What propeller do I need?

[BarryT]

Well I finally got my boat running and took it to the river. I wanted to go to the lake, but I was on standby for the military and could not leave town. Well the long story short the boat ran great until the prop got chewed up on a rock in the middle of the river. The prop is destroyed but the outdrive itself seems fine. It shifts smoothly and runs quite. I guess I dodged a bullet on that one.

The boat is a 1972 Caravelle with a 5.0(302) Ford V-8. it has the Mercruiser 215E outdrive. I need to find out was kind of prop and pitch would be best. then I guess I will hunt ebay or the net for a good deal. I don't know what size the propeller is or its current pitch.

Thanks
-barry

 

[QC]

Re: What propeller do I need?

Moved this over to the Prop section Barry. Take a read of the stickies above ^^^^^ Good luck!

 

[hwsiii]

Re: What propeller do I need?

Barry, we will try to help you as much as we can, but there is certain information that is needed in order to help you. The following form has all of the information that is needed to help you with your problems finding the right prop. If you do not know all of the information that is asked for on the form please give us the most information you have available as I have a program I designed to find the right prop for any planning hull boat that needs this information, and anyone else who is trying to help you will need the same information. It requires time to find all this information when we have to look for it and in my defense I expect you to be willing to expend as much effort in finding the right prop as I do. We hope to be able to help you get the exact prop you need for your particular uses, and this information is required to do that.
It is not as simple to pick the right prop as most people coming to this forum think it is, that is why we ask so many questions, it is for your benefit we ask all these questions. And if you have a stainless steel prop or are changing to one the blade geometry of the prop can make a lot of difference in speed and RPM.

Iboats Boat and Motor Info

1. Year, make and model of boat
2. Length, width and base weight of boat, look for boat decal on back of boat
3. Number of people and gallons of gas normally on boat
4. What do you use the boat for
5. Is it a Deep Vee and if so how many degrees of deadrise
6. Year, make and model of motor
7. HP and gear ratio of motor
8. Manufacturer?s recommended WOT range
9. Antiventilation Plate height above keel of boat if it is an outboard in inches
10. Make, model, diameter, pitch and whether SS or aluminum prop
11. WOT RPM and speed from each prop

H

 

[Ridemywideglide]

Re: What propeller do I need?

WOW... My guess is if he knew half that info he wouldn't be here askin what he needs..

Depending on how chewed up your old prop is.. Look in between the blades on the side of the prop hub and see if it's stamped in there. Mine is, says 15x14.

If you can find that, or even part of it, you'll be better off..

 

[steelespike]

Re: What propeller do I need?

Sometimes the number is under the prop nut.

 

[steelespike]

Re: What propeller do I need?

WOW... My guess is if he knew half that info he wouldn't be here askin what he needs..

Depending on how chewed up your old prop is.. Look in between the blades on the side of the prop hub and see if it's stamped in there. Mine is, says 15x14.

If you can find that, or even part of it, you'll be better off..

Perhaps a little over kill but for accurate prop selection and optimum performance prop selection by formula needs details.
Unfortunately "72 caravelle "doesn't help at all.Everyone does that.
There have been thousands of builders with each having hundreds of models over the years. If we knew the details of the caravelle we could probably do a best guess for a prop wouldn't be accurate but would probably put it within the rpm range.For efficiency and motor health you need more than that.Yes the present prop worked but may not have been right
this is the oportunity to upgrade to "the prop"

 

[MikDee]

Re: What propeller do I need?

Basically we need the size, & type of boat to give you an approximate size prop.

 

[BarryT]

Re: What propeller do I need?

Well I will take the prop off and try to get the numbers off of it, but my question is no one is really familiar with the 215E outdrive. They only made it for two years. What prop does it use? alpha, bravo type? I have no idea what prop will even fit the drive. My 72 caravelle is a 21 foot cuddy cruiser.


-barry

 

[MikDee]

Re: What propeller do I need?

Ok, a rough estimate would be a 17", or 19" pitch prop. Then you'd have to check your rpms, to see if it runs between 4200-4600rpm at WOT (wide open throttle) the recommended range.

Is this a 4bbl - 215hp, or a 2bbl - 188hp?

 

[hwsiii]

Re: What propeller do I need?

Barry, when you take the prop off you can measure the prop for size and count the number of splines to find out which props will fit it. You have to take some initiative on your part. I show the motor to have 215 HP with the 215E outdrive to be a 1.71:1 gear ratio and a recommended WOT RPM of 4,000 to 4,600 RPM, please check that information for me and let me know if it is right. No one can help you without information and you are not giving that information out. Ride the boat to the truck scales weight it and deduct the weight of the trailer for the boat weight.

H

 

[BarryT]

Re: What propeller do I need?

I will do the work, but I have been working and couldnt make it out the the boat storage to work on it. I will be pulling the prop off tomorrow hopefully and will give you more information when I can. the boat was my first and a hand me down so I apologize if I am ignorant on a few things.

 

[hwsiii]

Re: What propeller do I need?

We all were at some point Barry, it is not ignorance just lack of knowledge, and I am sure you have knowledge in areas we don't as well.

H

 

[BarryT]

Re: What propeller do I need?

Well we had a huge thunderstorm plus 4th of july stuff to do so I didn't get the prop off, but I did get a picture.

-barry

 

[prober]

Re: What propeller do I need?

Yeah, you found the bottom alright! In that pic, if you take the nut off the prop sometimes the size is stamped in the hub. Other times it is on the side of the prop between two of the blades. Sometimes there is just a serial number on the side. It should say something like 14.25 X 21. Or a long string of numbers and characters if it is the serial number. Either way we can figure it out if you can find the numbers.

 

[BarryT]

Re: What propeller do I need?

The side thing is it wasnt supposed to be the bottom. It was the middle of the river. It was supposed to be the "safe" area.


-barry