Re: Prop Advice for Honda 50 HP
I finally decided on my prop purchase, ordered it from the iboats store, received it last week, installed it over the weekend and had it out on the lake today.
**Please understand that this is not intended to be advertising. Please do not delete as spam. My intention is to give someone else with a Honda 50 and a similar boat some guidance based on my experience. When I performed a search, I was not able to get an answer to my specific question.**
I continued research on my own and decided to buy a Solas Amita 4, part# 3313-111-11, an 11 pitch 4-blade prop with 11.1" diameter. Solas advertises this prop as follows:
* Four Blade Aluminum propeller
* Exclusive Solas squeeze casting
* Wide blade design specifically for 4-stroke engines
* Increased static thrust for heavy loads & manueverability
* Great stern lift and mid-range performance
The prop is a good looking four blade, white in color, and fills in the space between the prop shaft and anti-ventilation plate well, leaving a gap of approximately 3/4". It installed without any problems.
I went to Lake Elsinore this morning, arrived about 9:30 and didn't have to wait to launch. The surface of the lake was like glass, there was very little breeze, and the air temp was about 80 degrees. I counted four other boats on the lake, so I rarely encountered any other wakes.
I cruised at 15 mph, just on plane, for a few miles, allowing the engine to warm up. When I opened the motor up fully, the rpms quickly jumped up to 5900 rpms and speed jumped up to 28 mph. I made one full lap of the lake at full throttle and played with the trim setting. At 6000 rpm indicated I moved 29 mph and maintained this speed in both directions.
Next I tried acceleration tests. With the boat idling in gear I was moving about 3.5 mph. My idle was set higher than intended because I had last used the boat at 6500 feet, so I idled along faster than usual.
When I jammed the throttle to full--I didn't move it eventually to full throttle--the boat jumped up onto plane. I didn't even notice a transition onto plane; it didn't begin to move, raise the nose, accelerate, and then eventually get onto plane. The boat was just instantly on plane and the gps I was using to record my speed could not keep up with the rate of acceleration.
I stopped and tried again several times with very similar results. When I timed my acceleration to 25 mph indicated gps, I received an average of five seconds. This may be conservative because there is a slight delay with the gps. I may have actually been at 26-27 mph when it indicated 25 mph.
I tried two additional high speed passes and eventually got to about 6100 rpm at 29.8 mph gps.
Needless to say, I'm very happy with the prop. Because I was in the boat alone, my acceleration, top speed, and rpms were likely 200-300 rpms higher then I'll see with four people in the boat or while pulling a skier or tuber.
All of the activities we do are performed between idle cruise and 25 mph. This prop gives me great acceleration, stern lift and is ideal for the conditions that I use it for. I did lose some top speed, but I rarely used the boat above 30 mph before, and I can get there much, much quicker now.
A 12 pitch might give back a little top speed, but I don't think I'm willing to give up the acceleration I have now. If I have any complaints, and its minor, it would be the color. At first I liked the white because it contrasted nicely with the silver engine. After running it today I have exhaust stains on the inside of the hub. The previous gray hub did not show the exhaust stains as much. Pretty minor, huh?
