Stainless prop recommendation

2014 Yamaha f50, 165 Alumacraft Escape.

Just looking for all around better performance and a slower back trolling speed.

Thanks

Stainless isn’t going to help that much. It’s biggest gains are with 150+hp motors that have enough power to flex aluminum prop blades. If you get a vented prop it can help your hotshot by slipping and getting your motor in the power band off the start. Merc make adjustable plugs to adjust the slip rate you would need.

Slower speeds backwards would come from more rake, cupping, and/or less pitch.

The down sides of that is less pitch means you go slower forward and, IMO, more rake is not required on the 2XB hulls. The trade off with rake is less efficiency for improved forward bite.

More rake gives the prop better bite going forward while trimmed up. I have an older (’04) 2XB hull and find that it only needs a little bit of trim. I only trim it up when it’s glass. I usually drive it (on Mille Lacs) with barely any trim but throttled up in rough conditions. IMO, it rides better in rough conditions trimmed down but running 35-37mph than it does trimmed up but running 28mph. So rake ends up being wasted efficiency on that hull.

all my opinion of course.

So maybe a prop with less rake that is modified with more cupping. That would give more forward bite and performance but doesn’t help much with going slower backwards. Maybe throw out a drift sock off the bow.

How are the 4 blade props for back troll speed?

2 small drift control bags off the front sides would take your rig down to a crawl. DK.

Thanks for the great feedback. It saved me some cash. Just going to try to dial in the program I’ve been working on with what I’m already running.

I just noticed that you use an F50. Not sure how I missed that the first go round. I don’t know that stainless would be worth the investment. While stainless has less flex when pushed, it has higher mass requiring more torque to spin it up. Ballpark-ish, 100hp is recommended for a SS prop, but I’ve had good results with a 90hp and SS.

Ideally, you should try to figure out what you are trying to fix. Sounds to me like you want slower back trolling but I do not know what better performance means.

In my mind could mean better hole shot, more efficient cruise, better top end, and/or better cornering. Figure out what you are trying to fix, then you might be better off talking to prop experts like PropMD or Soderbloom’s. Soderblooms also can modify props with extra cupping. Cupping would add more bite while cornering or trimmed up, and forward speed at the expense of backing speed and it generally eats up about 500rpm off your wide open throttle rpm.

I would try to find a retailer close to you that will allow you to try out multiple props to see what works best for you.