The right prop

coast2coast · #1

When we took the Kingfisher 2725 out for a test run in Seattle I told the dealer the second it planed that it was incorrectly proped. This was a 15 pitch Mercury Vengence, probably the same prop they put on every Verado they sell. They said they would change out the prop, but of course the boat was delivered to Virginia with the same prop on it. The motor would red line with no effort with that prop on it, I could barely nurse the boat to 40 mph on flat water and perfectly trimmed at 6400 rpm. The top speed RPM for this motor is 5800-6400. At 4500 cruising RPM it was only running 24 mph. (GPS speeds)

To their credit they sent me out a new Mercury Eneritia prop in a 17 pitch at no charge after I told them I thought it would be the right prop. This is Mercury's brand new model with a new X7 alloy developed specifically for high horsepower offshore applications. I got it on today and took the boat out for a quick run in a 2 foot chop, and boy was I right. I hit 48 mph at 6000 RPM, 4500 gave me a 34 mph cruise, and directly into the chop at 3600 RPM still gave me a comfortable 20 mph. Since it was choppy I had to stay trimmed in, so I was not able to tweak the trim and tabs "perfectly", but I bet it will hit 50 at top end when I can. But, I'm really looking for that good mileage cruise. At 4500 rpm it's burning about 10 gph, so it should be getting around 3 1/2 mpg, and I'm happy with that.

#2

Sounds purdy darn good there , I think you found the right prop reel quick .
How are the rest of the installs coming ?

coast2coast · #3

The Garmin 4212 GPS and antenna are in, the "black box" GSD22 fishfinder and dual frequency transducer are installed, and the VHF and antenna on a ratchet mount are done. The sonar and GPS are networked, and the VHF DSC is tied into the GPS. This is all I really need to go fishing now.

I installed another 12 position fuse panel to hook up all of these and the electronics to come. I'm waiting for a couple of months for the Garmin HD radar comes out to get that and a smaller display, maybe a 3206 for the cockpit steering station. Those should just plug into the network.

I have my bilge alarm, anchor windless, and rod holders, but they are not installed yet. It's cold and windy here this weekend, so I'm going to wait until it warms up some to do all of that. My pier is 200 feet into the river, so when the wind blows there is nothing to block it and it's COLD out there!

#4

Sounds good John , can't wait to see some fish blood on her.

#5

That's some great mileage for a boat that size!