I posted where I got a Stiletto Bay-Pro II 14x20 pitch over the winter and we tired it out this spring and loved it, but the rpms were a little lower than I had hoped. 4600rpm with two of us on the boat, 4400rpm with 4 on the boat. We wanted this to be a good watersports prop with 4-5 on the boat so I went ahead and ordered the same prop in the 14x18 pitch. (The 14x20 was the older solid hub design, the new 14x18 is the new interchangeable hub design with an insert)
We tried it out today. It did something funny two different times. Once we were cruising along at around 25mph and I mashed the throttle and the rpms revved up and the boat started slowing down. It seemed like a spun hub on the prop, but its brand new. We tried it again, and it worked fine. From a dead stop all the way to WOT and no problem. About 4-5 hours later, after tubing, kneeboarding, cruising the lake all day with friends, my buddy was pulling me on the kneeboard at around 3000rpm for a long ride, and then all of the sudden the engine just revved up and we started slowing down. He pulled it to neutral. I checked the prop and it looked fine. I got back in the boat, and we headed in and I went to WOT and everywhere in between and the prop worked great?
Why would this happen only twice in a whole day? Spun hub doesn't seem likely given that it worked fine most all day and its brand new. Ventilation doesn't seem likely, we have had 4 different props on this boat and never had a problem. What else can cause cavitation? What are the odds we snagged a weed or something two different times? What else can I check?
We tried it out today. It did something funny two different times. Once we were cruising along at around 25mph and I mashed the throttle and the rpms revved up and the boat started slowing down. It seemed like a spun hub on the prop, but its brand new. We tried it again, and it worked fine. From a dead stop all the way to WOT and no problem. About 4-5 hours later, after tubing, kneeboarding, cruising the lake all day with friends, my buddy was pulling me on the kneeboard at around 3000rpm for a long ride, and then all of the sudden the engine just revved up and we started slowing down. He pulled it to neutral. I checked the prop and it looked fine. I got back in the boat, and we headed in and I went to WOT and everywhere in between and the prop worked great?
Why would this happen only twice in a whole day? Spun hub doesn't seem likely given that it worked fine most all day and its brand new. Ventilation doesn't seem likely, we have had 4 different props on this boat and never had a problem. What else can cause cavitation? What are the odds we snagged a weed or something two different times? What else can I check?