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Chopper On Starliner/Starflite?

atc250r

atc250r

Well-known member
I've got a 24 Trophy on my Starliner (21ft, no pad, 5.5" setback, 6 inch notch, on a 250 EFI 1.75 standard lower, reeds, 4 butterfly intake, and 300 ignition box) and its a little under propped and a great all around prop but I think a 26 Chopper would give this hull more lift (bow and stern) and get me some more MPH. Just looking for input on it since I can pick one up locally for a good price from someone on here. When I tried a Chopper the boat seemed to like it. It felt like it rode higher and from the picture I saw it looked like it too. Also seemed that with the Chopper it didn't chine walk like it tends to with the Trophy. I'm guessing some of the experience from the SOB type boats would carry over onto this one.

John
 
Ive got a pad and my boat is smaller and lighter so my experience is in no way relevant to your situation BUT ...My 26 pitch big ear chopper is my best all around prop. Low 80's at 7200 stopping at the rev limiter no problem even with a 2:1 lower with almost no steering torque IF it's surfaced and none of that silly chine walk nonsense. Like a bat out of hell off idle and 75 MPH in about 5 seconds. Pic below is running the 26 pitch chopper...

V0yFUQ.jpg
 
I agree not all of the characteristics will carry over but I think that a prop that provides a lot of lift will do its best to provide it whether on your lighter, padded hull or my hull. Here's a couple of pics that show the attitude of the boat with the two props in question:

99.9% sure this is with my 24 Trophy:

IMG_1828_zpss6ybbu96.jpg

99% sure these two were with a 26 Big Ear:

CIMG0418_zpsxjlrjqhr.jpg

CIMG0417_zpsfgjy6em4.jpg

I can't deny it was over trimmed in that last picture but I was trying to see what worked with a prop I never tried before and it just happened that my buddy was out on the lake putting docks away for the season and snapped a couple of pics.

It seems I can run the motor higher with the Chopper, if I jack the motor as high with the Trophy it can't carry the bow and slows down. I also don't have a LWPU but the top 4 intake holes on each side are plugged. Right now I'm only about 3 or 4 mph off from what the Challenger it was on ran with a 26 Bravo so for a heavier boat with no pad and less set back I think I'm doing pretty well.

John
 
Neutral trim with the 26 chopper.

JSfyij.jpg
 
Ideally yes. Without more setback which means adding beefed up knees probably gonna need a little positive. No pad doesn't help either..
 
ATC, your boat looks good in the pix's.
Over trimmed? That's what it takes on a heavy vee.
Remember, you are running a full 21' boat, no pad, that's heavy.
Only way to make it run is with HP's and set back.
You and I will both learn from what I'm doing with mine.
I ran the Tempest today. Better but the set is still horrible.
Our boats are ones that when you raise the motor you may lose speed.
W/weight, you HAVE to have prop in the water to carry it. Period.
What it took to make my 543 lb Hydrostream run 100+ means nothing on this boat. Keep after it and you'll get there.
From what I've seen so far, if you have a Starliner running over 60 w/a (stock) 225 your doing good.
When I bought mine it ran 57. I ran 63 today.
 
The boat looks like it has good lift for a Starliner. I had the best success with a Rev4 at around 2" below the vee. Basically it is a 4 blade Tempest. Lots of rake and therefore lift. These hulls never quite fly no matter what you do.
 
Thanks Gary and Mark. Best I saw with my 3.0 200 JohnnyRude was 63 with that Raker with 5.5 set back. I'm seriously consider a set of 4 inch extensions from Bob's. They're not very expensive and I'll take it easy in the rough stuff until I get the transom beefed up like I want it. When I was seeing 63 it was with the shaft 3 to 4 inches below the V. Raising from 4 to 3 below didn't gain me any speed but going higher you could feel it wasn't able to carry the bow and would scrub off speed. Waiting to hear back from someone fairly local that has a 26 Chopper, if I don't I know a member here has a really nice one. Season is winding down and I'd like to do some testing. Do you have a bow cover for yours Gary? If not that'll add a couple of mph. I put the kids' tow tube across bow seats then put the cover on, helps hold it up.
 
I tried everything from 6" to 13" setback and never really saw any speed gains. I got more lift... and more low speed porpoising. In the end I went to 6" hydraulic so I could adjust height for different conditions. (Basically the same speed at ever height) Seems to me that if you want to go faster with that hull you have to add ponies.
 
Question:

What's the highest top speed anyone has seen on their Starflite/liner?

Does the Starliner weigh more than the Flite?

Last question, have owners taken into account the weight of different power units. This could be substantial difference from older units to newer and or manufacturer?

Maybe I can do some research for comparison, if I have year/manufacture/model.
 
Carusoracer said:
Question:

What's the highest top speed anyone has seen on their Starflite/liner?

Does the Starliner weigh more than the Flite?

Last question, have owners taken into account the weight of different power units. This could be substantial difference from older units to newer and or manufacturer?

Maybe I can do some research for comparison, if I have year/manufacture/model.
Click to expand...

I've run 67 in my Starliner w/a stock 1991 225 OMC w/8" of set back and through hub Raker prop.

I am repowering/rigging this winter and should be safely into high 70's by spring.

On motor weights:

2.5 Merc pleasure motors are I think 410 - 420, Hi Perf 2.5's closer to 400 even, w/trim in the boat.
3.0 Mercs are same weight as 3.0 OMC's at 450lbs.

These are all non direct injected motors. Add 50+ for them and 50+ more for most of the 4 strokes.

I think the Liners are a bit heavier than the Flights and all that weight is in the bow which is a negative.
 
"Spoiled's" on here runs low 60's with 2.4 200 and 24 Trophy Plus. Little more with the 24 Chopper but needs more rpm to stay on plane. 8" setback.
 
For what its worth

The best luck I had with my 92 starflite as far as top speed goes was running a 25 tempest, that was with a 92 merc 2.5l 200 xri. It was a little slow out of the hole with that prop, i messed around with the pvs plugs and the medium ones seemed the best. I never used a gps but with that prop the boat was carrying the nose the best and with two or three in the boat It would do 65-68 on the dream-o-meter, so I'd guess low 60s real speed. That prop was the best I found for lift on that boat, I had tried trophys and a few choppers. Boat was stock, no setback at all. I miss that boat, it was a blast to drive, Should've never sold it....:brickwall:
 
Last edited:
Been running the same 92 starflite with a merc carbed 245 hp for 20 yrs. I have a 10 in cmc offset bracket plus the cmc hydo lift. for a total of 15.5 inches of set back. I'm spinning the same 21p lazzor II that came with the boat. Back when everything was new and dry I was able to achieve 74-75 mph. Now I'm able to hit about 70 mph.

After installing the 10 bracket, I really didn't notice any real again in speed, but with the extra leverage, I was able to carry a heavier load to speed. 3 guys and a cooler close to 70. But I run in big water +90% of the time, the stress on the transom was severe and caused problems. And it made pulling me out of the hole on a slalom ski more difficult. All in all I would do without the extra offset.

The high flying 2.5 is the wrong mota for this hull. Its light weight and high reving is made for a 400-800 lb hull.

The hull has foam in the bow that holds about 100lbs of water so make sure thats dry. few of us here has pulled the foam ou

I guess it pretty good in a 1 1/2 foot chop/ really don't have anything to compare it to. I've run erie, huron, the river, georgian bay, havasue, loto and always made it back (erie was 4-8 ftrs once)

Good Luck and mine can be had for $4000 or best (I'mselling the mota and throwing in the boat and trailer for free.
 
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