posted 05-10-2005 10:12 PM ET (US)            

13.25 x 17 should be a good size and give a top end of 40-42. It also has a good hole shot even with heavy loads.

I ran a 13 x 19 with my 90, and went to 13.5 x 20 when I installed my jackplate.

posted 05-11-2005 12:42 PM ET (US)            

Good Luck!

posted 05-17-2005 10:24 PM ET (US)            

Mounted: directly on the transom 1 hole up relative to stock all the way down (where my each previous motors were mounted (both 70 hp 3 cylinder OMC's))

Props I have tried:

(all are 13 or 13.25 inches in diameter)

15inch Evinrude stainless (SST ?): great hole shot but not enough pitch

17inch Evinrude stainless (SST ?): still did not feel like sufficient pitch but gave me roughly 41 mph GPS with a light load in the boat

19inch Evinrude stainless (SST): 42mph GPS with a light load, has a solid grip in the water, still a good hole shot with a light load but noticeably slower with myself (180 pounds), dog (100 pounds), passenger (190 pounds), and gear/fuel.

15inch pitch Stiletto stainless vented: 41mph GPS but doesn't lug down with extra weight in the boat. very good hole shot.

I ran the 19inch pitch for about a month before I trialed the Stiletto, which I used for about 7 or 8 months, and recently put the 19 back on. I have had the 19 on it for two weeks now and on the way back in this afternoon I decided to put the 15inch pitch Stiletto back on the next chance I get.

posted 05-18-2005 10:43 PM ET (US)            

My impressions with this motor is that something is holding it back, as it is just starting to sound real nice and happy when I hit about 4800 to 5000 rpms, then she just tops out a couple hundred rpms later. I have not used my gps lately to double check on my speeds or speeds at specific rpms but it certainly FEELS like I am getting a good speed boost when I go to WOT from 4800 rpms; it just doesn't keep winding.

posted 05-19-2005 10:24 AM ET (US)            

I have seen a couple reports of 90 Mercs hitting 45, but those are from the guys who know how to get the most out of there setups. That 49mph run of Clarks must have been when Jupiter and Saturn were lined up just right in the sky.

posted 05-19-2005 01:16 PM ET (US)            

You do raise some good points and have got me thinking.

The engine seems like it should be able to push the boat faster. It has an incredible hole shot and reasonable top end (42 @ 5,500 not fully trimmed up). Hopefully the weather will get nicer up here so I can start really playing with it. When I rigged it, I set the cavitation plate even with the bottom and haven't touched it yet since the weather turned crappy. With the setback I'm running and the performance with the 15" Stileto, I'm convinced that I can raise the engine an inch or two and switch to the 17" Stileto for a better top speed. I just need the time and $ to start playing with it.

Hopefully within the next few weeks I can get my setup into the mid 40's.

posted 05-19-2005 04:23 PM ET (US)            

We need to learn to compare 2006 engines to other 2006 engines, not 1990 engines. That would be like comparing a propshaft rated motor to a crankshaft rated motor, its apples to oranges.

In 1985 hp went up for all domestic manufacturers, and I think with the new EPA rules everything is reversing back to pre 1985 levels, though for different reasons.

posted 05-19-2005 05:39 PM ET (US)            

With respect to clean motors, look on the bright side. The clean 90 HP of today will take the boater 20 to 40 percent farther on a gallon of gas than the strong 90 of yesterday. I think that matters far more than going an extra 2 MPH at WOT where most folks run WOT less than 2 percent of the time. Also, since most folks spend the majority of their time between trolling and cruising speed, maximizing mid range cruising economy should be the primary propeller choice objective rather than top speed. A propeller that produces a higher top speed doesn't necessarily produce the best cruising economy.

posted 05-20-2005 12:10 PM ET (US)            

Lastly, on a performance note, my E-TEC seems to bang out 5000 RPM, trim down, before you have a chance to even look at the tach, but then it is a 5-8 second creep to 5500. I experimented last weekend by trimming out to 5500 RPM, dropping back to 2500, then goosing it. Same thing, 5200 no sweat, and a slow creep to 5500. Speed is a directly proportional to RPM. 5500 gives me 42.5. 5400 is 41, 5300 is 40.5, etc.

posted 06-04-2005 08:55 PM ET (US)            

The differences in the motors are phenomenal. The new E-Tec is *very* quite in comparison, runs smoother, etc., etc., etc. I could go on and on.

One of the best attributes of the new motor is the fuel/oil economy. In the first ~46 hours of operation we have only burned ~1 gallon of XD100 oil (oil setting was still set at the standard TC-W3 oil setting). I have now changed the oil setting to XD100 so we should realize even more oil economy. The fuel savings have been very great too. With the old 88SPL we could run ~24 miles lightly loaded in mild seas on 6 gallons of fuel. With the new engine we run 24+ miles loaded with 3 people, 18 gallons of gas, and ~800-1000 lbs. of gear.

The only thing that I liked better about the older motor was the trim/tilt system. The old fast tilt and slow trim was nice. The E-Tec's one medium speed trim/tilt just does not do it for me.

posted 06-06-2005 03:38 PM ET (US)            

I wonder if the single speed maybe weighs less (1 ram instead of 3?)

posted 06-17-2005 11:24 AM ET (US)            

Where does the cavitation plate sit with respect to the lowest point on the transom?

It should be 1-2" above the bottom of the "V". If it is below the bottom of the "V", I would fully expect to see the results you're seeing (only able to pull 5K rpm).

posted 06-17-2005 06:15 PM ET (US)            

I put a 19P Viper on my new E-Tec 90 ('70 Nauset) and see max. RPM at WOT as well. Probably not the cure-all prop., but it sure works for me. However, also agree that raising your motor can help the RPMs.

posted 06-21-2005 01:26 PM ET (US)            

You're correct about the prop. One of those fastly written E-mails when my fingers aren't connected to my brain.

I mean't to say I couldn't get max speed and not RPM with the 17P prop.

Thanks for pointing out my error.