2 year old 50 HP 2 stroke Ibm a newby to this board and any boat bigger than a jon boat

"Motor pushes a 18' Tracke

"Motor pushes a 18' Tracker Bass Buggy. I have a couple of comments and a couple of questions. I have been resonably pleased with the motor's performance. However, I need advice on how to squeeze more top end out of the motor (for tubing.) What prop should I use? Should I use a different prop just for tubing? Motor seems to cavitate even in a small turn - how to prevent?
The trim tab (anode) came up missing. Is it common for them to vibrate off? Speaking of anodes. Why is the negative of the battery grounded to the motor. The entire boat is thus grounded. Not only would this seem to be a potential problem with the 12 volt system, it seems to me galvanic and stray current corrosion will be accelrated. What problems can be created by putting an on board charger into this equation?

Now on to the most current problem. The high temp alarm goes off after several mintues of wot. The pressure gauge I installed shows 10 + psig at wot. It pees a steady, but not extremly strong stream at idle. Yes, I did recently have trouble launching at a primitive ramp ( read shallow, weedy, and mucky). I have used a weed trimmer line to ream out the pee hole and hose. Where do I go from here?"

Lots of questions here. You ne

Lots of questions here. You need a tach to determine if you have the proper prop. We need to know the PRMs at WOT (wide open throttle). Your motor may bot be low enough causing the cavitation or it need to be tilted in or out. You will have to experiment with different positions. Yes trim tabs can vibrate off. Its usualy due to someone not tightning it enough. The motor hs to be grounded for everuthing to work. An on-board charger is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Check your water intake for trash. You may have to drop the lower unit to check thoroughly and it is possible you damaged your impeller when you sucked up that muck.

"Jack, IBNFISHN has addressed

"Jack, IBNFISHN has addressed most of your issues. I'm only going to speak to your question about pulling a tube and can you re-prop to make that better.

The short answer on this particular rig is NO. As you have it rigged, without anyone on board you have approx 1900 pounds of pontoon boat there that you are trying to push with a 50 horse motor.

A pontoon not being a planing hull means that there is only so much speed you can get out of it in the first place. An 18 foot planing hull at that weight would require at least 90 horses to make a decent tow rig.

You may have got some decent results had you of upgraded to the 75 horse Optimax when purchased, but I do understand that would have added about 4K to the price.

The price of these packages is only attractive if you take them the way they come - but that is almost always underpowered. You either have to live within those limitations, or repower and still get less than totally satisfactory results - this is a 'toon after all, not a ski boat."