How to get more Speed out of a 200 Select?

J

Juice

New Member
Sep 16, 2009
2
I have a 2004 Select with the 350 magnum engine and Alpha Drive. Wide open I am running 5000 RPM's with a 3 blade 19 pitch prop. With only two people on the boat and a half a tank of gas I can do 50 mph. Does anyone have any ideas what I could do to get 60+ out of this boat? I am open to any ideas for a different prop to engine work. Thanks
 
Put your face into the wind at 50 MPH. Multiply that force by 100 and you will see what you are fighting just to go 50. Wind pressure and drag increase as the square of speed. Power increase needed to overcome it goes up as the cube of speed. I do not recall the physics on hull drag in the water, but I think the relationship is similar. Bottom line: it will take a huge power increase to go from 50 MPH to 60 MPH.

At 5000 RPM you are past the power peak. A bigger prop will slow the engine down to the power peak, and get the prop to a more efficient speed. You might pick up a couple MPH by optimizing the prop for your low-weight condition, but you might lose top speed with a heavier load, and your hole shot could suffer with a larger prop.

Engine mods: a hot cam shaft and optimized prop for the power will possibly get you to 60 mph. Down side will be lumpy idle, poor fuel economy at all throttle settings, increased part-throttle emmisions, and shorter engine life. A turbocharger will also get you past 60 MPH, but I am not aware of a kit for a boat.
 
A whipple supercharger and a prop change MAY get you there, or drop in a new motor (496MAG HO if it would fit). Whipple does make kits for the 350 MAG. Plan on changing out the Alpha drive also because it isn't rated to the horsepower you would be adding to the boat. Next consideration is hull design. The 200 Select is probably not designed for those speeds so you don't know how it will react (more than likely it will be fine) at that speed.

I disagree with Springer3 regarding a cam change giving you enough power to get you there. I dont believe that even a radicaly lopey cam with all the supporting hardware would get you anywhere near the power you would need for 60+MPH.

Good luck with the project, it's not going to be an easy one!
 
As mentioned, it takes A LOT of HP to try and gain 10MPH. A turbo/supercharger, etc is the only (feasible) way I can think of that will get you there. It's possible that a 496 could do the trick, but that would be much more expensive.

Sea Ray doesn't design their hulls for top end. Instead it's designed for hole shot, mid-range and fuel efficiency.

There are boats that are designed for top end... Fountain, Baja, Checkmate, etc. But, then you lose the hole shot and other stuff.

Now, if someone could figure out an efficient means of being able to shift through different drive ratios...:grin: But, until then, we're stuck with only one gear.
 
Supercharger is the only way you'll see that, Sea Ray's are fairly heavy boats aswell and are not designed for top end as stated.


"Now, if someone could figure out an efficient means of being able to shift through different drive ratios...:grin: But, until then, we're stuck with only one gear."

^^We're working on it :thumbsup:
 
Lazy Daze said:
......Sea Ray doesn't design their hulls for top end. Instead it's designed for hole shot, mid-range and fuel efficiency..
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I agree with Dennis and would add safety and stability.

You can cut a step in the hull……or a couple of steps. This will reduce drag, increase fuel efficiency and top end speed. This does come with the cost of a reduction in safety and stability, even more so when cornering.
 
The CHEAPEST way to go 60 mph is to buy a new boat! I'm not sure why that elusive number is so important? Without knowing where you boat, it's hard to imagine when the conditions would present themselves so that you could actually GO that fast on the water. Besides after all of the mods to the boat, new outdrive (Arneson surface piercing?) for over 300 hp, supercharger, turbocharger, new cam, new pistons, new carburetor, (might as well go with an 8.1 at this point, its' only money!) etc, you still have a hull DESIGNED for 50 mph! If you want to go 70 mph, buy a bass boat! This is the equivalent of making an air cooled volkswagon do the quarter mile in under XX seconds!

On the other hand, if you have the money, don't care that the boat won't have any resale value when you are done and just want to see if you can do it, sure go ahead!! A lot of folks ask the question and there used to be some basic formula that said something like, if you want to add 5 mph to your boats current top speed you need to add about 75 additional horses to do it. You could always do what the Bayliner guy did and put a hydrofoil underneath it? :grin:

Dennis:

There are props designed to "shift" pitch that accomplish the gear shift request. They reset themselves as you come off plane to the lower pitch. As you accelerate and the torque on the prop becomes less as the rpm's climb, it shift to a higher pitch for speed. It was called a Torque Shift Prop made by Land and Sea. They no longer make them unfortunately, but there are guys that will service them.
 
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Sundancer said:
Dennis:

There are props designed to "shift" pitch that accomplish the gear shift request. They reset themselves as you come off plane to the lower pitch. As you accelerate and the torque on the prop becomes less as the rpm's climb, it shift to a higher pitch for speed. It was called a Torque Shift Prop made by Land and Sea. They no longer make them unfortunately, but there are guys that will service them.
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I'm a little bit familiar with those. Meaning, I've heard about them or read about them over the years. But, I have no experience, first hand or second hand. I thought they stopped making them because there were problems? Maybe it was just due to lack of interest?:huh: Do you (or anyone you know) have any experience with them? Do they work as intended? Just curious.
 
Lazy Daze said:
I'm a little bit familiar with those. Meaning, I've heard about them or read about them over the years. But, I have no experience, first hand or second hand. I thought they stopped making them because there were problems? Maybe it was just due to lack of interest?:huh: Do you (or anyone you know) have any experience with them? Do they work as intended? Just curious.
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There were two companies, but I can't remember the name of the other company. They had a loyal following but I don't know much about them. I think one of the companies was local here in Eastern WA or Northern Idaho? Another gentlemen bought the inventory and is providing service to existing owners.

http://www.torqueshift.aeromarine.com/

The concept was sound and it worked. I think they were finicky until dialed in. When you had to get a blade fixed, you had to dial them in again from what I remember. I rode on a small boat with a 3.0 in it. It had a pretty good load in it and the prop made a big difference! The top end was very similar to a normal prop pitch. But the lower setting got it planing much faster.
 
The 200 Select WILL go 60 mph very easily! You just have to put it on the trailer! :grin:

All of my boats can easily go that fast!
 
Sundancer said:
The 200 Select WILL go 60 mph very easily! You just have to put it on the trailer! :grin:
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Or, go up a river that has a 10MPH current...

In all the years I've been in this business and around boats, I've never come across anyone that has had any experience with that. Thanks for the info!
 
Lazy Daze said:
Or, go up a river that has a 10MPH current...

In all the years I've been in this business and around boats, I've never come across anyone that has had any experience with that. Thanks for the info!
Click to expand...

I think DOWN a river might be a little faster!! :huh:
 
Sundancer said:
There were two companies, but I can't remember the name of the other company. They had a loyal following but I don't know much about them. I think one of the companies was local here in Eastern WA or Northern Idaho? Another gentlemen bought the inventory and is providing service to existing owners.

http://www.torqueshift.aeromarine.com/

The concept was sound and it worked. I think they were finicky until dialed in. When you had to get a blade fixed, you had to dial them in again from what I remember. I rode on a small boat with a 3.0 in it. It had a pretty good load in it and the prop made a big difference! The top end was very similar to a normal prop pitch. But the lower setting got it planing much faster.
Click to expand...

I tested the Quicksilver(Merc) switch pitch prop they developed in the early 90s. A friend of mine worked for SeaRay and they approached them to have a good customer test it out. I did and then I told them don't waste their time. It was interesting to play with but fell off quick and cavitated frequently. I had in on my 180BR. When I was able to slowly massage it, I was able to get up on plane and as speed increase you could hear the engine drop RPM and continue to speed up. That was a struggle to make happen though. Too much work and finesse required.
 
Sundancer said:
I think DOWN a river might be a little faster!! :huh:
Click to expand...

Physically faster, yes. But on the boat's speedo it will actually show up as going faster if you go against the current. This way, one could honestly say "My speedo says I go 60MPH!" and they wouldn't be lying:grin:
 
40Sundeck240 said:
I disagree with Springer3 regarding a cam change giving you enough power to get you there. I dont believe that even a radicaly lopey cam with all the supporting hardware would get you anywhere near the power you would need for 60+MPH.
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You are correct. I understood that you would need to re-work the rest of the engine to take advantage of the hotter cam. It would take more than just a cam swap.
 
I think the boat speedo would say the same speed regardless of direction up or down the river. The GPS speedo will register plus or minus 10 MPH depending on whether or not the boat is going up or down stream?

If a train leaves West out of Chicago and another train leaves Seattle headed East.......
 
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