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#1
posted to rec.boats
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Prop Pitch question
The boat that I purchased had the original prop stolen and I am going to
have to replace it. It's an 18ft Pro Tournament Sprint boat that has an Evinrude 175 HP motor. The original prop was a three blade stainless. I've looked at a site online to find props but when I put in the information it list 16 different pitches from 10" to 28" pitch. Additionally there are four blade models and three blade. I believe, from what I'm told, the original prop was a three blade stainless. Can anyone tell me how to determine what Pitch I should be looking for? What about three or four blades and the advantages of each? Either that or I'd appreciate if you know any good web site URL's that would help teach me what I need to know before making the wrong decisions. |
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#2
posted to rec.boats
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Prop Pitch question
Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Mon, 25 Dec 2006 19:25:38 -0500, Gary KW4Z wrote: The boat that I purchased had the original prop stolen and I am going to have to replace it. It's an 18ft Pro Tournament Sprint boat that has an Evinrude 175 HP motor. The original prop was a three blade stainless. I've looked at a site online to find props but when I put in the information it list 16 different pitches from 10" to 28" pitch. Additionally there are four blade models and three blade. I believe, from what I'm told, the original prop was a three blade stainless. Can anyone tell me how to determine what Pitch I should be looking for? What about three or four blades and the advantages of each? Either that or I'd appreciate if you know any good web site URL's that would help teach me what I need to know before making the wrong decisions. Depending on the year (again), a 14.25" x 21p is the most likely prop for that boat and engine - maybe even a 23p. Again, depends on the year, weight of the boat, etc. As to SS, it will be pricey - probably in the $600 plus/minus $50 range. With respect to three/four blade, I'm four square in the four blade camp. I changed from a three blade 14.25 x 19 three to a 14.25 x four blade with my E-TEC and the difference was flat out amazing. Plenty of bite, acceleration up the wazoo, never cavitates even in extreme operating conditions - simple amazing difference from the old four blade. With the three blade, my Ranger never had any bow lift - it accelerated flat to the water and once on plane, would jump in rpm from 3 grand to 4 grand - the four blade, I got lots of bow lift, the acceleration is smooth as silk and operating bite when it's trimmed out - no cavitation. Go with the four blade. I bought a four blade for my center console hoping for the same results as yours. The performance was worse than my factory aluminum three blade so I bought a stainless three blade to replace it. Still unsatisfied with the WOT RPM's, I handed it to a prop shop and they gave it a cup. Now it works perfectly. Sizing props is a huge guessing game but if you get close a good prop shop can tweak it for a lot less than a new one. My four blade is now running great on my friend's 20' aluminum walleye boat with a 125 Merc. Dan -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com |
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#4
posted to rec.boats
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Prop Pitch question
Thankfully there is a very good Prop shop in the town where I'll be living
and using the boat. From what I'm told he is one of the best Prop shops in the state of Alabama so maybe there is some hope there. I think I'll let him set me up with a prop. I know he has used and new and says that a used prop is much less money but I wonder if there may be a reason to buy new over the used, Ohh well I have a bit more time to make up my mind on that one. On 12/25/06 8:35 PM, in article , "Dan" wrote: Short Wave Sportfishing wrote: On Mon, 25 Dec 2006 19:25:38 -0500, Gary KW4Z wrote: The boat that I purchased had the original prop stolen and I am going to have to replace it. It's an 18ft Pro Tournament Sprint boat that has an Evinrude 175 HP motor. The original prop was a three blade stainless. I've looked at a site online to find props but when I put in the information it list 16 different pitches from 10" to 28" pitch. Additionally there are four blade models and three blade. I believe, from what I'm told, the original prop was a three blade stainless. Can anyone tell me how to determine what Pitch I should be looking for? What about three or four blades and the advantages of each? Either that or I'd appreciate if you know any good web site URL's that would help teach me what I need to know before making the wrong decisions. Depending on the year (again), a 14.25" x 21p is the most likely prop for that boat and engine - maybe even a 23p. Again, depends on the year, weight of the boat, etc. As to SS, it will be pricey - probably in the $600 plus/minus $50 range. With respect to three/four blade, I'm four square in the four blade camp. I changed from a three blade 14.25 x 19 three to a 14.25 x four blade with my E-TEC and the difference was flat out amazing. Plenty of bite, acceleration up the wazoo, never cavitates even in extreme operating conditions - simple amazing difference from the old four blade. With the three blade, my Ranger never had any bow lift - it accelerated flat to the water and once on plane, would jump in rpm from 3 grand to 4 grand - the four blade, I got lots of bow lift, the acceleration is smooth as silk and operating bite when it's trimmed out - no cavitation. Go with the four blade. I bought a four blade for my center console hoping for the same results as yours. The performance was worse than my factory aluminum three blade so I bought a stainless three blade to replace it. Still unsatisfied with the WOT RPM's, I handed it to a prop shop and they gave it a cup. Now it works perfectly. Sizing props is a huge guessing game but if you get close a good prop shop can tweak it for a lot less than a new one. My four blade is now running great on my friend's 20' aluminum walleye boat with a 125 Merc. Dan |
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#5
posted to rec.boats
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Prop Pitch question
On Mon, 25 Dec 2006 22:04:48 -0500, Gary KW4Z
wrote: From what I'm told he is one of the best Prop shops in the state of Alabama so maybe there is some hope there. I think I'll let him set me up with a prop. I know he has used and new and says that a used prop is much less money but I wonder if there may be a reason to buy new over the used, If the used prop is a lot less money, I'd tend to go with that option provided that the prop shop is willing to exchange it for another one if you aren't happy with the performance. |
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#6
posted to rec.boats
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Prop Pitch question
"Gary KW4Z" wrote in message ... Thankfully there is a very good Prop shop in the town where I'll be living and using the boat. From what I'm told he is one of the best Prop shops in the state of Alabama so maybe there is some hope there. I think I'll let him set me up with a prop. I know he has used and new and says that a used prop is much less money but I wonder if there may be a reason to buy new over the used, Ohh well I have a bit more time to make up my mind on that one. You're fortunate to have a good prop shop near you. I would let him make a recommendation as to where to start with diameter, pitch and blade configuration. Tell him about your boat and motor, and what type of running you typically do. I would bet that he can get pretty close on the first guess. Usually, a quality prop shop will be more than happy to work with you to achieve an optimal result. Most good shops will allow you to return a prop and exchange it for a better solution if it is brought back in new condition. I would verify that your shop has this policy in place, and if so, let him make all the recommendations and then follow them. He's more likely to see the process through to a successful conclusion if he's calling the shots rather than you. BTW, I'm a firm believer in stainless over aluminum. Assuming the theft was a fluke, and not likely to be repeated anytime soon, I think stainless is well worth the premium. On the other hand, if your boat remains vulnerable to theft, stay with aluminum. Nobody's likely to bother stealing an aluminum prop. |
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#7
posted to rec.boats
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Prop Pitch question
Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Mon, 25 Dec 2006 20:35:22 -0500, Dan wrote: Short Wave Sportfishing wrote: On Mon, 25 Dec 2006 19:25:38 -0500, Gary KW4Z wrote: The boat that I purchased had the original prop stolen and I am going to have to replace it. It's an 18ft Pro Tournament Sprint boat that has an Evinrude 175 HP motor. The original prop was a three blade stainless. I've looked at a site online to find props but when I put in the information it list 16 different pitches from 10" to 28" pitch. Additionally there are four blade models and three blade. I believe, from what I'm told, the original prop was a three blade stainless. Can anyone tell me how to determine what Pitch I should be looking for? What about three or four blades and the advantages of each? Either that or I'd appreciate if you know any good web site URL's that would help teach me what I need to know before making the wrong decisions. Depending on the year (again), a 14.25" x 21p is the most likely prop for that boat and engine - maybe even a 23p. Again, depends on the year, weight of the boat, etc. As to SS, it will be pricey - probably in the $600 plus/minus $50 range. With respect to three/four blade, I'm four square in the four blade camp. I changed from a three blade 14.25 x 19 three to a 14.25 x four blade with my E-TEC and the difference was flat out amazing. Plenty of bite, acceleration up the wazoo, never cavitates even in extreme operating conditions - simple amazing difference from the old four blade. With the three blade, my Ranger never had any bow lift - it accelerated flat to the water and once on plane, would jump in rpm from 3 grand to 4 grand - the four blade, I got lots of bow lift, the acceleration is smooth as silk and operating bite when it's trimmed out - no cavitation. Go with the four blade. I bought a four blade for my center console hoping for the same results as yours. The performance was worse than my factory aluminum three blade so I bought a stainless three blade to replace it. Still unsatisfied with the WOT RPM's, I handed it to a prop shop and they gave it a cup. Now it works perfectly. Sizing props is a huge guessing game but if you get close a good prop shop can tweak it for a lot less than a new one. My four blade is now running great on my friend's 20' aluminum walleye boat with a 125 Merc. I'm not big on WOT performance as I never run WOT or at least very rarely. I'm more interested in on plane cruise performance well below published WOT RPMs for efficiency purposes. With that said, I switched from a three blade high performance prop to a four blade Cyclone, same size and pitch and it made all the difference in the world. From everything I've read, a prop should give you the max RPMs at WOT to be efficient at all speeds. It makes sense if you consider that too much prop will work the motor harder at cruising, or trolling, speeds. Mercury used to have a good prop site but it was down yesterday. The guys at a good prop shop will know what they're doing and give you the best results. If anyone doesn't have one close to them, I'll look up the place I went to in Miami. They even had an MRI to look for cracks in the monster NIBRAL props. I don't doubt your gain from a four blade prop. It just doesn't work on my boat but it was a huge difference for my friend's lighter boat with a slightly bigger motor. Dan -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com |
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#8
posted to rec.boats
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Prop Pitch question
Gary KW4Z wrote:
On 12/25/06 8:35 PM, in article , "Dan" wrote: Short Wave Sportfishing wrote: On Mon, 25 Dec 2006 19:25:38 -0500, Gary KW4Z wrote: The boat that I purchased had the original prop stolen and I am going to have to replace it. It's an 18ft Pro Tournament Sprint boat that has an Evinrude 175 HP motor. The original prop was a three blade stainless. I've looked at a site online to find props but when I put in the information it list 16 different pitches from 10" to 28" pitch. Additionally there are four blade models and three blade. I believe, from what I'm told, the original prop was a three blade stainless. Can anyone tell me how to determine what Pitch I should be looking for? What about three or four blades and the advantages of each? Either that or I'd appreciate if you know any good web site URL's that would help teach me what I need to know before making the wrong decisions. Depending on the year (again), a 14.25" x 21p is the most likely prop for that boat and engine - maybe even a 23p. Again, depends on the year, weight of the boat, etc. As to SS, it will be pricey - probably in the $600 plus/minus $50 range. With respect to three/four blade, I'm four square in the four blade camp. I changed from a three blade 14.25 x 19 three to a 14.25 x four blade with my E-TEC and the difference was flat out amazing. Plenty of bite, acceleration up the wazoo, never cavitates even in extreme operating conditions - simple amazing difference from the old four blade. With the three blade, my Ranger never had any bow lift - it accelerated flat to the water and once on plane, would jump in rpm from 3 grand to 4 grand - the four blade, I got lots of bow lift, the acceleration is smooth as silk and operating bite when it's trimmed out - no cavitation. Go with the four blade. I bought a four blade for my center console hoping for the same results as yours. The performance was worse than my factory aluminum three blade so I bought a stainless three blade to replace it. Still unsatisfied with the WOT RPM's, I handed it to a prop shop and they gave it a cup. Now it works perfectly. Sizing props is a huge guessing game but if you get close a good prop shop can tweak it for a lot less than a new one. My four blade is now running great on my friend's 20' aluminum walleye boat with a 125 Merc. Dan Thankfully there is a very good Prop shop in the town where I'll be living and using the boat. From what I'm told he is one of the best Prop shops in the state of Alabama so maybe there is some hope there. I think I'll let him set me up with a prop. I know he has used and new and says that a used prop is much less money but I wonder if there may be a reason to buy new over the used, Ohh well I have a bit more time to make up my mind on that one. He should be willing to let you try a few before you buy them since he has used props. If he's good, he should get you very close on the first try. Aside from just size, blades, and pitch, there is also venting and cupping to give you better performance. He'll know all about that. Good luck! Dan -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com |
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#9
posted to rec.boats
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Prop Pitch question
RG wrote:
"Gary KW4Z" wrote in message ... Thankfully there is a very good Prop shop in the town where I'll be living and using the boat. From what I'm told he is one of the best Prop shops in the state of Alabama so maybe there is some hope there. I think I'll let him set me up with a prop. I know he has used and new and says that a used prop is much less money but I wonder if there may be a reason to buy new over the used, Ohh well I have a bit more time to make up my mind on that one. You're fortunate to have a good prop shop near you. I would let him make a recommendation as to where to start with diameter, pitch and blade configuration. Tell him about your boat and motor, and what type of running you typically do. I would bet that he can get pretty close on the first guess. Usually, a quality prop shop will be more than happy to work with you to achieve an optimal result. Most good shops will allow you to return a prop and exchange it for a better solution if it is brought back in new condition. I would verify that your shop has this policy in place, and if so, let him make all the recommendations and then follow them. He's more likely to see the process through to a successful conclusion if he's calling the shots rather than you. BTW, I'm a firm believer in stainless over aluminum. Assuming the theft was a fluke, and not likely to be repeated anytime soon, I think stainless is well worth the premium. On the other hand, if your boat remains vulnerable to theft, stay with aluminum. Nobody's likely to bother stealing an aluminum prop. For that, I have one of these... http://www.boatownersworld.com/mcgar...ller_locks.htm Cheap and simple to use - if you don't lose the "key"! Dan -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com |
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