[OldMagicfloat]

I have a 96 24' Outlaw. I love the boat but the depth finder I have come to dislike a great deal. It will read false depths and then will go back to zero. This last Saturday it just read zero the whole day. Is there any information that anyone has that could help me? Considering that the boat is a 96 should I just go through and replace the entire thing? I hate to throw money at a problem but this is my first boat and I like having a rough idea of how deep the water is that I am in.



Another question that I have is on props. I currently have a Mercury Mirage Plus 21P. I would like to go to a bigger prop, 23P. I have talked to several people that have boats similar to mine and they say that a 4 blade is the way to go. They also tell me that it will get rid of most of the chine walking problem. I have a 365hp 454mag motor and it has no problem what so ever pulling the 21P. My question is, Would the 23P 4-blade be too much or not enough for my boat.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Eric

 

[obnoxus]

Easiest way to answer that is what is your max rpm wide open? Are you hitting the rev limiter?

I have a 272 and it HATED the 4 blade,,,,not enough bow lift.

 

[cuda]

My buddy has a 97 Outlaw, and he was bitching about his depth guage all weekend. I don't think you'll have any problem spinning a 23. That is one solid riding boat.

 

[OldMagicfloat]

Depth guages and senders are about $100.00
Sound's like your sender might be going bad.I don't know if you can buy just a sender,I remember someone posting that question here,but don't remember if there ever was an answer. I say if it's important to you,just put in a completely new one.

As far as the 23,obnoxus is right,what RPM'S are you turning. A bigger prop does not always equal more speed. Foer what reason did you want to go bigger?? As far as the 4 blade,I did not like it on my boat,but every boat is different. It actually made my boat feel to light in the stern,and was really squirrly

 

[crmax]

check to make sure your transducer is still glued to the hull, it should be under the motor. I went from a 21" mirage with chinewalk to a 23 lab finished mirage with no chinewalk

 

[eddie]

Your dealer should have some "blue" props that you can test. I think the best thing to do is try them on the boat and decided for yourself. One of our buddies was having problems with his depth finder in a 1997 Outlaw and they put a hole in the bottom of the boat and glued the transducer in. They said the bottom of the boat was too thick and that was the only way to correct it. He had it done last year and it works great. I'm not crazy about the hole idea, but hey it worked.

 

[OldMagicfloat]

I am going to try to find the transducer. Is it inside the motor compartment? What does it look like? Sorry if I sound like a dumbass, I am in a totally new realm.

As far as the prop goes my motor says that WOT is from 4600-5000 RPM and I can push the 5000 if I wanted to, but I would rather lower the RPM. The people that I have talked to with similar size, hp, and weight boat are all using a 23P prop. I just want to try to get the max speed out of my boat with out running the motor too hard. At about 4800-4900 RPM I am running about 63 to 64 on the speedo (don't have a GPS) When I am running hard the boat seems as if the bow is high of course I can change this with trim but I lose speed. When trimmed and running on topend in a little bit of chop it gets pretty squirrely and starts to sway from side to side. I was told that a 4 blade would make the boat more predictable and stable??????????

 

[obnoxus]

you will lose MPH with a 4 blade ( probably )

The transducer is a little black hockey puck looking thing in your motor compartment with a cable comming from it,,, it is possible it has broken loose from the floor, mine did in the beginning.

If you are getting the 4900 rpm fully loaded with people fuel and gear, I would try a 23 you should be able to turn it.

 

[obnoxus]

I run a labbed 23 mirage +,,, how far are you from Chicago? Make a trip up, meet everyone and you can try mine.

 

[OldMagicfloat]

That is kind of funny a friend and I were just talking about going to Chicago. I live in Collinsville, Il., I think that it is about 4hrs away. It probably wouldn't hurt to meet up with you so you could judge for yourself, especially since I am a newbie at all this. I could probably learn a few things as well.

 

[obnoxus]

Ok,,, sounds good,,, so we will see you Saturday right !!!???

 

[obnoxus]

Actually we are south subs of Chicago so a little shorter trip.... do a mapquest to New Lenox

 

[obnoxus]

Just checked,,, your 252 miles away,,,I drove right past you yesterday on the way home from LOTO !!!!!

 

[OldMagicfloat]

Do you have plans for this weekend or next? Which weekend would be best? Are there alot of things to do and places to stay around you? This could be a very doable thing. Does BN live up that way?

 

[obnoxus]

Boat nut and enigma both live 15 minutes from me,,, there is nothing going on that I know of this weekend,,,,, lots of hotels around here and the boat launch,,, I just called bnut to see what his plans are,, no answer.

 

[OldMagicfloat]

Keep me posted. I would be able to leave on Friday night or early Saturday morning. Sounds like it would be alot of fun. Plus I really need to learn some stuff about my boat. Usually I learn the hard way (when it is too late)

Do you think that I will still need the depends?

 

[obnoxus]

Dont feel bad,,, the hard way is the way most of us learned !!!!

As far as the depends, I think he has a pretty good stockpile so we should be ok !!!!!

We usually get to the launch between 10 and 11 am depending on how the morning is going.
I need to get my boat cleaned up after the trip to LOTO,,,its trashed !!!!

 

[OldMagicfloat]

I just came back from there not long ago. I was down there from June 22 -28. What a blast. So many things to see. Gotta love it. Just let me know what you guys are going to do this weekend.

 

[obnoxus]

will do !!!

 

[gilla]

I think the 4 blade provides stern lift-squares with BN experience. Start tracing your transducer from the unit in the dash-it may have become disconnected. If it is tight-then trace the cable to the transducer. If you can't find or get to it-try a new unit that fits your cable-no need to install-just wire it up-and see if the transducer is working. In most boats-getting to the transducer is tough. Good Luck-get to chi town and the experts can help you out.