Thoughts on existing prop, removed hydrofoil

[cjmiller]

I am looking for some thoughts on the prop that came on our boat. Boat is a 2000 206 with 5.7L EFI and Bravo one outdrive. The previous owners installed a hydrofoil. The prop is a S.S. Mercury mirage plus 15 1/2" 3-blade 19 pitch. Took the boat out yesterday and felt some slight vibration at slow speed/low rpms. While the kids were swimming I was looking at the prop to make sure it wasn't bent or nicked. Noticed that the bolts on one side of the hydrofoil were in trouble, one was missing and one was broke. I could move the hydrofoil on the one side so I decided to take it off to see if that was the cause of the vibration and also to see how the boat would plane and perform without it.

Front of the boat seemed to come up higher to get on plane without it then with it, didn't notice any substantial difference with higher speed performance. Wasn't able to get above 45 mph due to the chop on the water. When we first got on the water it was fairly calm, was able to get boat up to 55 mph before I had to slow down for boat wake. Haven't been able to really see how fast the boat can go at top speed, has always been too rough.

Looking for opinions on prop pitch and the need to have or not have a hydrofoil with this prop pitch.

[Big Block Power]

That's a big prop. Very good designed prop. Ask yourself how do you use your boat? I would never use a hydrofoil. But they do help with getting on plan and bow rise. So you can switch to smart tabs if bow rise is a issue and getting on plain. Also drop to a 17 pitch Rev 4 prop would Prob be a great solution to both of these.