Question for you I/O owners

We have a I/O as a family boat, and I am considering making it a little better for wakeboarding. The boat has a 3.0 Liter Mercruiser, I am thinking of going to a 4 blade prop. Anybody know a good all around pitch? What about the Stabilizer fins, Do they help for boarding? Any suggestions on where to put ballast (the boat is a deep V). Thanks in advance.

Anybody?

go with a 5 blade Stainless Steel prop. you will get a better hole shot, and hold speed better, and get better fuel economy while cursing.

Regarding the pitch, check with Mercruiser, they will be able to provide the options based on what you want (holeshot, speed, midrange), and not throw off the balance of the engine.
Add ballast in the front half of the boat, walkthru or bow if you have it. This tends to be the better of the places.

Trim up the motor a little after you get on plane, you will notice the wake clean up a little more after you do this. eventually you will find the sweet spot on the trim, and be able to provide an even better wake.
good luck,
KG

(Message edited by wakescene on June 21, 2003)

Thanks, I am adding a Sub up front in the walk through and I am also adding a storage compartment to put sand or lead in. Anybody used a hydrofoil, do they work or is it a gimick?

i used one and they work great but not for wakeboarding if you want a larger wake, they tend to rasie the rear of the boat out of the watrer which is great if you want to go fast and get good gas mileage, bad if you want a wake to jump, ive got the high 5 and am not sure they are worth the extra cash over a good 4 blade??Definitely lower the pitch alot but be careful of not over-reving the engine. Merc is going to recommend a prop that will put you in the range of the engine but from my experience that is still too tall for boarding and getting up with weight in the boat, they are just doing it to cover their butts as far as blowing the engine, just dont throw the throttle down, you wouldnt do it in your car why do it in your boat??

I had a high 5 prop on a crownline, and it made a hudge difference on wakeshape, and speed hold that the stock prop.

i agree with kevin but. bob i disagree with, I bought a cobra plate and it made my wake awesome when i trimmed the bow up with 600 pounds in the bow. dont weight the back.

Thanks for the responses, I am still researching the props, but it looks I will be going with a four blade. I can't determine the pitch of my old prop, all I can find is a few numbers. Is there anyway to tell. I guess I could give boat a try with or without the plate.

BTW, it looks like my four blade choices will be 18 or 20 pitches. Mercruisers website recommends a 20, but I think this will be too mild. I think a 18 would be a nice compromise on my little 3.0L, any thoughts?

stephen check the website again and use the weight instead of the length, if you havent already. Dont forget to add all the weight youll have in the boat including fat sacs, people, gas, etc.

I think I had an 18 on my Sea Ray w/ the 3.0 Merc. It worked well with the weight. I agree with Bob though. I tried the doel fins and stuff and they are great for higher speeds but made the wake smaller. You want the rear end down in the water not up.

Aquaholic, thanks for the reply, I got my 4 blade 18 pitch today, we'll see what kind of ride we'll get saturday. How much weight were you pushing around. I am making a playpen area in the bow for a sub enclosure and some ballast, so I will be looking into fat sacks and sand or lead.

First day with an 18 pitch 4 blade, the boat seemed to pull better and plane quicker. The biggest difference was the wake, much more rampy. The guy who boarded today was getting some great height.