Best prop fore 14 ft inflatable.

[Hopkins]

I have a 14 ft sodiak fitted wit a Mercury sea pro 25 hp the boat is about 170 kg and fully loaded about 8-900 lps, when i drive it at full throttle the motor seems to go owerspinning, my prop is 10 1/8 13" pinch, is it advisable to putt a slightly bigger prop on her.
Best regards
Hopkins in Iceland.

 

[steelespike]

Re: Best prop fore 14 ft inflatable.

What is lps?" overspinning" Do you mean venting,losing grip or the motor seems to be over revving?
You shouldn't make a prop change without a tach. and a gps for speed. A induction tach like the TinyTach will work.
Most cell phones can use a gps app for speed. Do you know your gear ratio?
With your gear ratio,and gps speed we can guess at rpm.Not recommended. A 13" seems reasonable.

 

[dazk14]

Re: Best prop fore 14 ft inflatable.

Is your current prop cupped? I am presuming your boat is not a Rib, which don't normally ventilate.

 

[Sea Rider]

Re: Best prop fore 14 ft inflatable.

Has your Zodiac 14" model under speed tubes ? If so you'll need to perfectly heigh seat engine on transom to start with. Portable engines with factory delivered props perform quite well under light to medium loads.

Happy Boating

 

[jestor68]

Re: Best prop fore 14 ft inflatable.

Hers's what the Mercury prop selector says:

Boat/motor weight of 554 lbs. People/gear weight of 400 lbs plus 6 gals of petrol(gas) yields a calculated weight of 989 lbs.

It calculates a props size of 10.3 X 13 pitch and says it ought to be capable of about 28 mph @ 5500 rpm.

A SS prop would yield better performance.

The motor running at 5500 rpm would sound like it's about to come apart; but it won't.

Don't worry; be happy.