V-king 175 Merc

[Alexjoz]

1st time owner of a Hydrostream. Found a really nice 88 V-King YT hull with an 88 Merc 175. All original. It is a great boat ! I'm pulling 63-65 mph ( starts chine walking at that speed if I'm not careful w/ trim )with a Laser 2 ss prop 25 pitch. Great for skiing, but would like to get some more top end w/o losing the acceleration and holeshot. What prop for starters? Then Jack plate, etc. ? Not looking for a race boat, but it seems like it has potential THANKS!

[77viper]

Try to find a 27 srx worked by DAH out of Wisconsin.

What is your top rpm with a average load in the boat.

Oh ya welcome to the forum.

[Alexjoz]

Thanks for the welcome and advice. I'll have to check for the exact RPM's, but I had to back the throttle off a bit as I saw 6000 rpms on the tachometer.

[shellyisland]

I'm still on the learning curve; however, this may help. Have a Valero YT open bow, 87 Merc 175. Tried 23p Laser 2, High5, and big eared chopper. Chopper was slow out of the hole and too fast w/ kids :0( Laser was a little too slow out of hole and hi5 had little top end. Have a 9 year old that skis every time we're out.
I got a Trophy Plus 21p (four blade.) RPM's a little high, would do 22p next time. It jumps out of the hole and has really decent high end (high 60's)
What I really like is the 4 blade really holds to the water. Chine walked once with kids on board and don't want to ever do that again! Note: should figure optimum pitch and subtract 1p to account for extra blade.

[LSaupe]

I am a fan of the Trophy Plus. I have tried a stock 27 SRX, a 26 Chopper, a DAH SRX (which was real nice), but came back to the Trophy plus. Great across the board and much less chine walk than the 3 blade props I was running. Running 6" setback and 3/4" below the pad. Does everything very very well. Running 70 MPH at 6,200 with a 24P. Just hung a 26P to try next as these old cross flows dont like to rev that high. Std V-King.

[Alexjoz]

Man I have a lot to learn !! Sounds like the Trophy Plus and DAH SRX are players. What are good sources for props? Used ones ? I have no idea how to get this boat set-up right !

[LSaupe]

Besides this forum, the classified section of Scream and Fly is always good. I purchased and sold a few props that way.

http://www.screamandfly.com/forumdisplay.php?5-Propellers

[shellyisland]

Man I have a lot to learn !! Sounds like the Trophy Plus and DAH SRX are players. What are good sources for props? Used ones ? I have no idea how to get this boat set-up right !

I have had decent luck with Ebay also. The learning is never ending...just cover your ears and hum loudly when "recore" is mentioned At the end of the day...fun boats. My wife was missing our Baja until I took her for a ride without the kids

[Alexjoz]

I had a good ride on the lake yesterday. A Checkmate Exciter with a 350 i/o came after me. We lined up and after the I took the holeshot ,I just pulled away. A bit later he hunted me down when I was doing about 35mph cruising. We took off and I totally smoked him !! :>)
It's tIme to get the right prop and learn to set this boat up properly ! How do you keep Chine walk at bay ? It is always close at hand !

[Surface Scratcher]

When I got my Stream I wondered if I could master the chine walk . Well I did, and you will too. Now I make those small corrections almost without thinking and I look forward to the walk. Below is an article from HS.org that helped me a lot. Also, setup and the load seems to make a big difference as to how much it walks.

Vegas XT Chinewalk

Randy, I'm running a '92, EFI 200 Merc. on a '90 Vegas XT. The boat has a hydraulic Jack plate, cle gearcase. My problem is at about 65mph I start to chime walk real bad. I'd like to know if I can do anything about it. Maybe the jack plate needs adj. I don't know. I do know that I have all kinds of gas pedal left and would like to use it. Could you please offer some tips. Thank You,





Before we talk about chinewalk, let's make sure you have probably the most important item on your list of things to have. Make sure that your 200 has solid motor mounts installed, and if not, get them asap. With your Merc on the Vegas, this is probably the single most important thing. Otherwise, it is like trying to drive the boat with a rubberband for a steering wheel. For starters, position the jackplate so the prop shaft is 2 inches below the pad. This will get you in a fairly neutral position to start learning to control the chinewalk. Chinewalk is a natural thing that occurs with all fast V-bottoms as they are reducing their wetted surface and increasing in speed. The boat is literally trying to unbalance itself. The main thing to understand is that you cannot drive through chinewalk. The faster you go, the worse it gets. It is up to you (the nut behind the wheel), to learn to control this and fly the boat level. Kind of like riding a bicycle or flying a plane. It is all about balance. You will have to literally counter-steer the boat against its actions with appropriate reactions to maintain a level attitude. The main thing to do is don't drive faster than you can control the walk. Work your way up the speed range only after you "graduate" at a certain speed. The biggest mistake people do during this phase is to try and drive faster than they can control. In that case they learn nothing and never really figure the walk out. Just like riding a bike, it takes time and patience to gain the timing and the steering inputs that are needed, but you will get there. This is probably not the "fix" you were hoping for but it is the only way to get you to the 80+mph waiting for you. Be patient, practice steering the boat flat, and work your way up.

And have fun doing it.