Re: Prop question
Stratos;<br /><br />You have some good prop advise, and the best of it is choosiing the prop that will give you the best top speed without over reving the engine. SOunds like you should be running between 5500 and 5800 RPMs. Your discription of the way you use your boat is a broad range of activities ( ski, fish, cruise, etc). At the moment you are not happy with the performance when pulling a skier. If you focus on that specific activity you can correct the acceleration to plane (or hole shot) issue, but you will turn more RPMs at every MPH level. The obvious result will be a loss in fuel economy, so you will pay for the prop, and pay for extra gas every time you use it. If you pro for high end you will loose the low end performance. This would lead you to believe you should have two props. One possible solution! In my opinion it is a cumbersome solution, and you will get tired changing back and forth. <br /><br />If you want to effectively use your boat over a broad range of activities, you need a device to open the window of effective use. You can not do this with specific application props. It is an old traditional way to "fix" unwanted performance characteristics (ie: hole shot). The lower pitch prop will be like driving arround the highways in low gear all the time. <br /><br />The slow acceleration on stern loaded boats is caused more by boat unbalance, than prop pitch. Once the bow goes up smooth acceleration is lost. A lower pitch prop will help acceleration in the same manner as starting out in low grear, it will help climb the hill. But, you will sacrifice performance in other areas. <br /><br />Many boat manufacturers, as well as prop manufacturers have worked very hard at addressing this issue on small boats. They try hard to avoid adding cost to small boats by adding trim tabs, and they do not want to put traditonal helm controlled trim tabs in the hands of <br />opperators who do not have experience with them. <br /><br />Use of the prop has been the accepted and safe alternative to making the boat plane better and faster on small boats, but it is a compromise. Tilt trim has been made common, which possitions the prop to push up on the stern during take off, and down when cruising to raise the bow. It can also be used to help with porpoising. The problem is that the prop by its function is for propelling and other uses simply reduce its efficiency as a propulsion device.<br /><br />Trim tabs allow the boat hull design to be adjusted to compensate for load, speed, water conditions, and balance.<br /><br />Walleyehed and Dhadley have good recomendations and you should give them consideraton (most likely no experience with Smart Tabs). If you want something that will give you Low end performance, including lower bow rise at any speed, better acceleration, 35% lower planing speeds, smoother acceleration even without 3/4 throttle, no porpoising, improved ride and tracking, and more top speed in MPH ( 2 to 4 mph) and RPMs ( 100 to 200 RPMs),and better MPG, then look at Smart Tabs. Check User comments on this site and others, plus the editorial tests by all of the major boating magazines. <br /><br />One last comment, since I have a vested interest in the product, make your own judgement about what I have said. However, the company has a performance guanteed policy!
