I have a question for anyone in the know. I baught a stratos 273 with a 150 Johnson this spring and I run a three blade prop on it. I have a great hole shot and top end, but when I trm up it starts to get a little loose. Would witching to a four blade get rid of that, or do I have to back off the throttle 
? Just wondering as I have never had to worry about chine (sp) walking before.
Thanks guys Bassman
Bassman – I have never seen a prop change get rid of chine walk. You probably need to raise the motor. Do you have a jack plate and water pressure gauge on the boat?
Jim
Bassman….I have a 17 ft. Yarcraft with 150hp 2stroke Yamaha V-max, that does the same thing with the 3 blade aluminum prop. Bought the boat used last year, and came with the 4 blade DAH tuned stainless steel prop. The seller told me that the three blade did not perform as well. I hacked up the 4 blade earlier this year, and put on the 3 blade spare while the other was sent to DAH for work. The performance is definitely different….tried playing with the trim to keep the propulsion going, but end up throttling back when the prop starts whining.
Jim,
I do not have a jack plate. Would you guess it has to go up, or down? Is it worth buying the jack plate? Would I have to get a higher pitch wheel? just wondeing.
Thanks again
bassman
Chine walk can be hairy to drive through. You should be sure your setup is absolutely correct. I would suggest you check out this site by Stratos Owners and get some info from others that have the same boat and setup.
http://p082.ezboard.com/bstratosowners
I would say you need to go up. Jack plates are always worth the money. You shouldn’t need a bigger prop. What rpm’s are you turning now?
Top end I have had it to 5200 RPMs then it starts to float.
Would a jack plate add more speed?
Quote:
Jack plates are always worth the money.
Please expound on this… Manual, Hydraulic? How much set-back? How does one size and select a unit? What would a boat owner expect to see in performance changes? I get the basics, but I haven’t ever seen anyone say “always” worth the money… I own a Ranger, too, and the factory advises they are unnecassary and performance gain is minimal…You are now a Ranger owner and curious your experience and thoughs.
In advance, I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts. Thanks. 
I got a 6″ hydraulic on my Champion. I’m running in the mid-to-high 6’s for rpms.
That jackplate makes a heck of a lot of difference. Difference of 3 to 5 miles per hour, just tweaking it.
It also makes a bit of a difference in boat handling/control.
I would never own another bass boat (opps, I mean MUSKY boat) again without one!!!
I am pretty sure with a non-Z series Ranger, use of a plate over 6 inches voids your warranty. I do not think this is the case with the Z-boats.
A jack plate should give you more speed and being able to drive the boat trimmed up will give you more speed also.
Jim
It is true that any jackplate over 6″ voids the warranty on a Ranger other than Z series. Regardless of the brand of boat you will see performance gains by adding a jackplate. The plate will set the engine back into cleaner water and allow the prop to get a better bite. A hydraulic is the preferred chioce in most cases as it allows you to make the adjustment for optimum performance on the fly. A manual let you adjust your engine also but obviously it can’t be adjusted on the fly.
Quote:
Quote:
Jack plates are always worth the money.
Please expound on this… Manual, Hydraulic? How much set-back? How does one size and select a unit? What would a boat owner expect to see in performance changes? I get the basics, but I haven’t ever seen anyone say “always” worth the money… I own a Ranger, too, and the factory advises they are unnecassary and performance gain is minimal…You are now a Ranger owner and curious your experience and thoughs.
In advance, I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts. Thanks.
First off this is just my opinion based off of my experiences.
I love a hydraulic plate due to the waters I fish. The biggest advantage to the hydraulic plates is the ability to drop the motor 6″ down in rough water, this allows you to keep your prop under the surface with less cavitation. If I was fishing the Mississippi for most of my tournaments I don’t know if I could say spending the extra $500 – $700 is worth the money. The small advantage of hole shot in shallow water(usually only a couple inch gain) isn’t worth it.
I prefer a 10″ – 15″ set back on boats 19′ or longer and a 6″ – 10″ on boats 17′ – 19′. The best way to know which plate is for your boat is to post the question on websites like BBC that have specific forums for each brand of boat.
I am new to the Ranger family so I can’t speak directly about them, but I have never seen a boat that hasn’t improved both hole shot and top end by adding a plate. I’ve seen hole shots cut in half and speed gains as much as 10mph.
I run a 10″ CMC hydraulic plate currently and love it.
Jim
Have you ever checked your speed on GPS to make sure you’re not overtrimming? I know on my boat I get to a point where I am at max speed, and if I trim higher the boat gets harder to handle but I actually lose speed a bit. Probably not your issue, but if you are not gaining speed by trimming up, you may be able to run as fast at a trim level that handles good. A jackplate would be a better idea, but this is free to check. 
Darin,
The 273 I believe is 17’3″ long. I run a 1994 Stratos 284 W/ a 150 Intruder, which is 17’11” long so if you have any questions, I might be able to answer them.
I have experimented with different props and motor heights. Currently, I run a 25 Pitch Renegede (Four Bladed Prop) and a 23 Pitch Renegede. Both have been worked by Dah Props in Burlington for some extra MPH.
With the 23 Pitch, I run at 6000 RPM’s and the 25 Pitch at 5600. With either prop I am usually running in the high 50’s with 15 rods, 24 plano boxes and four batteries.
I tried a 24 pitch Raker, as this is what I have heard works the best with my boat and didn’t like it. The holshot was poor and was more succeptable to lose its grip on sharp turns.
I currently have my motor jacked up to the highest hole on the boat and did NOT see a difference in speed from when I moved it to this position from the stock hole (fourth hole, I think). The only thing that I have noticed with this is that you have to trim down more to bank your boat on hard turns. I have spoken with other Stratos owners that have older models and smaller boats and they have experienced the same thing.
To raise my motor costed 60 bucks and a couple minutes at the local marina. You might want to give that a try but I think that a 4 bladed prop.
-Dusty
Bassman, it sounds like you need to raise your motor. How much ? I don’t know, go up one hole at a time and see what happens, just be sure to water your water pressure. I wouldn’t let it drop below 15 psi at WOT. It also sounds like your rpm’s are close for an OMC, I believe reccommended WOT is around mid 5’s. Now jackplates. What a jackplate does is help you achieve more bow lift easier. Picture your boat like a teter toter, when you move your motor back your pivot point moves back as well, thus lifting the front of the boat with less effort. This really creates faster top end due to lifting more boat out of the water. Less wetted surface means less drag, which in turns usually means more speed. Also, when you set the motor back with a setback, you are moving the prop to “cleaner less disturbed water”. By this I mean the water that has less air in it, the futher back you go the less turbulant the water is. Right behind the boat is the most turbulant water. Thus, installing a jackplate puts your prop in cleaner water allowing the prop to work better, the prop you are currently running should work but you may notice rpms drop off by 2 or 3 hundred. Sometimes it may require you to drop down a size in pitch to get those rpms back up. Over all it is a matter of how much time and money you want to invest for a little more performance. I know this is pretty in depth and I hope you can make sense of it.
Thanks a lot for all the input, to tell you the true, I am not sure that I want all that much more top end out of this boat. I think it is plenty fast as is. I know it runs in the low to mid 60’s as is. I am just concerned about the chine,as it gets hairy at those top end speeds. It sounds as if I need to raise my motor, which sounds resonable. I will check that out as soon as money allows and let you know how that works.
Bassman
Quote:
I am not sure that I want all that much more top end out of this boat. I think it is plenty fast as is.
That will last for about a month 
Isn’t that the truth, I am not sure what I was thinking when I typed that. I am sure it will be right after Dnort blowes by me and everyone else at the BFL 
.
Bassman
I know the feeling
My opinion only. (Well not exactly, but..) The amount of setback required depends on the amount of lift (bow) required. Lot of people think more is better, but not always and only to a point. If you’ve tuned your prop and tried a bunch of them and played with your motor height and still can’t get the bow to carry, you have two choices. Move some weight towards the back, or set the motor back to give more leverage. More setback doesn’t come free however. Holeshot, low speed rough water ride, transom life and other traits will take a hit. My suggestion if you’re looking for a couple of mph and a better all around handling rig is to work with your weight balance (which is cheap), and most importantly find and work with a prop man to make your boat run the best without resorting to setup extreme measures (ie excessive setback).
If your chine walking is not violent but just the feel of it beginning to start you can drive through it. If you have hydraulic steering this is a lot easier. If you are having this problem with just you in the boat you are probably set up just about perfect and you’ll just have to arrange your weight distribution more towards the front. If you still have it with a partner with you then you may have to put it up a notch. Good luck.
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