Boat Speed????

I have a 1984 v-16 Bass Tracker with a 35 hp Mercury, CMC PT 35 Tilt/Trim and 13 pitch SS prop. The boat was originally set up as a tiller, but former owner added a remote pulley steering system. The boat is rated for 1000 lbs, motor, gear, people. The boat itself probably weighs 500-600 lbs and setup with my weight, motor and gear, will add another 600 lbs. I just got the boat out of the shop yesterday and took it to the lake and boy was I dissapointed, 16 mph was all that it would do. I called the mechanic and was told that everything was adjusted to factory specs and not to expect more than that. I then called a local prop shop and to inquire about the prop and was told that a 13 was standard fare for this motor. Am I missing something ( like gears in the lower unit slipping), or is this normal? Any suggestions and or comments would be appreciated.

What RPM is the motor turning, and is that speed GPS or from a boat speedometer?

It's common for there to be linkage issues with a throttle connection. Pull the cowl off the motor and make sure that the remote throttle is actually moving the motor throttle as far as it will go.

GPS speed and 2500 RPM. I should also add that I just installed the tach and am not sure is is set correctly. I will say that the motor sounds like it is max out.

that is not even near max RPM. Either you are overpropped or there is a fuel or spark problem. Unless the tach is off. Eliminate the tach issue first, thyen maybe see if any friends have a smaller prop you could try. Mine was running horrible yet sounded like it was runnung the rpm's up but was not and ended up being a stator or trigger.

Most outboard tachs are shipped set for a 12 pole stator. Your motor has a 10 pole stator so the tach should be set to 5P (pulses). You make that setting on the back of the tach.

Bill,

The tach is a Teleflex. Their instructions say to set it at 6P. Is that not right?

For some reason I was looking at Evinrude/Johnson settings (age thing I guess). I just double checked and a 1984, 35 HP Merc should be set to 4P. So 6P is not correct. Sorry for the confusion.

I will rest it and try again

I have a 16' Starcraft 72"beam. It has a 30HP 4stroke Merc. With 2 people under 200 lbs, 1/2 dozen poles, 6Gal gas tank, I'm lucky to hit 17mph. The motor rpms,are 5400 it also has a 13 pitch prop. I took it back to the dealer and they took it out on the lake and tested it with gauges and told me it's just what it's supposed to be. I looked it up on Mercury web site-it said the same thing. I wish I would have gotten the 40 hp. when I bought the boat, never thought it would run that slow...

I had a 16' sea nymph (now lowe) aluminum with a 25 johnson and it ran 19 to 22mph gps. Weren't a lot of choices for pitch when I started looking, and it's several years back. 16mph isn't real fast but it beats sitting on the bank. I bet it runs cheap.