Need help!!!

I think you need to take BCB’s advice that the 25 is too much prop. Are you much higher than sea level where you’re fishing? Mark Croxton or Ronnie Gilbert can repitch your Tempest if you don’t want to buy a new one, but that still will cost. Your Fortrex will probably help keep the front end down some, do I’d surely put it on. Respectfully, I think your biggest problem is that you still haven’t established a baseline. It seems every time you run it, you’re making a couple big changes, just try one little change at a time. Go to the lake for the day during the week, and just plan on making one adjustment at a time and keep going back to the dock, adjust and make another run.

bobsquatch13 wrote: Today’s best running position was:  All 3 holes on the 25″ Tempest + with the large pvs plugs in, 3 1/2″ prop to pad and hole shot was not fast but did get on plane, maybe 6 seconds? Nose went quite high before settling down at 18 -20 mph to plane. Got to high of 5320 rpm’s and speed per smart phone gps at 62mph. (boat speedo doesn’t work nor does the water pressure guage). Did try raising prop to pad to about
3 3/4″ and also tried with less pvs plugs and solid plug with nothing doing as good as what I show as todays best running position. Chine walk bad enough didn’t push for more but don’t believe would have changed much, if any at all? Problem now hole shot is still not good, had 2 of us in the boat with zero fishing equipment of any kind and new M/K trolling motor now on. I’d be surprised if I was going to get anything better out of this prop? BTW its in good shape. Trouble with idea of buying another prop, they are expensive and these figures above are so far under what they should be not sure a new prop would do any better – lot of money to spend if little to no improvement. BTW, any kind of sharp turning around at all produces very heavy blow out, hard to stay on plane, have to let settle down before going on plane again. I don’t mean lock to lock turning around, more like just turning in the wide river arm to go the other direction. Note, at no time was any big change made, only did one thing at a time, came back in to change then tried again until we didn’t know what else to try????????????????

I had a 98 Jag with a 225 Opti and a 25 Tempest Plus. It basically ran and responded this way no mater how I worked the plugs are JP height. Slow to plane. Blow out when making turns.
I replaced it with a 24 Fury 3. Added 3 additional 5/16 holes. Improved the hole shot, handling, and top speed. Keep in mind, the early Optimax was a weak engine.