going to 4-blade, which one?

[Rykerman]

Re: going to 4-blade, which one?

Try a 4 blade comprop 21" pitch. I have a 19" pitch, works great. Research it! $120.00 to your door through basspro. Its VERY hard to get everything you want in one prop.

 

[sleeper]

Re: going to 4-blade, which one?

I'm surprised that the 18p was only 1mph slower for you. That makes me more comfortable with the thought of trying the 18p on my boat. I hope you don't mind one more question - how would you rank the difference in holeshot of the 18p vs. the 20p? You've mentioned more than once that the 18p was awesome, but didn't mention if the 20p was just ok, or pretty bad, or what.

The holeshot with the 20p was also pretty good on my boat with just 2 people. With 4 people my wot rpms were lower (around 4400rpm) and the hole shot was slower but I never thought it had a bad holeshot. The 18p is noticeably better than the 20p, but I don't remember thinking the hole shot was bad. What is odd is that this 18p doesn't seem to be affected by weight like the other props were. It runs 4950rpm at WOT with 2 people, and I ran a quick burst to WOT a few weeks ago with 7 people aboard and it was still 4800+ rpm. A 19p 4-blade stainless would probably be perfect for me and not exceed the max rpms but I rarely ever run WOT and I don't think I want to give up the hole shot and midrange punch of this lower pitch prop, especially when pulling skiers and tubers.

Not sure if it skews my results on hole shot, but I have had smart tabs the whole time which I still feel is the best modification you can make to your boat.

If you were closer I would not mind loaning you my 18p BPII to see if it was perfect for you, but you are all the way across the country.

 

[93maxum4.3lx]

Re: going to 4-blade, which one?

i think you're talking me into trying the 18p! I am still going to re-base-line the boat at sea level and try to confirm my tach accuracy first though.

As for the tabs - i decided I had to get over my fear of someone breaking them, and bought a set of 60lb smart tab SX. Need to get them on the boat now, have to make a run to a marine shop for sealant - a little surprised it wasn't included.

will post back when I learn more....

 

[fossill]

Re: going to 4-blade, which one?

Hey there, it's now well past a year and we're still waiting for that update...................

 

[93maxum4.3lx]

Re: going to 4-blade, which one?

As for that update...

I still have not put the trim tabs on the boat.

I did find that the timing on the boat was not set correctly, it was 6-7* retarded from where it should have been.

With the timing set correctly, I am now happy with the BP II 14x20 in most conditions. It ran 45mph on my boat at 3000ft around the top RPM range for the engine (4600-4800, sorry don't remember exactly anymore) with ~ 600lbs of people in the boat. It also tickles 5000rpm at sea level with ~ 500lbs of people in the boat, and the holeshot is effortless at sea level. Fixing the timing made a very noticeable difference.

The prop slip numbers are still high (especially for a baypro prop) but whatever, the boat runs nice now.

 

[93maxum4.3lx]

Re: going to 4-blade, which one?

for whomever is following this thread, I picked up an 18p baypro and posted my experiences with it over here: http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=493682&pagenumber=