Best Prop for a 1995 Bayliner Capri 1850? 4.3 V6

[markleising]

any help would be great. Not having any luck and boat shops just wanna sell me something. I use this boat for alot of tubing, skiing and wakeboard, thats all

 

[boater boy]

Re: Best Prop for a 1995 Bayliner Capri 1850? 4.3 V6

I have the same boat only 1999. Last summer I used a 14" x 20 pitch aluminum 4 blade. It worked great for hole shot but slow top end 35 - 38 mph. Hope that helps.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Best Prop for a 1995 Bayliner Capri 1850? 4.3 V6

Greetings guy's...Lets see if we can get you some help, But first posting your current top speed and the rpm's it makes at those speeds would be a great starting point...maybe a the leg gear ratio and is the boat a 4 barrel or 2 barreled carb..

 

[SeadawgVB]

Re: Best Prop for a 1995 Bayliner Capri 1850? 4.3 V6

OK, I'll bite. Same boat as above, same uses as above, looking for the same answer. Mine has a 4 barrel carb, about 51-53mph at WOT (around 4600 rpm), unknown gear ratio. Would like to have the top speed in the 40s.

(Currently a Mich Wheel 13.75 x 21)

 

[SeadawgVB]

Re: Best Prop for a 1995 Bayliner Capri 1850? 4.3 V6

OK, so far, all the answers have been great. Let's say the boat is running OK and I would like a little better hole shot for skiing / tubing. Pitch up or pitch down? (from my 13.75 x 21) How does the top end react? (I'm guessing slower) What do the RPMs do?

 

[ramster]

Re: Best Prop for a 1995 Bayliner Capri 1850? 4.3 V6

If you are running a 21" 3 blade now, and your WOT rpm's are where they should be, (around 4800) I would try a 20" four blade. Typically you drop 1 inch of pitch when going to a four blade, sometimes you can swap pitch for pitch if your rev's are on the high side of the recommended rpm, adding the extra blade in the same pitch will drop the rpm's down a bit. If your rev's are on the low side of the range, drop an inch or maybe two and that will get the rev's up where they should be. With a light load you should be able to easily get the rpm's to the top of the range, maybe slighly over. When you have the boat loaded with people and gear you should still be able to rev to 4500 rpm. That boat with a V-6 should run at least 45 mph easy, if not you may other issues besides the prop.

 

[hwsiii]

Re: Best Prop for a 1995 Bayliner Capri 1850? 4.3 V6

Seadawg, if your gear ratio is 1.84:1 you can't be running 50 MPH as that would be a negative prop slip and that doesn't happen. If you would like some more help get us a GPS speed.


H

 

[SeadawgVB]

Re: Best Prop for a 1995 Bayliner Capri 1850? 4.3 V6

I don't know what gear ratio I have, this weekend I ran 4 adults and two kids @ 50-51 MPH by GPS, WOT, showing 4900 on the factory tach. I'm thinking it's a good fit.

But here's my question. I'm willing to sacrifice some top speed for a better hole shot. How do I achieve that goal? 4 blades? if 4 blades, what pitch? (I'm thinking my engine might last a little longer if I don't run WOT all day anyhow.)

 

[hwsiii]

Re: Best Prop for a 1995 Bayliner Capri 1850? 4.3 V6

Seadawg I need you to fill this out so I have the information I need to do an analysis.

Iboats Boat and Motor Info
1. Year, make and model of boat
2. Length, width and base weight of boat, look for boat decal on back of boat
2a.What is the recommended HP for your boat
3. Number of people and gallons of gas normally on boat
4. What do you use the boat for
5. Is it a Deep Vee and if so how many degrees of deadrise
6. Year, make. manufacturer and model of motor
7. HP and gear ratio of motor IMPORTANT
If you don?t know the ratio, you need to pull the plugs out and put a piece of tape across the prop and the lower unit and then cut it between the prop and the housing and turn the motor until the tape lines up with each other, it is easier if two people do this, so one can watch the prop while the other counts the revolutions of the motor
8. Manufacturer?s recommended Wide Open Throttle (WOT) range
9. Anti-ventilation Plate height above keel of boat if it is an outboard in inches
10. Is it a bass boat or does it have a pad bottom
11. Does it have a hydrafoil, dolefin or trim tabs
12. Make, model, diameter, pitch and whether SS or aluminum prop
13. WOT RPM and speed from your current prop and how much gas and how many people were in the boat for the test data and is the speed by GPS. If you do not have a tach you can buy a Tiny Tach for $ 50
14. Are you at sea level or a higher elevation, give us the elevation in feet
15. Has your motor been tuned up lately and have you checked that the carburetor butterfly is opening all the way, checked compression, and looked at the plugs and checked spark, all of the foregoing could be the reason your prop is not attaining full RPM
16. How long has this prop been on the boat and why, at this time, do you think it is the wrong prop
17. Does the prop show any damage that you can see
18. What problems are you trying to cure or what are you looking for the boat to do that it is not doing the way you think it should or to your expectations
19. If you are trying to attain a better cruising speed and fuel savings or trying to attain a faster speed I will want you to take your boat and run it with 1 or 2 people and give me the RPM and speed readings starting at 3,000 RPM in 500 RPM increments all the way to WOT.

REMEMBER, The numbers I give you will be NO better than the information you give me

The only thing I ask of you is to come back and give me a report of WOT RPM and speed for my database.


H

 

[ramster]

Re: Best Prop for a 1995 Bayliner Capri 1850? 4.3 V6

Seadawg, rpm's are right where you want them, for best holeshot you should be propped right to the max. I would try a 14X20 four blade SS, like a Stiletto BayPro II or a Mich. Wheel Apollo, you will only lose 1-2 mph if any, and gain a lot of midrange punch. Stay away from a Vortex, or Merc. Alpha 4, they are inexpensive Al props, without much cup and I think you will over rev with either of those. I think a SS in 21" will hurt your holeshot, 4.3's make decent topend HP but lack the bottom end torque of a V-8.

 

[Glyn Howell]

Re: Best Prop for a 1995 Bayliner Capri 1850? 4.3 V6

For my 2 cents worth, I've got a 1999 LS1850 Capri with 4.3l mercruiser and I'm fairly sure 1.84:1 Alpha one.
I bought this recently with a 13 3/4' 20P 3 blade ally prop (brand unknown) and it's pretty tragic. Boat climbs out of the hole o.k but if the leg is trimmed out anymore than about 10% the prop will cavitate in a straight line if full throttle is applied when planing and will slip in tight turns and if you throw the throttle to the stops will go straight to the rev limiter at about 5200rpm before the limiter restricts the mill back to WOT of 4800rpm and the boat will run max speed of 43mph - the best that could be said is that this prop is average.
However, I did have the pleasure of borrowing a friends Mercury Revolution 4 14 5/8' 21p 4 blade stainless prop for a weekend and this turned out to be a pretty good performer. With 4 adults and a child on board and 2 kids in tow on a biscuit and 3/4 of a tank of gas it would leap onto the plane in about 2 secs and hit 25mph in about 3 before I could even think about trimming out and with the same load would stay on the plane till I dropped the boat back to about 18mph trimmed out. With the throttle tapped wide open the engine maxed out at 5150rpm and the boat was sitting at 53mph so at recommended max WOT of 4800rpm she was sitting just under 50mph and was smooth from 0 - 50+ and no risk of over revving the engine. In a tight turn at about 20mph I gave it full throttle and 1st time up had to scramble from the passenger seat and reclaim the wheel as it chucked me (oops). Subsequent attempts at this highlighted the fact that this prop was just not going to slip in a turn and you could start into a tight turn and accelerate out as hard as you liked.
Anyway although a little expensive I reckon this prop was the bomb on this boat. That said the friend I borrowed it off has the same boat but 10 years newer and would like a little more hole shot for deep water single ski starting but I reckon he's just being greedy although it would be interesting to know how well a 14 5/8' 19P Rev 4 would perform - granted it'd drop top speed quite a bit but would have to be pretty spectacular coming out the hole if the 21p is anything to go by. I might have to buy him one to find out and to replace the one I borrowed which I managed to hit a rock with on the way back to putting the boat on the trailer
Didn't have the opportunity to try pulling a skier as we're just coming out of winter in NZ and the lake temp was still down about 8 degrees C (46d f I think) and I couldn't find a volunteer to jump in and give it a try.