Looking to buy a SS prop

[_getsideways_]

Hello all thanks for the help in advance. I bought my first real boat this year, after contacting the sand bottom at a local lake that we will never go back to I slightly flared the tips of the one and only prop on the boat. From what I've read SS is the way to go, My current prop is not that bad but I want 2 on the boat at all times.

I'm looking to improve upon overall performance without loosing top end or cruising speed.
We do a lot of cruising and double tubing, very little wake boarding or skiing,


2003 260hp 5.0 MPI Mercruiser 1.62 alpha drive
2003 Larson 210 LXI 20' 6'' 29xx Dry weight
Current prop is a 14.25 21P Aluminum 3 blade mercury prop
4900 RPM 52mph 2 adults, 4800 RPM 49MPH 4 adults fighting a river current, clean water conditions very little chop, speeds are off the factory gauge.

Boat has a wake tower, and no trim tabs or any other major weight or performance modifications.
I can cruise at 24-30 MPH at 3000RPM depending on how loaded we are and trim settings.
Hole shot is good enough unless we are fully loaded then it suffers a little.

Ideally If i could keep the top end that i currently have and add a better holeshot and lower planing ability I would gladly take it.

 

[littlerayray]

To get better hole shot max speed suffers

 

[Sea Rider]

What's the max wot rpm for that engine ? If you drop pitch to 20 will achieve better hole shot than with a 21 but with slight less top end speed . Don't know if there's a 20 pitch prop available as most big props drops or increases pitch by 2 numbers.

Happy Boating

 

[jkust]

My take on SS is that for it to really matter you need more HP than an i4 or a carbed v6...which you have so that's good. Do you have the OEM 'Black Max' prop? I like most had that come as OEM on my boat and it tended to have good top speed, pitch for pitch but didn't provide as good of out of the hole performance as props with more structure to them did. The black max couldn't be trimmed up nearly as far as some other props because it lost its bite much faster. I could easily overrev with the 21 Black Max but with other 21's I'd be exactly at the max recommended WOT rpm's which was perfect. What you have on your side is a feather-light 21 foot boat (that's what some 18 footers with smaller engines weigh) with a decent power package so you should have a lot of power to spare even with a cupped or heavily structured prop. Lower planning ability can be achieved with trim tabs as well. Also, will mention that at high speeds my pitot Speedo reads about 4mph faster than GPS but at lower speeds it is spot on.

 

[_getsideways_]

832832a45p21 part number for the prop.

4600-5000 is max factory rpm range, I have never tickled the rev limiter.

From what I read about stainless it usually gains 1-3mph so if I go ss and drop pitch or go to a ss 4 blade with 21p I should accomplish what I want correct?

 

[littlerayray]

A stainless keeps it's shape and are meant for higher hp boats if you strike a rock with stainless prop your gonna damage more then just a prop

 

[_getsideways_]

I do understand the downside to ss, though at this point I'm trying to understand which one to order and if there is a common design that seems to be superior to others for my application.

 

[littlerayray]

I would get stainless if I were you just be careful