Okay, so I was able to take her out this weekend. First some more info......three weeks ago I hit something at slow speed pulling up to an unfamiliar launch area to drop some passengers at their campground. No dock, just pulling up to the beach near the ramp. Took a good sized chunk out of one blade, maybe the size of a half dollar. I just needed to go a few more miles back to where we put in, so I took it slow.......surprisingly I didn't feel any vibration and it seemed to run normal. Pulled the prop took it to a local shop, they said it would be a week to get it fixed so I picked up a Black Diamond prop at West Marine.......same size 14.25 x 21P. Figured I would just keep the repaired prop on board as a spare.
So with the boat loaded as usual, nearly a full tank of fuel, one passenger, bay pretty smooth and no wind I was surprised at how much different this new prop performed.....
We tried several runs, using full throttle, motor turning 3600 rpms out of the hole, on plane in 5.2 seconds, pulling back on throttle and cruising at 3800 rpms. Moving to WOT, quickly reaching 4800 and then creeping up to 4900 - 5000 rpms at 50 mph. Tried a few more runs to see how much less throttle it needed to get on plane. I would estimate that 3/4 throttle wouldn't get me there but somewhere between 3/4 and less than full throttle would give me the same results....on plane in just over 5 seconds, which is waaaaayyyyy better than the old prop. Night and day!!!