Performance impellers and

[Smitty244]

I have a 2021 sx195 with 30 hours on it. I bought it new and the first summer I had it I was idling and sucked up a stick that was roughly 3” long and 3/4” wide. It was a small piece of driftwood. When I tried to throttle up I knew something was wrong because had terrible vibration. I idled it the rest of the way to the trailer. My dad and I pulled it apart to find it wedged in the impeller and ware ring area. Did not see any type of damage whatsoever. Ever since then the top speed of the boat is normal but from an idle if I just nail it wide open I get crazy cavitation. I don’t recall this before that happened. Does anyone have any thoughts? Maybe a small ding in a blade on the propeller?is it possible this would have damaged the ware ring? Long story short I’m wondering about a performance impeller. Is there one that gains you a couple mph without sacrificing bottom end? If so can someone recommend one? Also if I do this would it be worth changing the ware ring at the same time even with only 30 hours on the boat? Please help point me in the right direction and also any advice on special tools or what is involved in changing the impeller/ware ring is greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

First thing you need to check is the gap between the impeller and the wear ring, on each of the blades and through the length of each blade where it meets the wear ring. It is possible that event with the stick could have bent the blade it was stuck under. I doubt a stick would have messed up the wear ring, I think your issue will probably be the impeller itself.

 

[Smitty244]

First thing you need to check is the gap between the impeller and the wear ring, on each of the blades and through the length of each blade where it meets the wear ring. It is possible that event with the stick could have bent the blade it was stuck under. I doubt a stick would have messed up the wear ring, I think your issue will probably be the impeller itself.

Any thoughts on a performance impeller? I might just replace it.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

What kind of performance are you looking for? There are some specialize ones out there but they sort of take from Peter to pay Paul… you can get one that has great hole shot, but then top speed suffers.. let me know what it is you are looking for.

 

[Smitty244]

What kind of performance are you looking for? There are some specialize ones out there but they sort of take from Peter to pay Paul… you can get one that has great hole shot, but then top speed suffers.. let me know what it is you are looking for.

I wouldn’t mind a bit more top end performance. I just think it would be silly to put an oem one back in and not gain something. I can’t imagine bottom end would suffer much would it? I’d still want to be able to get an adult skier up and plane easily with a boat load of adults. Svho seems pretty strong so I don’t imagine this would be a problem?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

From what I’ve read on this site the OEM impeller offers the best all around performance.

If your oem impeller is bent you can get it repaired for a lot less than buying a new one.

There’s actually a thread somewhere a guy with a boat like yours posted a while back, he’s a single ski slalom guy with a boat like yours. He is at high altitude and was chasing a re pitch for that, what he found was that he was on the edge of the single engine performance and minimum pitch on the impeller. If he had a low enough pitch for late in the day when horsepower was lower it was not enough pitch for the morning and he had to be very judicious with the throttle or it would cavitate.

Having said that, your desire for faster top speed and hole shot power to pull up a skier are at opposite of the performance spectrum. You can get a twin screw impeller for maximum hole shot pull up a skier performance but that will cut top end speed. A top speed impeller may not have the umph to pull up a skier. Think of it as end gears in a truck, 4:11’s will give impressive toque and pulling power, while 3:33’s will give the highest top speed at the expense of pulling power.

So you have to be realistic in your desires, you can have a compromise impeller like the oem, a specialized low end impeller or a specialized top end impeller.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

These are typically torque type impellers.

 

[Thermobrett]

Sorry to hear you sucked up the stick. I would suggest (just a suggestion) removing the impeller and having it looked over/balanced. This may be significantly cheaper than going with a replacement. If this comes out OK and is true to OEM spec, you may need to dig a little deeper and make sure nothing else is/was damaged. Like @FSH 210 Sport mentioned, you may sacrifice top end for hole shot, or hole shot for top end. Unfortunately, our boats do not have tilt/trim like OB or I/O boats so the majority of the boat rides in the water (drag) and we are limited to the amount of water pushing out of the pump. If you are looking to squeeze more performance, there are many options out there depending how deep your pockets are for just a few MPH each. At the end of the day our engines are already 7,000+ rpm at WOT, add more mods and that can potentially be detrimental to the engine. On my 2022 SX195 the best I got with 2 adults, the top up, 40 gallons of fuel and almost perfect water conditions with about 10hours on the engine was 51.4mph. I'm not sure there is much more speed can come relatively inexpensive. Keep us posted on your findings!
Looking at your photo, I see OH registration numbers, what part of Ohio?

 

[Smitty244]

Sorry to hear you sucked up the stick. I would suggest (just a suggestion) removing the impeller and having it looked over/balanced. This may be significantly cheaper than going with a replacement. If this comes out OK and is true to OEM spec, you may need to dig a little deeper and make sure nothing else is/was damaged. Like @FSH 210 Sport mentioned, you may sacrifice top end for hole shot, or hole shot for top end. Unfortunately, our boats do not have tilt/trim like OB or I/O boats so the majority of the boat rides in the water (drag) and we are limited to the amount of water pushing out of the pump. If you are looking to squeeze more performance, there are many options out there depending how deep your pockets are for just a few MPH each. At the end of the day our engines are already 7,000+ rpm at WOT, add more mods and that can potentially be detrimental to the engine. On my 2022 SX195 the best I got with 2 adults, the top up, 40 gallons of fuel and almost perfect water conditions with about 10hours on the engine was 51.4mph. I'm not sure there is much more speed can come relatively inexpensive. Keep us posted on your findings!
Looking at your photo, I see OH registration numbers, what part of Ohio?

The most I’ve ever seen was 50.9 so I got ripped off apparently lol. I’m in northeast Ohio in Conneaut.

 

[Smitty244]

This picture however was taken at torch lake in Michigan.

 

[Thermobrett]

Very good, I am from Mentor, moved to Florida back in 2010.