Back In Touch
Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2017 6:12 pm
Hi, I'm new to this forum, but I've been around boats for about 40 yrs and I was a member over a PDB forum for a long time.
Sorry to hear about John 6x6 Larson - I remember his many posts.
My Bennington is a puzzle. We've had it for years and the motor runs well, just over 400 hours on it. For a bunch of years I had a Quicksilver 14x11.5P prop and could barely max out 4600rpm and 21-22mph @ WOT. So early this year the Flotorq hub spun and it was just time to buy a new prop. Local dealer guy swears by Merc Black Max 14x13P - I didn't believe him but came back home and tried it. Dang if he wasn't right! Went up in pitch, but the rpms went up and speed went up. Now getting 4950+rpms and 24-25mph @ WOT. Still not in the sweet spot for the motor, would like to get 5500rpm and would like more speed. Local guys think 23-25mph with my setup if pretty good, All over the forums and boat tests, I see boats similar to my with similar engines doing 28-30mph
One of the prop sites gave me 24% slip which is higher than you'd like but I kinda believe it based on the speed. All the speeds are from gps.
So what direction? Smaller dia and more pitch? What about stainless on a pontoon? Some swear by them others, swear at them... I do have a deal on a 14x12P Merc Vengance for $125 which seems like a steal. Would it be worth picking up to try?
Glad to be back!
Thanks in advance,
WI-RiverRat
Sorry to hear about John 6x6 Larson - I remember his many posts.
My Bennington is a puzzle. We've had it for years and the motor runs well, just over 400 hours on it. For a bunch of years I had a Quicksilver 14x11.5P prop and could barely max out 4600rpm and 21-22mph @ WOT. So early this year the Flotorq hub spun and it was just time to buy a new prop. Local dealer guy swears by Merc Black Max 14x13P - I didn't believe him but came back home and tried it. Dang if he wasn't right! Went up in pitch, but the rpms went up and speed went up. Now getting 4950+rpms and 24-25mph @ WOT. Still not in the sweet spot for the motor, would like to get 5500rpm and would like more speed. Local guys think 23-25mph with my setup if pretty good, All over the forums and boat tests, I see boats similar to my with similar engines doing 28-30mph
One of the prop sites gave me 24% slip which is higher than you'd like but I kinda believe it based on the speed. All the speeds are from gps.
So what direction? Smaller dia and more pitch? What about stainless on a pontoon? Some swear by them others, swear at them... I do have a deal on a 14x12P Merc Vengance for $125 which seems like a steal. Would it be worth picking up to try?
Glad to be back!
Thanks in advance,
WI-RiverRat
