Got a new toy to test out eventually...

Pmt133

Chief Petty Officer
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Jan 6, 2022
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571
Seems I like spending money when I'm not doing anything. Still investigating the engine and doing work on the boat... but found something I just couldn't pass up trying/buying.
20240130_140023.jpg
Looks like it was run a couple hours then shelved for a while. Cost next to nothing and maybe it'll knock my rpms down a couple hundred from where I am right now... and I finally get to see what the hype is about. Will report back in the spring when I get around to testing it.
 

jimmbo

Supreme Mariner
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May 24, 2004
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Excellent Prop, been running one since 2006. Hopefully it is the Correct Pitch for your requirements
 

Pmt133

Chief Petty Officer
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Jan 6, 2022
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571
Gonna be an even longer winter now !!
If I get a nice day in March and everything is done I may be out lol.
Excellent Prop, been running one since 2006. Hopefully it is the Correct Pitch for your requirements
You know what's funny? For as long as it's been out its hard to find exactly how it slates in the merc lineup as far as what I'd need... so I've run a mirage and mirage plus on this hull. From all the data I've sent out I basically have been told nothing is going to run better... but my top end RPMs are a little low and I feel I have a little too much slip at cruise.

It's a 19p I'm running a 19p non plus mirage most of the time... my understanding is these are a little easier to spin than a mirage. 19 plus is too much. So I figure that this should put me ~4700 loaded. I get 4500 loaded at 43 mph and 4700 just me at 44 mph with the mirage. The other prop I have let's me hit the limiter. Cruise is 3300 at ~31 mph. I've heard nothing but good things about them so I am looking forward to it. Worst case I think I can recoup 200 bucks on it so long as I don't hit something.

In other words... I have 5 props I'm rotating through to figure out which one I'll run most of the time. The mirage still seems to run the best overall but I'm looking to only have two. My aluminum props I had for the 3.0l are just too low for the 4.3l but the mirage always seemed best on that hull. But was a dog doing water sports with a full boat. So I mostly swapped between that and the 4 blade... now I just am looking for something to take the second spot if that makes sense. Or in other words.. I like spending money. Haha.
 

jimmbo

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The boat will feel and handle differently with the Enertia. The Prop will have a good Grip on the Water
 

Texasmark

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Dec 20, 2005
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I see a lot of "rake" (blades bent back from the root) which is incorporated in props that run fast on light boats....fast bass boats.....designed to lift the bow at the higher speeds. A cruising prop has little to no rake, blades basically straight out from the root. This type of rake is for heavy boats or cruising at low speeds.....helps to keep the stern up.

Therefore, in my opinion, you are experiencing what you should expect. The first higher rake prop I ever ran was a Mercury Laser original series. I had it on a bass hull with a pad....a flat area about 12" wide, running 2/3 the length of the boat and the boat having a lot of dead rise at the transom. When getting fast enough the boat rides on that flat surface, not the whole hull and reduces the hull to water friction significantly.

First time out I had zero trim (up or down) and got on plane and things felt like every boat I ever had. Then at 80% max RPM (more or less) I hit the trim and as I trimmed out the bow started lifting out of the water and the speed took off without a change in throttle setting. Before long I was "on the pad" and the speed was over 50 mph (after I firewalled it).....really neat for a first experience.

So, if you want to cruise or operate at low speed mostly, expect the slip or get youself a prop with less rake to get the transom up and out of the water at the lower speeds.

I don't see a lot of cup (tip end of the blades bent in) to grasp the water better at high trim positions and high speeds. but if you run say 40 or below with normal trim it isn't necessary. Cupping amount is variable and is adjusted by the designer for that specific prop. You can have too much.

Nothing like killing time on a nasty winter day!
 

JimS123

Fleet Admiral
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Jul 27, 2007
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Excellent Prop, been running one since 2006. Hopefully it is the Correct Pitch for your requirements
Best prop I ever ran since starting to experiment in 1968.

But, of course, the pitch I selected brought the wot rpm exactly at the engine's max spec.
 

QBhoy

Fleet Admiral
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Mar 10, 2016
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Excellent props. I use one occasionally on two of my boats. If I want sheer top end ability, they are simply brilliant. Noticeably lighter in your hand and more importantly, very noticeable when engaging gear on my alpha and the mercury outboard too.
I’ve found that they can take a fair bit more trim than most other props I’ve had, seldom losing grip, unless you’re being silly and trying to find the threshold.
You’ll find a fair bit of behaviour change, compared to the big old heavy mirage. Be easier to turn the enertia from low down and mid range acceleration.
The only thing in my head that may or may not be pertinent, is the chance that you may or may not see any significant difference in rpm at the top end.
Just might be the case that these things have likely more grip and less slip than the mirage might, at the top end of things. Really depends on the boat and speeds perhaps.
But I’ll also caveat the above, with the mention that I also know that this prop can actually do such a good job of lifting the hull out the water…that it results in finding more rpm and speed at the top end, compared to a prop that has less ability to do so. As long as you have the power on tap to allow it.
I mainly use a 20” enertia on my 19ft cuddy outboard boat.
She has a narrow deep v and powered by a 2016 mercury mariner 115 CT (2.1l).
A testament to this prop, is in the performance she can muster, given the modest power on the transom.
So although most will know that these newer 115 merc engines have frequently proved to be considerably more potent than the numbers on the hood suggest…for that boat and engine to see a genuine and consistent gps speed of between 45-46 mph, is quite amazing I think.
 

Pmt133

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Jan 6, 2022
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571
I'd actually be curious to see how much more it lifts it... I haven't seen it to confirm, but I've been told very very little of the boat is actually in the water. It sure feels up and out. Like I said... I'd like to see how it does.
 

JimS123

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People today only care about speed. Economy, performance, pffft. (What is performance anyway? - different meanings to different people)

The second truth is that many boats are fitted with bigger motors than they should have (speed, remember). As such, bow rise is often a problem. Too heavy in the back end.

My SeaRay 190 is very well designed. Even with the biggest HP available, she had little bow rise.

The OEM prop was Merc aluminum. It gave us 47 mph WOT. Prop slip was 12%.

The switch to an Enertia increased the top end to 50 mph, reduced prop slip to 8%, reduced mid range fuel economy 10%, and caused a ZERO bow rise.

Wholly Mackeral! If I knew what pitch my next boat needed, I would buy an Enertia now just to be sure they were still available.

(caveat - all hulls are different so statistics are not guaranteed)
 

jimmbo

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May 24, 2004
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I run the Enertia, and it can lift the whole Hull Vertically not just the Bow, without excessive Trim, to the point where even the Chines are out of the Water even at the transom
DSC_1000a.jpgDSC_1002c.jpg
 

Pmt133

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Jan 6, 2022
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Sounds like I have testing ahead of me. All else is bs and I can't test until I finish up working on the damn thing lol.

And for the record, I typically run pretty much at neutral trim. Maybe slightly more depending. That's typically worth 300 rpm and 2 mph getting to neutral. Anything beyond that I've at best seen half a mph and most the time no gains
 

jimmbo

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Once you have the Enertia on it, you will find it to have a very solid Grip on the water, and less likely to blow out, you may find you will be able to trim higher and get more speed. One Word of Advise, if running with a lot of Trim, do NOT suddenly chop the Throttle, the Boats reaction may Startle you and might throw Passengers/objects around
 

jimmbo

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Love those pics of your boat there Jimmbo.
Took them about 12 yrs ago. I let my cousin drive the boat while I took the Pics. I was using a Moderate Telephoto lens, a 300mm. The lake is about 3/4 mile wide there, the boat was about 600-700 ft from me
 

Pmt133

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Jan 6, 2022
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571
The only shot I got is from like 12 or 14 years ago. All I remember is I was running about 24 mph. Don't remember if I was testing props that day and if memory serves slight positive trim... which makes sense at that speed as I wouldn't be carrying enough speed to really lift out the whole boat anyway. The bow was up a little. That shot is useless to me as it's been repowered and I don't know for comparison sake what was even on it at the time. I'm sure I have it around somewhere.
 

QBhoy

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Took them about 12 yrs ago. I let my cousin drive the boat while I took the Pics. I was using a Moderate Telephoto lens, a 300mm. The lake is about 3/4 mile wide there, the boat was about 600-700 ft from me
Amazing. Yeah, remember seeing the photos previously. Loved them then too !
 

Pmt133

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Jan 6, 2022
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So the new line after the boat restoration is I picked up 200 RPM at wide open with the mirage I like to run. I am seeing 45.5 MPH wide open with me and 37 gallons of fuel kissing the limiter. I want to do some more testing with the mirage to record the numbers and then swap in the enertia and see what happens. Then do it all over again probably when I throw on the 4bbl intake. :LOL:

Hopefully the weather holds out tomorrow.
 
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