I have a stratos 201 pro I just purchased for tournament fishing It has a Johnson 200 with a 4 blade 23p prop boat has good power my question is ,is there any benefit to having the stabalizer or would I do better without it .I know it helps plane quicker accordng to others but does it take away from speed and holeshot...thanks

perickson you really don't need a stabalizer on a 201. If your motor is properly mounted on the jackplate you will have a good hole shot. A 4 bladed prop doesn't help either, it will give you a greater top end speed but not a good hole shot. I did a lot of resurch on 3 blade vs 4 blade props before I reproped mine. I went with a 24 pitch Mercury Fury 3 blade not only did I get a better hole shot I went from 65 mph top speed to 76 mph. If you do have a jack plate you might try this. Raise your motor up 1/4" at a time and run the boat after each adjustment until the motor starts to cavatate and lower it 1/4" and you should be at that sweet spot. I had to do that on my boat and it runs like a champ now. I have a Triton Tr20X DC with a 225 HO Evenrude E-tec. So git rid of the stabalizer it will just slow you down. I have been fishing on a pro circut for 4 years and have never seen anyone with one on thier baot.

Harry

i had problem getting my pro craft to plane quicker, had everything check out okay, put stabilizer on now no problem with planing or hole shot ,do have to slow down to keep what little hair i have on my head. my boat is 93 pro craft with 175hp fuel injected. i guess it could be looked at on an individual basis

thanks Harry just started really getting into bass fishing and my first big boat..lol...wrote down what you said and goin to try this week ..during the day maybe I can get it right thank you for the help..good luck on the circuit maybe one day I will be there..