TOPIC:

1995 Pro-Line 170 Sportsman that really struggles to get up on plane. 115 HP Mercury 4-stroke. We put a "wing" on the outboard and that helped some, but still had challenges. I've been communicating with support from Pro-Line and he had me raise the outboard a bit but it's still not "right". I would think that with a half-tank of fuel and just me it would pop right out of the water but it drags stern for quite a while.

I started poking around inside the hull to see if it's holding water somewhere and discovered that it's not draining from the forward bilge. I filled it up with water and it just trickled over the blocking and didn't come through the keel drain. Even raised up a few feet, there's still a few inches of water in there.

Is there anyone that is familiar with the internal construction of this boat that might be able to help me out? I've been back-flowing from the stern bilge and got some goop freed up amidships, but haven't found a path to the bow yet. I know there's "something" blocked up, but there's no way to stick my head down and take a peek.

I did poke around and where I was able to get to, the foam doesn't appear to be waterlogged, but I can't say that for sure. Pro-Line claims that their foam doesn't absorb water, but they're the manufacturer...

Any thoughts are welcome.

Not a pro by any means but I would think if u are holding enough water to not allow you to get on plane fast enough it must be quite a bite. On another note I took my 4 blade propellor to get rewelded from a few dink’s from the river come to find out I was told that the propeller didn’t belong to that motor n that it was probably taking to long to get on plane n running at higher rpms, so they sold me a 3 blade. I always thought it got on plane fairly well however with the new propeller not only does it get on plane much faster but it is running 4 miles n hr faster.... maybe u wanna check if ur propeller is the right one