Posts: 176
Location: Tomahawk, WI | Mark RJ,
I have a 1998 690vs that is in near new condition, it had a 175 Mariner EFI which blew about a month ago with no warning whatsoever. It always ran great except a little finicky when trimmed up at landings. I always ran Mercury oil and quickleen in every tank. It blew the #2 cylinder, the dealer did not break it down to find the cause because of the expense. My dealer said it would be $7500 for a remanufactured power head installed. A new 175 OPTI would be 11,600 installed with a 5 year warranty, kind of a no brainer, i went with a new OPTI. He gave me 1000 for my EFI, which makes it 10,600 with tax total bill was 11,245. This motor is still in breakin, but i can already tell it has more power. This new Opti is smooth, and starts with the turn of the key everytime.
The old Mariner with a 21 pitch Tempest would go about 52-55 depending on load and a great holeshot prop was not knicked at this time, it would only turn about 5200 rpm at wot. Now my Tempest is kinda beat-up every blade has nicks and gouges (not pretty). With the new Opti i can get about 52-56 depending on load (even with the nicked up prop) and turn about 5800 rpm, yes, i can actually hit the rev limiter. I was thinking about buying a 23 Tempest which i believe would give me the same holeshot, more top end, and lower my rpm's about 200 (100 rpms per pitch i believe is the formula). As you know the props are expensive and i would like to try one out before i buy it. Dont get me wrong im happy with the 21 Tempest, but as stated above it is knicked up badly and in need of replacement. I will keep my 21 for a spare.
I also tried a 23 Trophy small hub which i purchased a aluminum blowout ring from Mark at BBS to match up to the large hub on my motor. The numbers were poor, took along time to get on plane, still would blowout even with the ring, but had great mid range pull and a littly better top end and bow lift, pretty squirrly at wot. rpms were about 5700 with 20 psi water pressure, so the rpms were right there but that holeshot sucked so i put the Tempest back on. Dont get me started on porposing, Mark is right when he says these boats run best with about 1/2 tank of fuel. Mark, I cant send you a pm because you dont have the little tab under your posts to pm you, i tried with your user name and that didnt work.
Sorry RJ for kinda hijacking your post, but there is alot of info you can learn about propping your 690, hope some of this helps you.
Jono buddy, have any comments?
Mike |
