whats the best prop.......

[finnlander]

well i now have the fuel issue cleared up so  on to the prop. the boat is a 1973 searay 19 foot srv and is powered by the straight  six 165 hp motor. the prop is a 3 blade 16 inch dia. with a 16 pitch. at full throttle my rpm,s are only 35 to 3700 with just me in the boat and a slight chop. was told that the rpm should be around 4 to 4200. again the low rpm could damage the valves. don.t know a thing about this so i,m sure some one can help me out. the motor runs smooth and brings the boat on plane very fast but top speed is only about 32 to 34 miles per hour at 35 to 3700 rpm. so could it be the prop or should i lose a few pounds as some one suggested. thanks all.

[Lund SSS]

the most basic of thoughts is for every 1" of pitch you change you'll gain or lose 200 rpm's. If you dropped to a 14 " you'll get 400 rpm's and put you at 4100 rpm's. Might want to think about a 4 blade 15" and gain the best of both worlds better hook-up and hole shot and then great on plane handling.