my 2.5hp is too fast

[Jerry H]

Here are a couple options on props. that I found after a quick google check. I'm sure you can find more.

http://boatpropellers.iboats.com/Mercury/2.5_HP_(1990Newer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)_Propellers/660/?cart_id=262725195


That path didn't work. Let me try something else.

[G-Man]

Looking at the available props, I think that you may have a slow idle or a GPS issue. The only props that are readily available are 6 and 7 pitch and I'm betting that your stock prop is one or the other. With a 6 or 7 pitch prop and your motor idling at a normal rpm, there should be no reason you are moving a 3mph, especially if WOT only gets you to 5mph. My hand held GPS unit reads the same as the GPS on my sonar unit, plus the lure action I get seems to match the speed I'm reading. A quick check for your speed would be to drag a small flatfish in the water next to the boat. If it isn't a rapid blur, then you are not going 3mph. If it is just a slow back and forth wiggle, you are doing under 1mph.

[BentRod]

I use my handheld gps to watch my trolling speed on the lake. The paddle wheel on my ff never seemed to work even at the max speed my 55# thrst electric would push me. The gps worked well though. hope you figure out what works.

[hewesfisher]

Common FF paddle wheels are unreliable for slow trolling. Troll with or against current and/or windy conditions and it will affect your actual speed through water. The paddle wheel needs water flow over it to work. My WAAS enabled GPS and Luhr Speed (made by Luhr Jensen) are significantly more accurate. I set my trolling speed using either of those devices, never by paddle wheel. For about $40 the Luhr Speed is very accurate and doesn't rely on electronics.

[MotoBoat]

Looking at the available props, I think that you may have a slow idle or a GPS issue. The only props that are readily available are 6 and 7 pitch and I'm betting that your stock prop is one or the other. With a 6 or 7 pitch prop and your motor idling at a normal rpm, there should be no reason you are moving a 3mph, especially if WOT only gets you to 5mph. My hand held GPS unit reads the same as the GPS on my sonar unit, plus the lure action I get seems to match the speed I'm reading. A quick check for your speed would be to drag a small flatfish in the water next to the boat. If it isn't a rapid blur, then you are not going 3mph. If it is just a slow back and forth wiggle, you are doing under 1mph.

G, Although your thought process is good. I think at 3mph a small flatfish would tilt uncontrollably to the left and right and possibly rotate. Not track straight with a blur. Can't a medium to large flatfish take 3mph of trolling speed? That in it self would be a clue to a fast troll. No doubt about it.

I seems to me. Any speed above 2mph gives quite a bit of prop wash. And at 3 there is a v wake coming off the boat. Another indicator would be a Salmon Flasher. Will it rotate at 1-2mph?

A 2.5hp 2 stroke trolling at 3mph with a top speed of 5. Sounds to be idling to fast. Is there an external idle speed adjustment? I don't think he has as much a chance of burning the motor up as the motor not idling consistently. When the idle is too low. Don't mess with the mixture screw.

Is there a F-N-R gear option on the 2.5hp? If so, does the motor shift into gear really hard? Like the shift is hard on the motor? Not a quiet shift but kinda violent? Hard to ask this question and be understood.

[edge540]

I get what your saying, I bet if one of us with that have run alot of boats could take a look at it something would stand out. Its either ideling very fast or its not going as fast as he thinks. I wonder if he is leaving the choke high idle on or if its just out of adjustment. Wish I was closer to take a look at it.

[MotoBoat]

I get what your saying, I bet if one of us with that have run alot of boats could take a look at it something would stand out. Its either ideling very fast or its not going as fast as he thinks. I wonder if he is leaving the choke high idle on or if its just out of adjustment. Wish I was closer to take a look at it.

I think Anglinarcher is in that neck of the woods. He is pretty helpful.

[juggalo]

the motor runs really well and idles low. it has no neutral and is allways in gear,and revs and powers up nice and smooth.it could be all in my head i guess.years of trolling with an electric maybe alot slower than i reallized.ive always just just trolled as slow as possible while maintianing what i judge as good lure action.in the past ive always had to be very mind full of my battery life.so ive stayed in the lowest gear possible.this has proven very difficult on larger bodies of water thus the introduction of the gas motor.i judge my trolling speed buy watching the shoreline also and this to seems to be a much faster fast pace than i am used to

[MotoBoat]

the motor runs really well and idles low. it has no neutral and is allways in gear,and revs and powers up nice and smooth.it could be all in my head i guess.years of trolling with an electric maybe alot slower than i reallized.ive always just just trolled as slow as possible while maintianing what i judge as good lure action.in the past ive always had to be very mind full of my battery life.so ive stayed in the lowest gear possible.this has proven very difficult on larger bodies of water thus the introduction of the gas motor.i judge my trolling speed buy watching the shoreline also and this to seems to be a much faster fast pace than i am used to

Based on your feeling that the trolling speed has picked up with the gas motor. Does your gear look like it is moving to fast in the water when watched from the side of the boat? I still seems strange the boat appears to troll at 3mph with a 2.5hp motor that idles down nicely. As far as the motor goes, given the idle is as low as it can go. That only leaves a prop change, if that is a option. The positive of a prop pitch change is a slower trolling speed, the negative would be a loss of overall top speed. Or hook up a idle speed indicator and compare that with the manufacturers recommended idle speed range. Outside of those options is the drag something behind the boat. Or, and this is not......I repeat not a common tactic for trolling here in the states. But back trolling is effective for slowing the trolling speed. Back trolling is just that, trolling backwards. The boat does not travel backward through water as efficiently as it does forward. I would think the boat speed would be cut by 1/3 or more depending on wind.

[juggalo]

when trolling my wedding rings and plugs they seem to still have a good action just faster than im used to.im very interested in this luhr speed indicator although $50.00 seems like alot of money just to know my speed.the motor in question does not have reverse so back trolling as youve described would be a pain

[juggalo]

i think part of the problem may be that the boat is very narrow and shallow

[MotoBoat]

when trolling my wedding rings and plugs they seem to still have a good action just faster than im used to.im very interested in this luhr speed indicator although $50.00 seems like alot of money just to know my speed.the motor in question does not have reverse so back trolling as youve described would be a pain

I have a 3 horse motor that is forward speed only. For reverse the motor is turned 180 and the prop has a opportunity to hit the bottom of my boat. I thought turning the motor in the reverse position, might be a pain. But thought to throw the back trolling option out there. Since it is not ever talked about. I get some strrraaaange looks on the lake when occasionally back trolling. But that is one effective lake trolling technique. Much more common when river fishing in a boat.

[hewesfisher]

im very interested in this luhr speed indicator although $50.00 seems like alot of money just to know my speed.

I think mine was $39.95 at the White Elephant in the valley. At idle, my 8hp kicker moves our boat at about .9mph. I consider the Luhr Speed an essential piece of trolling equipment on our boat and use GPS as a back up.

Seems like you should be able to run at idle and hardly move a 14' boat with your 2.5hp. You will not be able to run as slow as an electric trolling motor though, so what you're seeing may indeed be the difference between the two motors.

Oh yeah, if you need to have the motor checked out, stop in and see Rick Henderson at Elephant Boys. Tell him Phil from Spangle sent you and he'll take good care of you.

[MotoBoat]

im very interested in this luhr speed indicator although $50.00 seems like alot of money just to know my speed.

I think mine was $39.95 at the White Elephant in the valley. At idle, my 8hp kicker moves our boat at about .9mph. I consider the Luhr Speed an essential piece of trolling equipment on our boat and use GPS as a back up.

Seems like you should be able to run at idle and hardly move a 14' boat with your 2.5hp. You will not be able to run as slow as an electric trolling motor though, so what you're seeing may indeed be the difference between the two motors.

Oh yeah, if you need to have the motor checked out, stop in and see Rick Henderson at Elephant Boys. Tell him Phil from Spangle sent you and he'll take good care of you.

Hey Phil. If you have GPS speed and I assume temp on your F.F. What is the need or purpose for the Luhr Speed Indicator?. Do both speed indicators read the same at all times? If not, which do you trust?

For comparison with your and Hewesfisher's slowest trolling speed. I am running a 9.9 two stroke for a kicker on my 17ft Lund fish and ski. My boat is a much lighter boat than Hewesfisher's Hewescraft. And a tad bit heavier than the juggalos 14ft boat. My boat and main motor should weight 1200lbs, add 300lbs for gear and trolling motor. My slowest trolling speed is also .8-1.0mph. My F.F. screen will not shows speed until a minimum of 1.5mph is reached. So my trolling speed is a guesstimate. But pretty accurate. if anything I can troll a tad slower than that. I must twist the throttle more than a little to reach 1.5mph. In fact I almost double my slowest trolling speed to achieve 1.5mph of boat speed. My max speed with the 9.9 hp is 8.0mph.

3mph is pretty darn fast when trolling. 2.5 - 3.5mph is what we do for Coho Salmon here on the West side. The average person walks at 3.0 and that is not a casual walk unless extremely long legged.

Okay, just thought of a rudimentary, McGiver method to determine your approximate trolling speed. Some one check my math. Check this out. 3mph (your guessed trolling speed) x 5,280ft (1 mile) = 15,840ft of boat travel at 3mph. Divided by 60 minutes in a hour X 60sec in a minute = 3600sec. Stay with me here. 3600sec divided into 15,840ft = 4.4ft of travel every 1sec. multiplied by 3 = 13.2ft. 14ft is the length of your boat. So, the closest multiplier to the length of your boat.

Okay, your boat is 14ft long ( I think you said 14ft). Then at trolling speed, if you were to walk to the front of the boat and drop a marshmallow or ball of power bait (biodegradable floating item) in the water at the front of the boat in a 3 count (1-one-thousand......2-one-thousand.......3-one-thousand) that mallow or powerbait will travel 13.2ft. Your 14ft boat would not pass the floating object by 8" (rounded up). Or use your watch to count off the 3sec.

If trolling speed is 2mph. In 3sec the floating object will travel 2.9ft. x 3 = 9ft. Let's call it 5sec = 14.5ft of boat travel.

If trolling speed is 1mph. It would take 1 x 5,280 =5,280 divided by 3600 = 1.45ft per sec x 10sec = 14.5ft traveled.

To summarize:
1mph = 14.5ft of boat travel in 10sec.
2mph = 14.5ft of boat travel in 5sec.
3mph = 13.2ft of boat travel in 3sec.
4mph = 14.65ft of boat travel in 2.5sec (added this equation in case your really flying..LOL!!)

Drop the floating item, in the water at the bow of the boat when at minimum trolling speed. Use your watch to determine how many seconds it takes for that object to reach the back of your 14ft boat. Pick the speed that is closest to how many seconds it takes.

This email took a little work. So, do report back if it worked or not? I think I will try it on my boat next time I am out and the water is calm. On a breezy day this would not be as accurate. After all, this is a McGiver-ism! And does seem fairly simple. Definitely less than 50.00 for the entire test. Try the test 3 times for accuracy. I think that to be a Mythbuster standard! LOL!!

This test is for MPH ..............Not..............KNOTS.