Re: help selecting 4 blade prop
Hello everybody and thanks for your help. I had a black max 14x21 aluminum on my 1998 bayliner capri 3.0 and was satisfied with overall performance. decent hole shot, planed fairly fast and good top end speed. first question is will buying a solas 3 blade aluminum prop 14x21 give me same performance as black max mercury that I had. second, I would like to buy a 4 blade for skiing and tubing. my question is what diameter and pitch should I choose? right now with mercury black max 3 blade with 2 people on board and 3/4 tank of gas my rpm's are 4600-4700 and WOT is 40-41mph. But when I am skiing and tubing I generally have 4 people on my boat. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks
For that ski prop, do you have numbers with the 4 person load? Offhand, I'd say at least go down to 19" P 4 blade, but maybe an 18" or 17" P would be better.
Some people report better performance with black max. I found michigan wheel was very similiar to black max. I have not run any 3 blade solas, but suspect it would be rather similiar. I have been happy with a 4 blade solas trying out this summer, but have to do some more testing. ie haven't been able to make wot runs of any duration to get solid numbers, or pulled any skiers yet. It does have good stearn lift for my heavier V8.
You might consider a Hustler 3 blade for your "speed" prop. They are cupped props, so would recommend a 19" P, to keep similiar rpms.
