Parker Yahoo Group Archived Messages
ID | From | Subject | Date | |
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312 | megabyte2520 | Planing speed and more... | 2/14/2005 11:19:00 | |
OK... It's time for me to quit lurking on this list and try to contribute. :) I have a 1996 Parker 2520 MVSC with a 1997 Yamaha 225 SWS that I bought from the original owner in November of 2003. One item that needed to be addressed before I splashed her in the spring were the trim tabs. The boat was wearing a set of 12x12 Boat Levelers, and had a leaking HPU. The bilge was a mess, and the performance of those tabs were seriously lacking. After talking to Tom McGow of Bennett and Reel-Rascals on THT, I decided to replace the leaking BL's with a set of 24x9 Bennetts and boy did that make a huge difference! Its not unusual in the steep Chesapeake chop to have to slow down to keep from pounding, and with these big flippers I can stay on plane as slow as 9 knots. And... I do not pound! Having corrected that problem, I have been considering a 4-blade prop to give me quicker time to plane, as well as better bite in the mid- range. Here is why... I noticed last season that when running the channels at the river mouths that she would get squirrely with a following sea, and when I had a full load of fuel and fishing gear, the 225 would 'boil water' getting her up to planing speed. There just didn't seem to be the 'bite' that I thought there should be in the prop. The lighter the boat was, the easier to plane, but I always felt something was lacking. Performance wasn't terrible... Normal cruise for me is 20 to 23 kts running 4000 to 4300 rpm. My top speed seen last season was 33 kts @5300 rpm on flat water and lightly loaded. I don't like to push this motor past 4800 normally because frankly, I don't know how well the motor was treated before me, and I don't want an "uh-oh" to force an expensive repower. This past weekend I pulled the prop that came on the boat to check the size, so I could select an appropriate 4-blade prop with which to begin performance testing. I had expected to find that it was in the 15 x 17 size range, but imagine my suprise when it turned out to be a 13 3/4 x 17. I think I know now why she was boiling water! I have a thread going on THT regarding the subject of 4-blade props, and have gotten some good feedback. If there is anyone here on this list who has successfully selected a 4-blade SS prop for their 2520 MVSC, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks! Kevin |