1900 Tracker Targa 200 Merc. EFI Proping

[wildgerman]

Tracker Targa 1900 with a 200 Mercury EFI @ 23 pitch Trophy turning only 5000 rpm, should I drop my pitch to a 21 or go to a high five or tempest prop?

[guess]

You might have your motor too low. It should turn a 23 tempest, trophy, mirage, or high five in the mid 5's

[Lance]

While most guys are turning 23 pitch props, I have a Fisher Fx which is the same hull and I had to drop down to a 21 pitch tempest in or der to get in the 5400 to 5500 rpm range and have talked to a few others who had to do the same. While yours may indeed be due to motor height, it may also be that you just have a hull that isn't letting the motor turn as many rpms. My motor is in the middle whole on the bracket for reference.

[PJM]

Lance

I agree that a 21p Tempest might be the way to go. In looking at the specs on this boat weight is 1500lb dry so to get you rpm up dropping down sounds right. Someone posted that you should be able to run a 23 Mirage or Tempest and I think with the large diameter and the higher pitch, the boat will have a poor hole shot and struggle to get the rpms near 5500 if the boat was loaded.........

[walleyefisher]

I have the same boat exactly. It came with a 21 pitch stainless tempest. I turned the max by merc 5800 rpms. I talked to Scott Fairbairn at a sport show (great individual), and he runs the fisher fx 18 dv which is the same boat and he suggested running the merc high five 23 pitch prop. He had an extra one and I bought it from him and I am not disapointed at all. I have a excellent hole shot and going from the 21p three blade to the 23p high five, my top end is basically the same. The other thing he suggested was setting your motor on the transom on the third hole from the top. Mine came using the second and I moved it to the third. This might have helped with the top end also. This isn't hard if you have a couple of strong buddies. This is where Scott runs his boat. Hope this helps.

[caseyd]

23 high five- motor mounted on middle hole is what four or five guys here in ND run and it seems to be better thatn what they all had before from the reports they give you get a better hole shot and keep about the same top speed.
CaseyD #793

[Husky]

I have a FX18DV and the 23 High Five runs at about the same rpm as a 21 Tempest. I have run both props, this is based on actual experience. As far as hole shot and rough water handling, I found the 21 Tempest to perform as well as a 23 High Five. Since the High Five has virtually no reverse thrust, I went with the Tempest.

[Shawn ND]

What speed(GPS) are you guys getting. I have a FX18DV with 200 Opti. the best I have ever seen is 55.7. I have tried both a 23P high-five and a 21P Lazer, with both having about the same top-end. I am not happy with the high-five as the boat seems to porpose with it. Will a Tempest increase top-end and take care of the porpose issue.

[Heiz]

Shawn,
I've ran two different 1900's. A 2000 with a Trophy 4 blade and a 2001 with a High Five.

The motor in 2000 was mounted all the way up and I would get about 57.5GPS. The boat would porpoise quite frequently.

The 2001 is mounted in the middle hole and I get between 58-59GPS, highest I ever seen was 60.1. The boat has a fantastice hole shot and no worries of porpoising.

I do have a question for the guys running 21 Tempest's though. Why would you not be able to run a 23pitch prop? I understand you'd lose some hole shot, but it should be quite a bit faster.

[PJM]

Heiz


Larger diameter prop will have more blade surface and also more bite. With the rake and cupping which will give you more lift and that is what a Tempest will give you. The motor does not have enough torque to push a 23p prop efficiently. One thing people talk about on this site is top end but what kind of performance do you have a 3000 to 4000rpm. A smaller diameter prop will take more rpm to get your boat to plane and myself I don't run my boat wide open all the time because it's a waste of gas.

[Husky]

Shawn,

I have a FX18DV with a 150 EFI on it. With a 21 Tempest, I am hitting 52.8-53.5 mi/hr on GPS. 23 Pitch High Five will get me around 52 mi/hr. I've tried an old 21 Laser II of mine, and it ran 52 mi/hr but had very poor low end response and lost bite in turns and on trimming (compared to either High Five or tempest) The Laser does not give enough bow lift to do justice to that hull.
When I had the motor mounted in the middle holes, it would porpoise quite easily. Lowering the motor one additional hole solved the porpoising problem, although many suggest a hydrofoil to accomplish the same thing.
Try moving some weight foreward if possible. Since the porpoising is basically the hull repeatedly trying to climb on the pad and falling off, the additional weight up front may lessen the amount of porpoising. Consider a hydrofoil or lowering your motor one hole.
I would think with the 200 you should be in the upper 50's with ease.

[robbie]

try a 21pitch high five @ if it over revs have some cup added to it It works well

[Lance]

While most motors can be run anywhere in their recommended rpm range, it is a good idea to try to be at least in the middle for overall performance from the motor, durability, and longevity. If you run the motor too low on rpms, you will be bogging it down and shorten the life of the motor. With the Optimax, especially mine lol, its even more important because they tend to be prone to fouling plugs anyway. As far as speed goes, I average around 55.7 to 56 with a full load of gas, two people,and full load of gear. As the boat lightens up i can get up to 58 with two people and gear. The fastest I've gone is 60.1 and that was almost out of gas with livewells empty, and only me in the boat. I am running a 21 pitch Tempest on a 200 opti with my motor in the middle hole. I have no doubt that the guys that are able to turn a 23 pitch Tempest are going faster than this; however, my particular hull doesn't produce enough rpms to do so. I also ran a 23 pitch high five and my speeds were slightly less than with the 21 Tempest. I was very surprised at how well the Tempest performed as far as holeshot, low end planing, bow lift, and weight carrying and after two years of running the Tempest I have yet to find a drawback. It also is much more manuverable in reverse than the high five. Hope this helps!

[PJM]

Lance

Your post is very well written and it looks like the 21p Tempest is a good over all prop for that boat.

[Lance]

Thanks PJM. I think that guys need to remember that as much as manufacturers try for consistancy in their hulls, every rig needs a little tweaking when it comes to prop, motorheight, etc. Just because you have two identical boats, set up the same way, does not mean they will run the same and need the same prop. I think that is definitely the case with the Fisher FX/Targa 1900. They must have a couple different molds with one being a little faster than the other. I don't know if it has to do with weight of the hull, or if there's a little more hook in the transom or what it is. There definitely is a difference from hull to hull though! On the plus side, even though mine is a little slower, I don't have any cracks in the gell coat at all. I'll take that anyday over a little more speed. One thing I forgot in my last post was the rpm numbers. I turn 5400 rpms with a full load and 5500- 5600 as the boat lightens up. If guys are turning 5800 with a 21 pitch tempest, they could definitely go to the 23 pitch tempest and gain some speed. Also, I've learned that this hull is very weight sensitive when it comes to rough water handling and speed. Moving a jig bag or anchor from one side to another can make a big change in the performance. I do try to move weight forward if I know I'm going out in rough water, but for speed, you need to move as much to the back as possible. I gained .5mph by just moving my anchor from under the console to in back by the starting battery and oil reservoir.

[FX Guy]

The Fisher is built in the ProCraft Plant in Tennessee, the 1900 is built in Missouri. Yes, there are different molds, different workers, and even different components.

FX

[Lance]

I was aware that the Targa and the FX are made at different plants. I have the first Fx that came out of the Procraft plant after the switch. But there are even differences between one FX and another. I know that Ranger has more than one mold that they use to produce a 619 for example and I suspect that the FX is the same as well.

[Husky]

Lance,

The FX18DV was the first to be manufactured and was done at the Pro Craft plant since its inception in early 1998. The Targa version was introduced a year or two after the first Fishers were on the market.
While each plant obviously has several molds, the variation in the molds are slight. Performance numbers should be similar (within 1-2 mi/hr )regardless of the mold the hull was built in. That is, the Fishers should run close to one another and the Targas should run close to other Targa 1900's.

[Lance]

Yes, they should and do run close to each other. But some hulls are capable of turning the 23 pitch which would make them faster, and some can only turn the 21 pitch like mine which makes them a little slower. As far as production goes, I am working with the information given to me by Fisher in 1999 when I bought the boat as part of the state team for wisconsin. There was a four month delay in delivery of my boat which they said was due to a switch in production from the Nitro plant to the Procraft plant. If that information was incorrect, I apologize. I was just trying to save others the frustration I had in getting my boat dialed in. I did alot of adjustments with motor height, set back, prop pitch, design, and manufacturer all trying to get to the rpm and speed numbers that I was being given by other Fisher owners, only to find out that my hull was just not capable of breaking 60 mph consistantly as some of them are.

[Husky]

Lance,

I noticed the same thing with my Fisher. With a 150 some owners are reporting 55-57 mi/hr yet mine will only do 53. These same guys are turning 5600+ rpms with the same prop when I am getting 5300. I would expect that all glass boats have similar variability in them. Adding to the variability due to mold used is the FX18 hull is very finicky with respect to weight and weight distribution, somewhat more than most hulls.
I appreciate your sharing the entire process of dialing in your particular hull, and agree that a Tempest Plus in the 21 or 23 pitch will work well on this hull. Motor height again is individual hull sensitive as this hull (again very finicky) is known to often porpoise. The middle hole was the fastest position for motor mounting, but if I hit 1.5 foot wave anywhere from 1/2 throttle or above, it began porpoising. Not wanting to add a foil, lowering the motor one hole got that under control. This IS a hull that involves quite a few variables to set up properly, probably more than most. Once done, its a very well-behaved, good performing hull.
I'm trying a 19 Tempest to get the rpms up to 5500-5600 with a light load--hopefully the top end will stay the same.
Have a great season.

Husky

[FX Guy]

Why is it the Hull??? Could it be, gasp.... the motor. If anything, I'll bet you a dollar there is a heckuva a lot more variance engine to engine and prop to prop than there is on that hull! Not a knock on Mercury, but a few % of HP difference can be a big deal.

[Lance]

That could be part of the difference as well. But I have talked with one Fx owner that had some hull problems and ended up getting a new hull and when the same motor was moved from one hull to the next there was a 400 rpm difference and a resulting 3 mph difference as well.

[Husky]

FX Guy,

I have had my motor on two FX18DV hulls. Yes there was a significant difference with same motor and prop. Perhaps you should save your..GASP...sarcasm for when you are aware of all the facts.