prop change ?'s

M

MBAKER

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 9, 2008
Messages
279
I have an OE Mercury prop 48-78120 (19P) behind a 5.0 alpha one. Currently with average load it only pulls 4000-4100rpm, I am going to get a new prop probably 17P to try and get rpms up a little bit. I have a couple questions regarding this change.

1) I don?t want or need anything fancy, im staying with aluminum. Are there much if any difference between the solas amita, Michigan, powertech etc replacements? Are some more durable etc. What would be recommended.

2) Should I be looking at a 4blade? It?s a 2001 Maxum, kind of heavy for the 5.0 and seems to take awhile to plane out, but maybe a lower pitch prop will help here too?

3) Any problems staying with a rubber hub instead of a 2 piece setup?

4) Regarding rpm change how will the solas amita series and Michigan match or vortex compare to the OE prop. Meaning will 2? pitch change react the same from one to the other or are some different. I know I have used a Michigan match before and reacted the same as the OE prop, not sure about the Solas. Etc?..

Thanks,
 
Tail_Gunner

Tail_Gunner

Admiral
Joined
Jan 13, 2006
Messages
6,237
Re: prop change ?'s

MBAKER said:
I have an OE Mercury prop 48-78120 (19P) behind a 5.0 alpha one. Currently with average load it only pulls 4000-4100rpm, I am going to get a new prop probably 17P to try and get rpms up a little bit. I have a couple questions regarding this change.

1) I don?t want or need anything fancy, im staying with aluminum. Are there much if any difference between the solas amita, Michigan, powertech etc replacements? Are some more durable etc. What would be recommended.

2) Should I be looking at a 4blade? It?s a 2001 Maxum, kind of heavy for the 5.0 and seems to take awhile to plane out, but maybe a lower pitch prop will help here too?

3) Any problems staying with a rubber hub instead of a 2 piece setup?

4) Regarding rpm change how will the solas amita series and Michigan match or vortex compare to the OE prop. Meaning will 2? pitch change react the same from one to the other or are some different. I know I have used a Michigan match before and reacted the same as the OE prop, not sure about the Solas. Etc?..

Thanks,
Click to expand...


19@4100.....18@4300....17@4500...16@4700....Not trying to stir the pot here...but are you sure your tach is on....15 is a tad small unless your running with 5 or more 200 pounders....:D...Now do a 17 solas 4 blade and its 4400 or (16@4600...;))

Solas 4 blades are very solid in perfromance and being reviewed here quite well...Very consistent
 
M

MBAKER

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 9, 2008
Messages
279
Re: prop change ?'s

With 4-5 people, and normal accessories (for us) and the 19P its struggles to get to 4100 maybe just a tick more. With only 2 people you might get another 200 out of it. No im not 100% sure the tach is accurate either, but with only one person, trimmed way up on a smooth water it hit 4800 and the rev limiter is at 4950 so I know the tach isn?t reading slow otherwise the limiter would have kicked in. When we first bought this the PO had a 4 blade 21P SS on it and 3400 was all it had, we changed back to the OE 19P 3 blade, and it went 4000-4100 all untrimmed. One aside though is this prop although not bent or dinged up, the edges of the blades are a little rough, not sure if that is affecting it any or not. I am hoping that a 17 will get it about right, but didn?t know if some of those props might be more aggressive and dropping 2? pitch might not get me another 400 rpms.

It also has a hydrofoil on it, ive read good and bad on these, im not 100% sold on it, but never messed with it either. Should I just ditch it or is it worth leaving on?

The old boat is a bayliner, within a foot of the same size, but defiantly narrower and prob lighter. It has a 3.0 and 15P prop and amazingly does a better job of pulling a skier out of the water. But I know its underpropped (if that?s the right term) because it will over ev when lightly loaded, but we can hardly ever run WOT anyway so we just watch it and pull it back little when not loaded. Im sure a 17P would be ok for normal cruising, but the 15 seems to work really well for towing so we left it as is.
 
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