Another prop question for a new guy...

[SamuelP63]

Good evening folks,

I've picked up wake boarding this summer with my new to me bayliner 175 flight series boat. It has the 3.0 mercruiser I/O.

Now before I begin, I know it's not a proper wakeboard boat. I know the 4.3 would have been better. I know bayliners are cheap boats. I truly understand.

I enjoy the boat, and it's generally just two or three people total out at a time. It works great for my situation. I appreciate your concern.

Now, for my question, since there are so few of us out on the boat at a time, I'd like to add a fat sac to create more wake. With doing so, I fear I would lose any holeshot power. What pitch/brand 4 blade prop would you suggest?

Thanks for your help.
Sam

 

[rallyart]

Ahhh, you must have read other posts. Great comments to keep it focused.
To get the right pitch you need to know what pitch you have on now and what your Wide Open Throttle RPM is, and the speed that gets you. Lowering the pitch is like putting in lower gear ratios in a car but you need to be sure it needs a change first, or how big that change might be. Often a change of 2" lower in pitch is useful for wake boarding in a loaded boat, but that is assuming that you have the right prop on now. For watersports I prefer a vented prop as the holeshot can be better with the right size vent hole.

Weighting a smaler sterndrive is done, usually, by adding a ballast sac in the bow area. Once you are up to wake speeds you trim the drive up some to push the stern down and get the best shape for your wake. Adding weight to the back of the boat will not help with a boat like yours. It is also hard to keep the speed consistent so many times it is very helpful to add a speed control to the throttle. It's expensive but makes it much better, if you have any problems keeping an exact speed.

 

[theBrownskull]

What is the current prop on the boat right now? See if you can find the pitch of the prop. on the boat or better yet the gear ratio in the drive. A four blade should give you better hole shot but I would not buy one until you know the prop pitch and ratio other wise it could be a waist of money. When changing to a four blade or stainless you will want to drop a couple in pitch. For instance: If the pitch on your current prop is lets say 21 you will want to drop to a 19 for a four blade or three blade stainless.

I would go for the lowest pitch possible and watch the rpm's on the engine so it doesn't over rev it. That way you will get good hole shot.

If you have a dealer or prop shop close by they might let you test drive props until you find the best one for the boat.

 

[littlerayray]

We also would like to know max rpm under typical load and when as well keep the old prop for when cruising cuz dropping in pitch will slow you down as wake boarding is typically done at slower speeds

 

[Stingray185GXi]

I would recommend a Mercury High Five or Quicksilver QST5 (same prop), I have an 18 foot boat with a slightly more powerful 150 horsepower fuel injected 3.0 liter sterndrive and this prop has completely transformed how the boat performs and handles. It now has the low end holeshot to pull up multiple slalom skiers while also reducing the minimum planing speed and bitting better in the corners. I have a 21" pitch but would probably drop down to a 19 if you plan to add ballast to increase your wake.

As a side note: I also tested a 19 pitch Solas HR Titan 4 blade and found the results to be not much better than with my original aluminum 3 blade prop. I think the Titan simply had too much blade area and cupping for my size boat and engine. However if you are really trying to go cheap you might check out an aluminum 4 blade Solas Amita or Turning Point Hustler, based on my experience you might have to drop down to a 17" pitch with these given the additional diameter and thus blade area compared to a High Five.