[mrboater]

Hello All,

I wanted to ask a quick question regarding my boat - it's owned between me and my dad. It's either a 1994 or 1995 Z225 with a 7.4L Bravo One engine.

Since the day we began using it a while back, it has had major issues when taking off and plaining out. Has anyone ever dealt with this issue or resolved it before? Or is it just a big heavy boat that takes some time to plain and generally struggles out of the hole?

To be more in depth; I have to slam the throttle to full blast or very close to depending on the number of people in the boat. Tabs down and drive right down. The front end gets fairly high - I've always just thought the weight distribution was the reason for this.

We have sort of just accepted it and never tried to resolve the issue - once plained it rides fairly well but I was in another boat with a 454 engine on the weekend and the power of that boat really made me wonder how mine struggles so much.

The only immediate solution I can think of is changing the filter/flame restrictor. My dad cleaned it out over the winter and said it was fairly clogged. The filter also made a loud whistling noise when taking off - I have yet to use it this year to see if the cleaning resolved any issues. I have started looking at K&N filters though as I have a feeling it may help.

Shouldn't this boat with that engine just blast out of the water with a lot less throttle than what I'm giving?

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[mikeyt]

First off welcome aboard. Second, what prop (diameter & pitch) is on your boat now? What is the RPM's at WOT (top speed)? Before you start tearing the engine apart and adding/changing parts lets make sure this isn't just a prop issue.

When u have a few minutes, read thru the STICKYS at the top of the Prop Forum so that you understand what we are talking about.

[mrboater]

It's a 21 Mirage stainless steel plus prop. I would have to figure out the rpms this weekend. Would still like to hear if anyone's dealt with a similar issue.

[ColoradoDiablo]

What Mikey just said.
If the engine isn't operating at the optimum RPM range(4400 to just about 5000) , it doesn't matter what you do to the engine.
Need to see what your WOT is and go from there.

[mikeyt]

Originally Posted by mrboater

I Would still like to hear if anyone's dealt with a similar issue.

To answer that specific question, yes quite often. That's why i asked the questions that i did.

[mrboater]

Originally Posted by mikeyt

To answer that specific question, yes quite often. That's why i asked the questions that i did.

Ok I'll be taking it out this weekend and will get back with the info.

Thanks for the help, much appreciated!

[mrboater]

Hey everyone, my apologies I took a little longer to get this info.

the WOT for my engine is 4200 - 4600. Hoping to get any opinions on how I can get this boat to get out of the hole quicker.

21 pitch Mirage + prop

Thanks again and any feedback is greatly appreciated!

[mikeyt]

Originally Posted by mrboater

Hey everyone, my apologies I took a little longer to get this info.

the WOT for my engine is 4200 - 4600. Hoping to get any opinions on how I can get this boat to get out of the hole quicker.

21 pitch Mirage + prop

Thanks again and any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Sigh... this is why i gave you the link to the STICKYS in the Prop forum. Pay particular attention to the BASIC PROPELLOR RULES STICKY. And you still haven't answered the question about what your WOT rpms are with that prop on your boat. We already know what the range is for a 7.4

[mrboater]

So go full throttle on the water and track the RPM's?

My apologies I'm fairly new to this stuff and yes I should have read through those details prior. I'm on a rough lake as well so I really haven't had a chance to do so. I will get back and hopefully you can make a recommendation.

[mikeyt]

Originally Posted by mrboater

So go full throttle on the water and track the RPM's?

Exactly. Need to know what the rpms are when you reach top speed. What lake in Ontario are you boating on?