1st Time Boater

[tommiekinz]

Hi all I am going to buy a boat for the 1st time in my 52 year old life. I am buying a used Crownline 202BR. The owner has had the prop replaced with ....I believe an aluminum prop. II will jusst be taking me and the wife out on local lakes and such. Is there any major drawbacks with this type of prop?

 

[BeaufortTJustice]

Re: 1st Time Boater

An aluminum prop is adequate for most people's purposes. Good balance of cost and performance. Upgrading to stainless steel might get you a smudge better performance and a good bit better durability, just depends on what your budget is and what you expect to encounter in your aquatic travels. Others on this forum swear be the durability of SS and attest that they will withstand sand and mud very well when accidentally encountered. Others, like myself, will remain with aluminum until I get more experienced and familiar with the waterways I frequent. Just my opinion...

Welcome to boating...good luck.

 

[Dave.Mishchenko]

Re: 1st Time Boater

I'm in my 3rd year of ownership and am making a switch from aluminum to SS. The reason for the switch is to get some more startup power for skiing and wakeboarding. Otherwise I would stick with aluminum.

One positive with aluminum is that it is much more forgiving should you hit something like a rock. With aluminum it'll take the brunt of the force and you may just have to get a blade fixed or swap the prop with a new one which is fairly cheap. With SS a lot of the force will be transferred into the outdrive which could potentially result in a far costlier repair. For your situation I would stick with aluminum.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: 1st Time Boater

The following is just one instance in my boating life that may be of interest to you.

I had a 125 hp OB and on Sundays the family would go out for an afternoon on a local lake. I was running an OMC alum 3 blade prop and was satisfied enough with the performance beins I didn't have a lot of extra cash raising 4 younguns, had no tach, and really wasn't interested in maxing things out.

I got tired of hitting the least little thing, sometimes something as subtle as a 2" tree trunk (newly filled lake and the tree was the only thing around the boat) and dinging up a blade on the aluminum at just over idle speed if you can believe that. On lower hp engines we had before the 125, we didn't have a problem with alum as the engine didn't have enough whoopie to bend the prop when it hit something.

So for about $185 (don't know where I got the money), I bought one of the newly available OMC Teflon coated 3 blade SS props.

Solved the problem and I'm sure I got some performance enhancements out of it but don't remember as it was not that big of a deal at the time.

However, if I were operating in a different lake where boulders were the norm (Lake Austin, Texas for one), I would have nothing but an alum and be glad to have it fixed vs tearing out a lower unit or more.

HTH

Mark

 

[oceansbreeze]

Re: 1st Time Boater

as stated above, for the same reasons, stick with aluminum... at least until you are familiar with the lake(s) on which you will enjoy. Aluminum is more forgiving should you hit something. I just had 2 nicks "bent" back into shape and I'm good to go for next eyar, but if I had SS I was todl I probably would have damaged my lower end...