I've searched all over these forums for a good answer to this, but i have a 2002 Bass Tracker Pro 165 w/ a Merc 9.9 that i use to fish some of the smaller horsepower restricted lakes here in Va Beach. The motor runs fine and always has however the trackers have always been hogs when it comes to weight and the 9.9 only gets us a top speed of around 13mph and about 10 with full livewells. Ive heard mixed reviews about changing the props out on smaller motors like this but its time to change the stock prop and im just curious if anyone has had any experience with props other than stock on these smaller outboards and if so do they perform better. The motor has already been carbed up to a 15hp so im not sure theres much more i could do. Any advice would help, thanks.

I had to change the prop on mine since I made a mistake by not getting the Bigfoot model.

The 2 stroke 9.9 motor I had on another boat was a lot better performer.

 

I have the Tracker PT 170 TX.

 

With the stock prop, I could only get 4000 rpms.

I changed to a lower pitch and get almost 6000 rpms.

 

My top speed is 7.4 mph downwind.

I would say you are doing good to get that speed with that motor.

 

My setup includes 5 deep cycle batteries when I use the outboard and 6 deep cycle batteres on electric-only waters. I use a 36 V bow trolling motor and a dedicated battery for electronics.

Heard a lot of guys getting better luck with the 2-stroke, but i know guys getting 15-20mph on simalr boats. I'm fine with the speed we are getting since most of the lakes are smaller however in tournaments it helps to be faster, just didnt know if there was something better considering i have to change it anyways. thanks for the input Wayne.

"way2slow" the motor was just carbed up to a 15 not anything else, didnt mean it was a solid 15hp now. And i can promise you a number of guys in our opens are getting close to 20, believe me i notice the difference everytime we launch..some i know have reduced the weight dramatically and other use jack plates (which i didnt think did much for these motors) and other have the same motor in a 2-stroke. My motors starts pegging at about 5800-5900 rpm, and from the sound of it thats pretty good. One thing i didnt mention earlier is I put a hydrofoil on the motor to help with the cavitation. Before the hydrofoil my boat wouldnt get up on plane until almost 5000 rpms, now with the hydrofoil the boat stays on plane but we lost a mph or 2.

I think the fastest I got in a boat with a 9.9 was 22mph on GPS. That boat was a 14' semi v with three bench seats. That was with me (150 lbs wet) a tackle bag, anchor, and a few rods.

I think the fastest I got in a boat with a 9.9 was 22mph on GPS. That boat was a 14' semi v with three bench seats. That was with me (150 lbs wet) a tackle bag, anchor, and a few rods.

When I had a 2-stroke 9.9 Merc on a fat bottom 12' jon boat it would go 25 mph GPS. That is why I made the mistake by not getting the Bigfoot model 4-stroke.

My point was, if that's about the speed I got on a boat that weighed 400 lbs., what does he expect from a 16' finished bass boat?

They make smaller hydrofoils for smaller engines for a reason, the prop was extremely damaged also the reason I started this post to see if someone suggested something different than the stock one. The hydrofoil definitely helps and I might notice that with a new prop with a new pitch I might not even need it. But for the last year the motor would peg before it even got on plane. I took the stock prop to the local prop shop today to be fixed so I will see how that does before I pay for a new one. Getting this one fixed isn't costing me any money. Thanks for the input guys

I've come to the conclusion you seem to have a problem with me, or my suggestions, I think it best if I stay out of your post from now on, and felt it best if I deleted my post to keep from creating more conflict. I'm just and old, dumb redneck that doesn't know much about this stuff and you seem to have all the answers anyway.