Another Newbie
 

Hello all. Great site! I took my new-to-me 97 180 Shabah SE 4.3 Alpha out today for the first time and have a couple of questions. I used to have an 86 Celebrity 18 and this Mariah is awesome compared to the Celebrity. The only things I noticed about this boat was the WOT RPM seems quite high, 5000 Wide Open on plane. The Atwood blower seems a little loud and the Lowrance digital depth finder has power but doesn't display a depth reading. This thing just jumps out of the water on plane it takes about 2-3 seconds and she is up. It handles great! I love it! Now I understand why everybody talks so highly of them. Thanks again for the great site.

Jay

Welcome aboard Jay. 5000rpm at WOT is just slightly high. The rpm range for the 4.3 is 4400 - 4800. Not sure what prop you have but if it's a 19 pitch you could move up to a 21" pitch. It will drop your rpms about 400 and give you a little higher top speed but you will lose that 'jump' out of the hole. 5000rpm shouldn't hurt anything though but to be safe i wouldn't run it at that for any length of time. The Atwood blower on mine is a little loud also. You could easily replace it with a new one but 'tis up to you. I'd rather here it working. :) It's a straight forward change though.
If the depth finder has power but wont provide a reading then it is likely that the transducer has come loose from it's mounted position. I dont have one in mine but i believe it is mounted underneath the engine. They do seem to have a habit of working themselves loose over time and a couple of the others here have posted about similar problems.

Thanks for the answers! I have been looking at props this evening trying to figure out what I should replace it with. My problem is i'm unable to find the pitch of the current prop. I don't see anything stamped on it at all. I'm assuming it's a 19. Thanks again!
Jay

You have to remove the prop to find the specs. They're stamped on the inside of the hub at the front of the prop.