newbie that is very disappointed, any advise??? - Maxum Boat Owners Club

cashone05 · 06-18-2012, 03:26 AM

First off let me introduce myself. My name is Casey i live in Utah and have been boating most of my life. We always had a boat growing up and as an adult i have owned a 1990 chapparel 1900 but decided to sell that last fall after owning it for six years and man do i wish i had it back. We sold it to get a newer boat and recently did so buying a 2005 maxum 1900sr with a 5.0 motor in it. But have been very disappointed in it after having it on the water three different times. I am hoping there is someone that can give me some advise so i dont have to sell it. I love the look and the layout of the boat but hate the performance. It takes forever to plane out even with only one person in it yet will still hit the rev limiter with the 17 pitch ss high five prop thats on it. It does horrible on fuel consumption probably due to being run at high rpm's constantly. At wide wot it also only does about 35 mph. I have trim tabs on order and plan on putting a 19 pitch prop on it but i really dont think its gonna help. Does anyone have any advise? I want to keep it especially after i just put a new stereo system in it with two amps a sub and tower speakers as well as will have new trim tabs on as well but if i cant get it to perform better its going up for sale, can anyone PLEASE HELP?????????????????????

seapuppy · 06-18-2012, 03:59 AM

welcome to the zoo....I'm kinda confused at your post here...with a 17" pitch prop it's gonna pop up on plane like a rocket....and your wot should be right around 4400-4800 rpm unless your efi...which will probably be 5200 rpm wot....but you say it takes forever to get up on plane and then you hit the rev limiter....
so....a couple of questions for clarity....1) is the engine in tune..when was the last time it was fully tuned up???..2) are you running old gas in the tank???old gas will cause loss of performance....3) is the hull clean from algae???that can cause tons of drag.....4) I'm assuming your running an alpha 1 drive.....should be ok with that a1 drive.........finally ....5) the 19" pitch will reduce your wot by about 400 rpm....it depends on how hard your hitting the rev limiter in my mind should keep you within wot specs...

those are a few things off the top of my head that will cause power problems.....

SP

cj · 06-18-2012, 04:04 AM

....hey there, can we assume that your engine is in good tune etc..if so....that being said, I had a 19ft Caravelle with the 5.0L, I had tried a 17pitch high five and I could never get that prop to hook up....it would just "blow out" so to speak, causing the boat to struggle to plane and engine to over rev with no top speed. I think that prop pitch is to low for that boat/engine combo. I ended up really liking the Mirage SS 21 pitch 4 blade. It gave me a decent hole shot for boarding/skiing/tubing and top speed of right around 50mph.
Hope that helps....good luck
Cheers
Chris
....p.s..also had Smart Tabs...

cashone05 · 06-18-2012, 04:13 AM

engine runs excellent it is carbed and will fire right up and purr like a kitten. yes the hull is clean, the boat is in a 1 condition. i would think it would launch out of the water with that prop but it does not. the gas is new as i have run nearly 70 gallons through it. I hope its like cj says and it just blows out. I have a new stock 19 three blade ill try.

mcoffey · 06-18-2012, 06:21 PM

I can't offer any advice on the High 5 prop as I have never used one before. I do have a simlar boat though and my brother also has a Chapparel so I can offer some comparison here.
My Boat -- 1996 Maxum 2100SR with 5.7l 2bbl
My Brothers Boat -- 1985 Chapparel 200XLC with 260HP 5.7l 4bbl
I was running a standard 3 blade Aluminum 21p prop and could get about 55mph out of it but I was only running at 4000RPM (a bit on the low end).
I also noticed it was pretty sluggish coming out with 4-5 people on board (all adults).
I decided to re-prop and save the 21p as a spare and I replaced with same 3 blade aluminum but in a 19p.
I now run at just over 4300 RPM (probably right at 4350) and can get 52mph with just me (about 49-50 with 4 people).

Now the brothers Chapparel does have a bit more engine than me but we are about same weight, length and beam. He has the stock 3 blade aluminum 21p that came on it from the dealer and can get about 58mph with 1 on board. With 4 people it is closer to 55-56mph.

Now I will say the Maxum definitely takes wakes much better than the Chapparel though!

GlennW · 06-18-2012, 09:49 PM

You are under propped and blowing out. I had a 19' Caravelle with a 4.3 that I ran a High Five 21 on it and it would run 50 all day.
Your previous owner probably pulled tubers or wakes and used a 17 for the needed torque.

jhabers · 06-19-2012, 04:14 AM

You sure you dont have a spun hub? put a mark on the hub and on the prop right next to it, take her for a ride and see if the lines still meet up

shrew · 06-19-2012, 02:22 PM

^^Not a bad idea^^ My guess is also eiher spun hub or under propped. I would not expect you should be hitting the rev limiter. A hub is far cheaper than a new prop, so I would start there. If still a problem, I'd be looking at re-propping. Have you run it through a prop calculator to see about where you should be?

cashone05 · 06-19-2012, 07:19 PM

What is or how does a prop calculator work? I never thought of a spun hub but it makes sense since i have a bad hole shot and im hitting the rev limiter.

pascavone · 06-19-2012, 08:24 PM

with the motor off, put the boat in gear. then reach down in the water and try to spin your prob.

if you can turn it both directions, then your engine coupler is slipping.

start with that.

cashone05 · 06-20-2012, 01:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pascavone

with the motor off, put the boat in gear. then reach down in the water and try to spin your prob.

if you can turn it both directions, then your engine coupler is slipping.

start with that.

do i have to be in the water or can i just do this on the trailer?

mcoffey · 06-20-2012, 02:20 AM

You can do that on the trailer

If you can't spin it, that does not mean you don't have a spun hub as it could take a lot of torque to spin it. If you can then it is shot.
If you can't, go with the marking of it. Mark the outside of prop and the hub so the marks line up. Next time you are out in the water let her rip and then after a bit raise the outdrive and have a peek to see if your marks still line up.

Generally a spun hub will only spin under high load. So if you take off easy, it will not slip. Once you start to get on it a bit, that is when they normally slip and the RPM will shoot up quickly with hardly any gain in speed.

cashone05 · 06-21-2012, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pascavone

with the motor off, put the boat in gear. then reach down in the water and try to spin your prob.

if you can turn it both directions, then your engine coupler is slipping.

start with that.

Ok if i do this on the trailer with it in gear it will obviously spin one way. Should it spin at all the other way? I can get it to but its not easy at all.

mcoffey · 06-21-2012, 02:31 PM

Did you notice if the whole hub is spinning too? You should be able to watch the hub nut to see if it spins along with the prop. If it is then the hub is not slipping. If the nut stays where it is while the prop is turning, the hub is slipping.

Basically there is a splined hub that is encased in rubber that is pressed into the prop. Sometimes they fail and the splined area and rubber spin inside the actual prop.

pascavone · 06-21-2012, 02:35 PM

you can't spin a 5.0 engine over in gear, so the next step is to stick your head behind the engine with a flashlight, and look for aluminum or rubber shaving down the back for your engine.

this is your engine coupler, an aluminum spline pressed into a rubber donut to reduce vibrations. its bolted to the flywheel.

sounds like its slipping, and is shot.

the engine will need to be pulled out to change it.

cashone05 · 06-21-2012, 05:05 PM

no the hub was not slipping it was turning the out drive. So if it is the engine coupler is this something common that goes bad? There is not an hour meter on the boat but due to its age and condition i would have a hard time believing there is very many hours on it.

ss3964spd · 06-21-2012, 05:39 PM

I would be looking at the prop first. While couplers can and do fail it is far more common for a prop hub to fail.

cashone05 · 06-21-2012, 06:40 PM

i agree that the hub would go before the coupler but when i put it in gear and turn it the opposite direction the shaft is turning too not just the prop so wouldn't this have to be the coupler?

ss3964spd · 06-21-2012, 07:09 PM

I think you need to describe the exact procedures, each step in order, you're using to do your tests.

Something isn't making sense....

Dan

cashone05 · 06-22-2012, 12:16 AM

I am not positive that its not the hub yet as i have not had it to the lake to check yet. However i did pull the prop off, it had grease on it for lubrication and on the back it does not appear as if it has spun at all. That doesn't mean thats not the case it just doesn't look like it. As for the coupler, i put the boat in forward and turn the prop in reverse. I can barely move it and just a little at a time but it does move. I also was able to do this on two other boats i have access to and both of them have a 5.7 litre. If it was the coupler, when i try to turn it in reverse and it does move that little bit it is turning the fly wheel so doesnt that mean im slightly turning the whole engine over? I jnow thats the case with a car engine i just dont know if this coupler changes that on a boat. Dan, what test are you refering to? I would gladly explain exactly what im doing.