[01DiabloMissouri]

My wife and I just purchased our first boat and we love it. The only question I have is with my wife, mother in law, daughter and I on the boat the 4.3 Volvo has no trouble planing off but we added 2 more people and it had a hard time. What pitch of prop is recommened to help this or what can I do?

[WetWilly]

Hi 01DiabloMissouri and welcome to the club!

As to your prop, can you tell us what your max RPM is at WOT (wide open throttle) and what prop your currently using? Typically, you can reduce your pitch by a couple of degrees and regain some of the lost performance, but there is a compromise, you lose some top speed and you need to be careful near WOT as the repitch can put you motor over the max RPM.

The other alternative and probably the best for all around performance is to install a set of Trim Tabs. We have several members using a brand called "Smart Tabs" with great results.

Do a search for Smart Tabs on the forum, you'll find the "Search" button in the blue Nav bar near the top of the page by your name.

Good luck,
WetWilly

[Z275]

What you are experiencing is pretty common. My last boat was a 19ft with the 4.3L and I had the same issue, even with the right prop. 4 people was ok, but 6 caused issues planing. After being on other similiar boats I would just have to say it's the nature of the beast. The 4.3L engine only has so much torque to work with and you can only compensate so much with the prop and/or tabs.