Party Barge 22 XP3 with mercury 150hp

[NorCalRiverRat]

comes with the mercury enertia 15.6 X 13 P rh if anyone has this same toon & motor & prop have you noticed any problems with cavitation. no I haven't tried a different prop.

 

[Checkmate21]

I have a 24 XP3 with a 150 merc. I can't trim it at all. If it is not trimmed almost against the transom it just starts slipping. We are both running the same prop. Mercury makes a plastic ring that goes between the prop and the lower unit. It just snaps in. It cost about $5 and stops the exhaust from leaking out between the lower unit and the prop. it is Prop Bore Sleeve part no. 8M0054695. I have not had a chance to try mine since it is in the water at Big Bear Lake. If it fits, it should solve the ventilation problem. If it doesn't work, I am only out $5. My son is going to try it next weekend.

 

[Checkmate21]

more info:
..and see if you can see a loose plastic bushing trapped between the prop and the gearcase bullet. It appears that Merc forgot that the 150 4S gearcase is 4.88 inch diameter vs 4.75 as on the Optis- and the larger threads for the gearcase cover nuts allowed for some venting around the standard Merc props....so.....they added a wimpy plastic bushing known as a Sleeve, Propeller Bore, which snaps in. The snap-in ears on this sleeve are under-designed and can easily fail- leaving a loose bushing trapped between the prop hub outside diameter and the gearcase inside diameter. The "factory line" on why this sleeve- actually more like a bushing- is there has been discussed on the "bass boat board" as being "needed to keep debris from damaging the threads on the inside of the bullet". I don't agree with the factory story- it's a design flaw- and they should have used a metal sleeve that threads on on top of the gearcase cover nut for a real fix.

Most people that have had this sleeve fail have not been running in any debris, and in my case the sleeve's snap in tabs failed simply due to exhaust heat after a fairly long run at 5000 rpm or so. I was running a Trophy Plus prop at the time which has a small hub- so the loose bushing was easy to see, but with a full size hub prop like a Tempest Plus the sleeve can get jammed between the prop hub and the gearcase. Some have noted that the only way they knew they had a problem was when their props started to vent excessively at low on-plane speeds- or when they lost top end from a dragging sleeve jammed onto the prop hub.

All of my snap in tabs on the sleeve were gone- and the plastic stubs where they were showed some heat damage. I'm not going to replace the sleeve on my motor, since I usually run small hub props that vent around the prop hub anyway, and the missing sleeve doesn't appear to add any vent area on the Trophy Plus.
In any event- it might pay to stock up on a spare sleeve:

Part Number 8M0054695 Sleeve, Propeller Bore

For those of you that have bought Merc parts lately- you will be shocked to find out that Merc is pretty much admitting their boo-boo by only charging $3.20 for a replacement sleeve- even though its around 4 inch diameter and a half inch long with intricate locking tabs molded in. Normally Merc would get $30. for an item this size....and it appears that most dealers do have them in stock- surprise, surprise.
Doug

 

[NorCalRiverRat]

Thanks Checkmate21, good info.

 

[DonS]

I had a 2017 SunTracker 22XP3 with the Merc 150. I never had cavitation issues, but it also had no trim. From 0-3/4 trim, minimal response from the boat. Since the boat was bought to take my family out, 6 adults and 4 grandkids, it just didn't have enough power for anything but putting. With just two adults, it was pretty peppy. One thing that I had an issue with.....it took two hands to turn the thing at anything over 20mph. If I was trying to turn to retrieve a tuber, I would have to stand up and crank on the wheel. Consequently, our new boat has power steering versus hydraulic.