Stainless or Aluminum Prop?

What kind of rpm’s should a guy be shooting for? I run a ‘13 1825 pro guide 90hp a with stainless spitfire prop.

RedEye, do you know your motor high rpm limit? Usually around 6,000 rpm. You want a prop that just allows the motor to get to max rpm at WOT.

Here is a Max RPM chart for Mercurys.

https://www.rubexprops.com/boat-propellers/rpm-range/?make=Mercury

If you have a motor manual use the info in there. Try to hit the midrange.

Thanks for the chart

I bought the same boat last year and ordered it with the stainless prop because the up charge was reasonable and I believe performance to be better. When I first used it I thought I was getting cavitation/slippage and started to research what caused it. I checked both motor mounting and the prop specs. What I discovered was that the prop is a ventilated prop. It has holes in it that allows the prop to reach a certain RPM before fully loading. This is what resulted in the slippage I was feeling. Once I discovered that it was a design feature it didn’t bother me anymore. You can get plugs for the holes to adjust or eliminate the ventilation. I might play with that this season but don’t expect any great gains over current performance. So I’d recommend the stainless and if you don’t like it ventilated you can plug it.

I run a 2008 115hp Optimax on a 17′ fiberglass boat. With the stock aluminium prop I run at about 45mph on calm flat water and 42mph with a load and average water conditions. After playing around with multiple props, the best I could gain was 0.8 mph with any stainless prop configuration and the speed to plane was almost identical. The motor is mounted in the correct location.

For me to consider going to stainless it’d have to be a minimum of 150hp outboard, if not bigger. There’s too many more valuable fishing expenses that the $600 for a second prop could be spent on (upgrading electronics, tackle, gas, maintenance costs, etc) instead of the nearly unnoticeable performance gains.

buckybadger wrote:

For me to consider going to stainless it’d have to be a minimum of 150hp outboard, if not bigger. There’s too many more valuable fishing expenses that the $600 for a second prop could be spent on (upgrading electronics, tackle, gas, maintenance costs, etc) instead of the nearly unnoticeable performance gains.

I agree with you 100%. That is why I stuck with my aluminum prop for as long as I did. Now I’m just desperate from moving to a much higher elevation.

buckybadger wrote:

For me to consider going to stainless it’d have to be a minimum of 150hp outboard, if not bigger. There’s too many more valuable fishing expenses that the $600 for a second prop could be spent on (upgrading electronics, tackle, gas, maintenance costs, etc) instead of the nearly unnoticeable performance gains.

I will add that I had a Crestliner 1850 Sportfish with a 115 Yamaha 4 stroke. I tested 4-5 different props (2 aluminum and 3 stainless), and found that by far the best performance was from a $250-300 stainless steel prop (I did not test more expensive props as I had a budget). I would certainly spend $300 to get the performance I got out of it, it was significant over the aluminum.

I could pull adults skiing with no issue, had quick hole shot, and very little to no blowout (and peak RPM’s). Both aluminum props I tried were bad on all accounts.

Update- I was pleasantly surprised to find that my wife surprised me and leaped way over the aluminum prop question and agreed to a stainless steel prop, on the back of 200 HP Verado, attached to my new 2018 Lund 1975 Pro-V! Now, I just need to sell my 22′ pontoon and 2000 Triton TR20. Thanks everyone for your replies and input- good reading! Tight lines- LF. ><}}}>

Well, with that you should never be late. That’s going to make for an exciting ride.

SuperDave- that’s for sure! Hope this picture posts?

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Wow, what a jump from an 18 foot impact to a 19 Pro-V. Is your wife single?

And you are really going into a totally new direction from a bass boat and pontoon to a very serious walleye boat. Welcome to the family!

the best prop I ever had was a stainless 4 blade prop, not sure of the pitch. I will not run a boat without a stainless prop, the performance is outstanding. my current boat I have a 3 blade, and I know it would be much better with a 4 blade. you can trim out, and still have good control with the 4 blade. as far as hitting rocks, I have hit rocks with my stainless, no problems so far.

sorry for two pictures, but this is my old boat with the 4 blade prop. top speed with that prop was 60 on the GPS.

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QW- no, she is not single and I am an extremely fortunate man. She surprised me almost 20 years ago to the date with the Triton bass boat- now this?! She is definitely “My Keeper”!

QW- here in Ohio we have several state lakes that stock a hybrid called “saugeye”. A cross between sauger and walleye. They can survive shallower Midwest lakes better than walleye and are just as tasty. With these and an occasional trip or 2 to Lake Erie, I will definitely be covered with this boat and my walleye fix.

Hope this is the right spot to ask…
I am running a 2019 Lund 1775 Adventure, with a 115 Pro XS. I bought it with an aluminum 4 blade 12.5 X 19p. I was running about 43GPS @ 5400rpm, and an amazing hole shot, while fully loaded. I bought a 3 blade 13 X 17p and put it on my boat. The 3-blade brought my RPMs up to 6200, but my hole shot turned to garbage and I didn’t gain anything on the top end. I am thinking about switching to a Stainless 4-blade 12.5 X 19p (same as my original prop, but stainless). Will I gain any top end or RPM over the original 5400 that I was getting on the aluminum 4-blade? I was happy with the performance of the 4-blade, but would like a little more top end.

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MnPat1, can you tell me about the 17 P Revolution 4 prop? I was considering purchasing that prop but as it wasn’t recommended in the mercury prop selector I wasn’t sure if it was a wise purchase. I have a aluminum 19 p and am running 5520 rpm at WOT @ 47 mph. Dont mind losing speed as long as it isn’t greater than 5 mph. I’m going for better boat control in rough waters near piers and also better hole shot and bite at lower speeds in turns when taking the kids tubing

Might want to start a new thread as this one was from January 2019.