I just wanted to post an update to my prop testing. My boat is a 2008 Bayliner 195 with the carbed 190hp 4.3 engine and 1.81 alpha outdrive. rpm range is 4400-4800 rpm. I have SX smart tabs that I love also. The boat came with the black max 23 pitch prop, and it left alot to be desired. It planed terribly slow with a load, lost speed in tight turns, and could not be trimmed up very much at WOT. If I remember correctly it turned 4600-4700rpm at unknown speed. (my speedo did not function correctly at the time and I didn't have a GPS).
I purchased a turning point hustler prop 14.25x21 pitch aluminum prop last season. The difference was night and day. It planed very quickly, held speed better in turns, and was able to be trimmed up more at WOT. I did experience some slowdown in tight turns still and I wanted a lower planing speed still yet. I checked it yesterday just one time going up river with fairly rough water and the GPS showed 46mph, approx. 4800rpm. The speedo did show right at 50mph. This was with 2 people and all of our usual water toys/gear that we go out with. I have never tested it with 6 people on the boat which is how we run alot of the time.
Today, I bolted on the Stiletto Bay Pro II 14x20 pitch 4-blade stainless prop. The results were awesome. Same load as the day before with the addition of our 70lb black lab. I tested in the same spot going up river as the day before, and the water was equally rough. I saw 45mph on the GPS at approx. 4600rpm, the speedo showing a hair under 50mph. I am not worried about top speed though, I had figured the 4-blade would be a little slower on top end and I got everything else I hoped for. The hole shot is awesome, holds plane right around 15mph best I can tell, low speed handling is great, there is no noticeable loss of speed in tight turns (which will be awesome for tubing), I can trim the drive up much further and it really lifts the boat out of the water. My wife even noticed that it reverses much easier, which I assume is from the surface area of the 4th blade. The overall feel of the boat is awesome, I am completely impressed.
They only thing in the back of my mind is the 200rpm drop. I knew I would get an rpm loss from the 4th blade and going to stainless, but I thought dropping 1 pitch would roughly account for that, especially since the TP hustler already has much of the blade design of a stainless prop, cupping, etc. I am not sure with 6 people on the boat if I will be lugging the motor from too-low rpm. I guess I will just have to try and see. The TP hustler did just fine with 6 people in the boat last season. I know if I switched to the 14x18 pitch bay pro II that it will over-rev for sure with a light load. This is just a first test though, I am sure I will do some more testing. I will try to do back to back runs up and down the river to see if the water flow changes things next time. (or I will just go to the lake)
Edit: I just checked the prop slip numbers, these can't be right can they? I think I definitely need to test again on calmer water at the lake with no river current or wind skewing the numbers. I know the BPII lifts the boat out of the water better than the hustler, but that slip number doesn't seem right.
TP hustler 21 pitch 4800 rpm, 46mph = 13% slip
Stiletto BPII 20 pitch 4600 rpm, 45mph = 6% slip
I purchased a turning point hustler prop 14.25x21 pitch aluminum prop last season. The difference was night and day. It planed very quickly, held speed better in turns, and was able to be trimmed up more at WOT. I did experience some slowdown in tight turns still and I wanted a lower planing speed still yet. I checked it yesterday just one time going up river with fairly rough water and the GPS showed 46mph, approx. 4800rpm. The speedo did show right at 50mph. This was with 2 people and all of our usual water toys/gear that we go out with. I have never tested it with 6 people on the boat which is how we run alot of the time.
Today, I bolted on the Stiletto Bay Pro II 14x20 pitch 4-blade stainless prop. The results were awesome. Same load as the day before with the addition of our 70lb black lab. I tested in the same spot going up river as the day before, and the water was equally rough. I saw 45mph on the GPS at approx. 4600rpm, the speedo showing a hair under 50mph. I am not worried about top speed though, I had figured the 4-blade would be a little slower on top end and I got everything else I hoped for. The hole shot is awesome, holds plane right around 15mph best I can tell, low speed handling is great, there is no noticeable loss of speed in tight turns (which will be awesome for tubing), I can trim the drive up much further and it really lifts the boat out of the water. My wife even noticed that it reverses much easier, which I assume is from the surface area of the 4th blade. The overall feel of the boat is awesome, I am completely impressed.
They only thing in the back of my mind is the 200rpm drop. I knew I would get an rpm loss from the 4th blade and going to stainless, but I thought dropping 1 pitch would roughly account for that, especially since the TP hustler already has much of the blade design of a stainless prop, cupping, etc. I am not sure with 6 people on the boat if I will be lugging the motor from too-low rpm. I guess I will just have to try and see. The TP hustler did just fine with 6 people in the boat last season. I know if I switched to the 14x18 pitch bay pro II that it will over-rev for sure with a light load. This is just a first test though, I am sure I will do some more testing. I will try to do back to back runs up and down the river to see if the water flow changes things next time. (or I will just go to the lake)
Edit: I just checked the prop slip numbers, these can't be right can they? I think I definitely need to test again on calmer water at the lake with no river current or wind skewing the numbers. I know the BPII lifts the boat out of the water better than the hustler, but that slip number doesn't seem right.
TP hustler 21 pitch 4800 rpm, 46mph = 13% slip
Stiletto BPII 20 pitch 4600 rpm, 45mph = 6% slip
