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Bill's Checkmate ZT 240 is born!

Well, a beautiful weekend ahead, time to go fill up the boat and the cooler with those wobbly pops. Trying another prop today, it is a Speed Zone by Turning Point. It is supposed to be faster than the Mirage+. Just be feel, seems to have thinner blades and a little less mass. I will post some numbers tonight when I get back. Thanks Kip, Mike, and Bill for help with the R&D for props!
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Not only do I get to spend the day on the river with my beautiful wife, but she has a friend in town. How many beers till the clothes come off?!?! Man...
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I gotta go!

2003 ZT 240 6.2litre/Bravo 320 H.P. 25P Mirage Plus
 
Everything was so bad about this prop with my set-up that there is nothing to say. I am not saying it is a bad prop, just not for my set-up.

2003 ZT 240 6.2litre/Bravo 320 H.P. 25P Mirage Plus
 
Bill, according to my Mercury prop brochure, the Revolution 4 is a 4 blade cousin to the Mirage Plus 3 blade. Be interesting for you to try one..........
I've never heard of this prop until this spring. Same diameter as the Tempest Plus/Mirage Plus wheels, but with the larger blade area of the Mirage Plus with the addition of a blade. Looks interesting, I'd like to try one on my OB

1995 Pulsare 2100BR/1995 Mercury Promax 225 2.5 EFI/ 1.87:1 Torquemaster/ RapidJack Heavy-Duty manual 10.5" setback/ 23" Tempest worked for ski duty
 
From the way the prop was acting today, It seemed that it did not like the higher X dimension. I actually stoppes once to see if I damaged the prop because it was ventilating at low rpm,s so much. did not want to keep the boat on plain through turns below about 3200 rpm's. It was 7 mph slower then the Mirage plus but turned 100 more rpm's. Vibrated pretty badly below 2800 rpm's with the drive tucked too. How does the Revolution compare to the Bravo that I ran?

2003 ZT 240 6.2litre/Bravo 320 H.P. 25P Mirage Plus
 
According to the brochure, the Bravo 1 is the top Mercury prop for big horsepower big boats in the normal consumer line. Was that prop worked? Might have been messed up by whomever worked it. Since I can play with my X dimension, I can stick to the larger diameter outboard/I-O props like the Tempest Plus, Mirage Plus, and the Revolution 4 in the consumer line. They're all 14 5/8" diameter. The Bravo 1 is 15 1/4" diameter, and Mercury says that's too big for the O/B so it's just for the big motor I/O's.
The Tempest Plus, Trophy Plus, and the Laser II are smaller blade area wheels compared to the Mirage Plus and Revolution 4, and I think that's why that family of wheel is popular with the O-B crowd. I'm thinking my Promax 2.5 won't properly spin a Mirage Plus or Revolution 4 big blade family wheel.
Getting back to your question, it could be that a Bravo 1 is too large a wheel for your big small-block. You may need to stick to the medium diameter (14 5/8") family of wheels, and use the bigger blade area family (Mirage Plus/Revolution 4) Isn't this fun????//

1995 Pulsare 2100BR/1995 Mercury Promax 225 2.5 EFI/ 1.87:1 Torquemaster/ RapidJack Heavy-Duty manual 10.5" setback/ 23" Tempest worked for ski duty
 
JW, I don't have a problem with the 15 1/4 diameter. The horsepower and torque I am getting is more than the straight 454 of a couple of years ago. I ran a 15 1/14x22 Bravo, and it was not enough pitch. It was slow too. Then i ran a 15 1/4x23 Mirage plus, that was much better, but still too small of pitch. Then I ran a 15 1/4x25 Mirage plus. That brought the rpms to 5000, right in the middle of the range and pushed her at 64mph. Ultimately, i will probably end up with thwo Mirages, both 15 1/4x25, but one labbed and one not labbed. I would like to try a Hydromotive, but Mate does not deal with them, and nobody sells them where I live. Back to the River today, the 25 Mirage is back on and waiting! Have a great day!
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2003 ZT 240 6.2litre/Bravo 320 H.P. 25P Mirage Plus
 
OH, and you forgot to tell us the speed difference between through prop and through transom exhaust!!!!!!!!

1995 Pulsare 2100BR/1995 Mercury Promax 225 2.5 EFI/ 1.87:1 Torquemaster/ RapidJack Heavy-Duty manual 10.5" setback/ 23" Tempest worked for ski duty
 
Strangely enough, no difference in speed between the 2. Came off the river early today, weather turned to sh**. It fely great to have the Mirage plus back on. Stephanie, who only has one year of boating experience in the Diplomat, could even fell the difference, and that is without looking at the gauges.

2003 ZT 240 6.2litre/Bravo 320 H.P. 25P Mirage Plus
 
NO difference! That's great. Don'tcha love that EFI taking care of business!

1995 Pulsare 2100BR/1995 Mercury Promax 225 2.5 EFI/ 1.87:1 Torquemaster/ RapidJack Heavy-Duty manual 10.5" setback/ 23" Tempest worked for ski duty
 
This is my first EFI marine application, I am hooked on it! Awesome starting, idle, acceleration, ect... This boat is turning out to be one HELL of a package. Now all I need is some chop on the river. The boat trafiic I have encouted so far has not made this hull flich one bit!
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2003 ZT 240 6.2litre/Bravo 320 H.P. 25P Mirage Plus
 
Here is a recent pic of Bill boat. Also pictured is his friends 87 Checkmate.
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Checkmate-Boats.com-The Fanatics Home!
 
Now Zeus, What do you think
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Absolutely, Even with the flat water, I walked away from him, then kicked up a big old roostertail for grins!
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It was a great weekend considering I had to cancell my vacation

2003 ZT 240 6.2litre/Bravo 320 H.P. 25P Mirage Plus
 
I Can't believe you guys beach your boats. I anchor bow out and run a line from stern to shore. I want the bottom to look as nice as the rest of the boat.

2100 PULSARE 3.0 225 EFI
 
If you look closely on my 240, you can see the keel guard. The rest of the running surface will be scuffed here shortly when I get time to lift the boat off of the trailer for an extra mph or so. What you do is easy on a lake, but try that on a river that flows on average of 4mph. Also, the beach where we are drops off very fast. My depth sounder is reading 15.5 feet about a foot and a half from the transom. Try swimming to shore with your cooler and chairs, ect... Some places, beaching is the only alternative if you want to be on shore. If you do it right and take the proper precautions, there is no damage do to the bottom. You just have to be cautious.

2003 ZT 240 6.2litre/Bravo 320 H.P. 25P Mirage Plus
 
If I decide to keep my big Pulsare, I'm going to add a Keel Guard. Living on the lake and using a shore station it's totally not needed, but they definitely make sense for travel.

1995 Pulsare 2100BR/1995 Mercury Promax 225 2.5 EFI/ 1.87:1 Torquemaster/ RapidJack Heavy-Duty manual 10.5" setback/ 23" Tempest worked for ski duty
 
JW,
They work better than I ever imagined! I recomend you go a foot or two larger then what they suggest for your boats size.

Also a performance update that has me a bit confused... Still running the Mirage plus, 25p, I have lost 100 rpm, but picked up 1 mph. Go figure!

2003 ZT 240 6.2litre/Bravo 320 H.P. 25P Mirage Plus
 
Ok Bill check this out,
You are running faster than i am with less horse power and more prop in basically the same boat. I'm running a 242 convincor with 365 horse with a bravo 1 four blade 22 pitch at 4800 at 62 gps.I was thinking of going to the 23 mirage plus.Do you think that i will spin it to fast?Do you think a 25 mirage plus would do it for me? Give me some input.

"I LOVE THE ARMY"Where else can you travel to beautiful places, meet foreign exotic people an KILL EM !!
 
Disturbed, To my knowledge, the 22 Bravo 1 and the 23 Mirage plus are supposed to run the same RPM. I would be willing to bet your gear ratio is 1.5:1 as apposed to my 1.65:1, which would account for the difference in Prop sizes. Technically, you boat is bigger because my 24 ft includes the swim platform while your 24 feet does not include the platform. Well... Make sense? Oh, also you have the extrra weight of a big block, my 6.2 is a small block.
Ready for that beer in Green Bay?
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2003 ZT 240 6.2litre/Bravo 320 H.P. 25P Mirage Plus
 
I forgot Disturbed, from what I have been taught, a 25 Mirage would be at the bottom of the RPM range which would be too low. Another differance is I can spin my motor up to 5200 compared to your 4800

2003 ZT 240 6.2litre/Bravo 320 H.P. 25P Mirage Plus
 
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