Prop for hole shot water skiing

[djsmith757]

Hello, I have a 2014 Hurricane 188 with a Mercruiser 4.3 stern drive. I am looking to "upgrade" my original 3 bladed prop which does a horrible job with skiers, to something better. Anyone have any suggestions on what prop to choose so I can get a better hole shot and low speed plane? Thanks for any help

 

[Scott Danforth]

Drop down in pitch for better holeshot

Use trim tabs to stay on plane at lower speeds

 

[Chris1956]

When starting a skier, use full tabs, until boat and skier are on plane. Put most of the boat's live load as far forward as possible, for start. Move them back if it can be done safely. Then raise tabs.

If you have a bowrider, and it is full of people, watch for the bow to catch a wave and abruptly turn.

 

[Scott06]

Hello, I have a 2014 Hurricane 188 with a Mercruiser 4.3 stern drive. I am looking to "upgrade" my original 3 bladed prop which does a horrible job with skiers, to something better. Anyone have any suggestions on what prop to choose so I can get a better hole shot and low speed plane? Thanks for any help

What’s your current pitch and what is your wot rpm? I suspect you may be running too much pitch now

As Scott suggested go down in pitch. Also would run a 4 blade , I prefer them as my primary use is loaded down skiing. I had good results with Michigan vortex 4 blade props if you want to stay aluminum, which is a good way to learn about prop changes. Stainless I have had nice luck with merc vensura and revolution 4 props but they are more $$$ than the vortex.

Again pitch will depend on what you are getting now pitch and wot rpm…

 

[Earl Cordova]

A thing I saw a lot when I had a similar boat was the skier was trying to pull themselves up.
They need to stay scrunched up with the tail of the ski directly under their butt and wait for the ski to pop them up.
I have seen several big and strong people prevent my boat from reaching planning speeds, because they were trying to force themselves up.
Once the skier was up, the boat could reach almost 40mph.

 

[909]

Reduce the weight of your boat

 

[QBhoy]

Hi. Not a fan…but there likely isn’t a better prop for doing this, than a hi 5 prop. You’ll lose top end and efficiency over a 3 blade…but they sure do a great job of pulling people out the water. If that’s what you want to do 90% of the time…get one. But being fussy…I’d ask what pitch you have now and what rpm you can achieve currently

 

[flyingscott]

I agree the high 5 is probably the best holeshot prop out there. Works really well on I/Os because they like to run deep in the water. They also run really smooth. Any performance drop will probably be negligible.