Another "Roy Roach" 28 Drag IV to test..............

[K-DAWG XB 2003]

Just received a Performance Propeller Drag IV 28 pitch custom worked by Roy Roach. The tips of the blades are cupped. Gonna try and get out on the river tomorrow and give it a good spin and see what it all about. Have heard very good things about this prop for my set up. Details to follow.

 

[TxAllisonXB21]

What diameter is this prop? I looks good!!

 

[K-DAWG XB 2003]

15' diameter.

 

[K-DAWG XB 2003]

Well, I finally got a chance to get out and run it. First it was super freak'in hot here today. The air temp was 96 and water temp is 87 and I didn't get out until around 6:30 this afternoon. On the way home from work today around 3:00 it was 101. So, with that out of the way back to the ride. Livewell empty and around 14 gallons of fuel boat boat loaded with all my fishing gear. I would say it was a medium load. I trimmed her down stomped it and she rev'd to 5k and stayed there until she was level. RPM's didn't spike when the bow fell over they stayed the same. I don't have any kind of planning aid. Prop prop pushed my boat out of the whole really good and bow rise was relatively low. Has good acceleration and drives well until I get her up and running. I need a stainless trim gauge so I know where the motor is. Looking back at the cowl I cannot tell where I am trim wise. The old Pro Max cowl's top was flat not angled like the Pro XS and it hard to tell where she is trim wise. I thought about leveling the pad then leveling the motor and putting a level white line on the cowl so I can tell when I am running the motor neutral. I think I am over trimming and that's why it doesn't take a consistent set. A few runs she ran like it was on rails and more than half she was really flighty/squirrely. The one time she did take a set and I got to run it I made it to 6k and 85 on the gps she was still accelerating but, the river here don't offer a lot of straightaways long enough to really run it for any distance so I had to get out of it. To many curves. I don't know where the limiter is on this motor. The tag states max rpm is 6000. So, I may need to get it worked to bring to RPMs down. Gonna see if I can get out on the inter-coastal water way next weekend. There are a few areas out there big and open enough where I can really run it for distance. So, far I like it and can see that it is going to carry a load really well. More to come.

 

[whipper]

Great review. When my promax was fresh I could use a 28 drag with tip cup as a ski prop with 4 total passengers no problem. iy carried a load real well for a 28 and a litle fishing motor. i found you can run em high or low. Some props dont like it low and high. One or the other. There very robust I think also. Have you ever ran one of Todds old T4-X props? I would be interested if you have the differences? The T4X is a bucket list prop as is the T3X for me. The blade area is very similar on the 4X as the Drag4.

 

[K-DAWG XB 2003]

Never ran any of Todds props. I still want to get my hands on a 28 or 30 et lighting to try out. I hope to get out on the water without the wife and little girl and get some more seat time. I am hoping that the top speed is a lot better than I have seen so far. If about 85 is all I am gonna see I will be disappointed with it.

 

[patches]

With a 15" 4 blade you should be able to raise the motor. I'm not gonna say how high but you'd have to get that big sucker out of the water to do any good

 

[K-DAWG XB 2003]

With a 15" 4 blade you should be able to raise the motor. I'm not gonna say how high but you'd have to get that big sucker out of the water to do any good

With my current set up I feel like I am in "Undiscovered Country". Not a lot of people to ask about how to set it up. At 5.5 inches of set back I am not sure how high I can run the lower unit. I would think less set back would equal less height. The lip pushes the water down away from the pad and being closer to the pad gives it less time/distance to rise up. So, with 5.5 inches of set back at 1/4" below the pad could be like running even or slightly above at 14.5" of set back. I am definitely gonna work on set up before I pass any judgment on this prop. With what I think I know. I am gonna go down a 1/8" and see how she runs. If it runs better may drop down again if she don't responded well to that Ill go the other way. Besides, I am not having any trouble turning it. I want to prop it to run between 5800 and 6000 RPM. On a 95 degree day I turned it 6k and may have got another 100 to 200 rpm out of it if I had more room to run. So how high does it really need to be if I can turn it?

 

[GotMyAlly]

My experience is there isn't as much to be gained by raising the motor with a 3.0L because of the torque the motor creates I guess. With my 225X, a buried motor might have shaved off 10-15 mph over the optimum motor height and the engine would really be lugging. With the 3.0L, the difference in buried and optimum height might be 3-5 mph.

When I say buried, I mean jackplate full down. I run that way in rough water, and it may be 4" below the pad.

 

[TBuck2003]

Moving in 8-9 inches your effective motor height is a LOT higher than before, if you are at same setting on plate. I would lower at least 1/2" and run it and see how it performs. If no gains are to be had from running lower it might be time for a different style exhaust tube on prop other than over hub for fishing and some playing... Good luck !!!

 

[K-DAWG XB 2003]

Thanks for the tips guys. The prop is great out of the hole. Like I said before I don't have any kind of planning aid and she climbs right out without any trouble. I positive I have some set up issues to fix. Prop runs to good to not run a better top end number. I am sure there's some prop tweaking that can be done still to improve the performance. But, before I go there I want to make sure I can tell him exactly how she runs so, he can make the right tweak.

Todd, That's exactly what I was thinking. I need to lower it. I think I am to high because I am having a hard time getting her to take a set. Because of that I haven't felt real comfortable with cutting her loose. I have only been able to make a few high speed runs cause she is so flighty.

 

[whipper]

My experience is there isn't as much to be gained by raising the motor with a 3.0L because of the torque the motor creates I guess. With my 225X, a buried motor might have shaved off 10-15 mph over the optimum motor height and the engine would really be lugging. With the 3.0L, the difference in buried and optimum height might be 3-5 mph.

When I say buried, I mean jackplate full down. I run that way in rough water, and it may be 4" below the pad.

Thats interesting. Do you loose much MPG lower to higher or not enough to worry about? Ive heard the same thing before about these motors liking an inch below over anywhere near above on an Ally. If the moter is to be an inch below a threw exhaust hub would work better than a Over in that case I would think also. Running a Drag4 though you need to be a little higher just so the exhaust can not effect the bite. Bellow the pad you would loose efficiency with this style of prop.

 

[GotMyAlly]

Not enough MPG difference to worry about it. I keep my jackplate bottomed out unless I'm going to run north of 80 MPH or so. The motor will push it faster than that even with the prop buried, but it has so much bite it'll torque over to the left. Raising the jackplate at that point is more about handling than trying to squeeze out a few more RPMs.

 

[TBuck2003]

If the boat is flighty now it will have more bow lift from a leverage standpoint when you go down. But the boat should take a better set from the height adjustment...

 

[whipper]

Great stuff guys i like it.

 

[K-DAWG XB 2003]

OK, I went and adjusted the Jackplate. I am at 1/2" below now. Ill run her this weekend and report back. Wish I would have been able to make the rally. This could just be my complete lack of ability to freakin drive.............

 

[K-DAWG XB 2003]

Just to add a little more info. My pad is pretty beat up. I have a beaching bumper on it because of the lack of a dock where I put in at 90% of the time. I back the bpat down one side of the ramp and park the boat on the other side. Twice now while the wife was in the boat when I went to push it off. With the extra weight in it the pad bumped the ramp pretty good. Any how I have since took a piece of sand paper to smooth it up a little bit. I measured it and the pencil roll is only .030 tall now. I prolly need to take it down to Jack Barsh and have him fix it. But, in the mean time how does this affect motor height? here are a few pictures of it.

 

[TBuck2003]

Makes all the difference in the world KDawg... At .030 you have to run higher to compensate for the tail lift lost with lip... If I were you I would be doing that before sinking any more $ into props or set up... That damage is in a critical area. My.02

 

[K-DAWG XB 2003]

I have read the argument here multiple times lip vs no lip. Seems like remember reading you need less lip with more hp. I ran over 87 with the same pad on a stock 2.5 liter 200 so I don't think the loss of mph or handling is gonna be that significant with the pad as is. A;though I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have Jack Barsh look at it.

 

[resqu-u]

It's fairly well documented that the smaller the lip the higher the motor needs to be ran. Most guys say without a lip that they run even or above the pad. With a 20" 2.5 I don't see an issue but with a 20" 3.0 running that high may be a recipe for disaster. You should be able to build the lip back up yourself without a problem. If your an even .030 on both sides I would start by cleaning up all of the chips and scrapes with white Marine Tex. The chips/scrapes could be causing distorted water flow to the lower/prop and although you ran it like that with the 2.5 the 3.0 case may be more sensitive. If you need more lip to get the motor a little lower you can use the marine tex to build the lip back up in stages to the size you like. Somewhere between .030 and .090 you may find the sweet spot. You will know what you like/dislike in stages and save the trip to Full Throttle that might not solve the problem. Good Luck, Shane