminum 4 blade that should get TONS of grip on the water.

[curtiscapk]

wow your flying in my opinion...I can't hit 23 with a 115...

[wrd1972]

Ok here is some quick video of the weekend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJaqg9nh ... e=youtu.be

As I said earlier in this thread, I easily average 36MPH with 2 on board and here is the proof. I can hit 38MPH or 39MPH maybe 10 percent with smoother conditions but I can easily bank on 36MPH -37MPH average even in choppy water. This is very typical of the Sun tracker 21' boats with the NV logs and a Merc 90 four stroke. Again its my findings that the best overall prop for my boat is a 13.25" 16P three blade Merc prop. This is at 6K RPM too.


Wedge, I clearly stated that with a "nice tailwind, I once hit 42MPH". That's only 6MPH above my overall average and any boat would be capable of doing that under those conditions. Believe it.

[Drago]

I've heard nothing but GOOD about that NV package but I'm just not going to trade my F225 for a 90! With a big crowd of folks and lots of loaded coolers, I rarely make it to 39mph. Another thing I will keep is the nearly 35 sq' of extra living space. I'll bet that is mind numbing going that fast in a short boat. I'll bet it has great hole shot also??

[wrd1972]

I'll bet that is mind numbing going that fast in a short boat. I'll bet it has great hole shot also??

Yeah its a lot of fun. I routinely get asked how the boat runs so quick and people swear its not really a 90Merc on the back. The looks I get from folks on all types of boats is priceless when the first 6 feet of the boat are completely out of the water. They just stare and stare.

Since I now have determined the optimum aluminum prop size, I am going to experiment with a stainless prop and see if I can squeeze some more speed out. If I can just improve performance with a more loaded boat, I would be happy with that. Maybe down the road try to find a 150Merc and strap that on the back. Cant see the ROI for a 115Merc.

The hole shot is pretty good too. I can easily get a skier up and it can pull my fat ass on a tube well over 30MPH too. Its easy to throw the rider in and out of the wake just like having a run-about, just cant snap them like a run-about. Its up on plane in about 6 seconds and then it feels like a turbo kicks in cause it starts accelerating even faster.

[Bryden24shp]

The video is great! Looks like you were havin some fun, there!!!
Love it!!!

[curtiscapk]

damn! 37 with the top down!

[wrd1972]

damn! 37 with the top down!

Negative. Top was completely up and open. But I did have the ladder dragging out in the water.

I have found that the boat is faster by 2-3MPH with the top up and open, strange enough. It provides lift which lightens the boat I would assume. I have additional buckles and cables in place to ensure the top frame does not go kaboom like it did years ago at top speed.

[Bryden24shp]

damn! 37 with the top down!

Negative. Top was completely up and open. But I did have the ladder dragging out in the water.

I have found that the boat is faster by 2-3MPH with the top up and open, strange enough. It provides lift which lightens the boat I would assume. I have additional buckles and cables in place to ensure the top frame does not go kaboom like it did years ago at top speed.

Yep, it does! Faster boats have tops on, faster women have them off! Go figure...

[curtiscapk]

damn! 37 with the top down!

Negative. Top was completely up and open. But I did have the ladder dragging out in the water.

I have found that the boat is faster by 2-3MPH with the top up and open, strange enough. It provides lift which lightens the boat I would assume. I have additional buckles and cables in place to ensure the top frame does not go kaboom like it did years ago at top speed.

actually I meant open... technically wouldn't it be down if open?????? and up if closed????