Stainless vs. alum prop

[Pontoonbrent]

We have a 21 ft pontoon boat, 26" tubes, underskin, With a 115 hp 4-stroke engine and13.5x15 inch aluminum prop. We run it hard pullng tubers and want to optimize performance. Will a stainless prop with its cupping and thinner blades improve speed, reduce ventilation in turns, and provide performance gains over an aluminum prop? Also, how much do nicks and dents in the edges of my curret aluminum prop affect performance? Thanks.

 

[walleyehed]

Re: Stainless vs. alum prop

This is a 50/50 deal....yes, SS can improve performance in some areas such as cornering and you may gain a tad on top but depending on the pitch used, hole-shot may not change much.
4-strokes (with exception of the SHO) don't have much torque on the low end and I "think" this is the reason they want higher max rpm with these....it makes you prop down slightly keeping the WOT where it should be and with a higher top rpm (recommended) the hole-shot will be better. Most 'toons perform best with large blade area, high-thrust designs. That "could" be ss or aluminum.