posted 07-14-2007 10:10 AM ET (US)            

I have an Outrage 22 with a standard console and a t-top. A Suzuki 15 HP kicker rides on the transom next to a 200 HP Suzuki. Both are older carb 2 stroke engines.

The 200 turns a 19 pitch propellor. It has been a while since I have been at WOT, so my memory is not perfectly clear. I was able to get into the WOT operating range comfortably, in the low forty MPH range.

The propellor is a polished stainless steel with a brand name on it I am not familiar with- Sterndriver. Tacoma Propellor did some work on it for me not too long ago. The person at the counter said that he is familiar with that prop and indicated that it is a good wheel.

It seems to work OK, but I always wonder if I could be doing better, performance and economy wise. It will have to do the the forseeable future.

posted 07-14-2007 03:45 PM ET (US)            

If the engine reaches the specified operating range, which is 5000 to 5600 RPM (per the Suzuki shop manual), with this propeller, would the 19 pitch not be the correct propeller for the boat?

The prop is 14 x 19. The reduction ratio of the gear case is 1.857:1.

As I said earlier, I have not checked the WOT RPM lately, but have checked it since I bought the boat. As I remember, it was within the acceptable range.

I guess the prop could have been repitched at some point and not re-designated with the new pitch.

I am going salmon fishing in the morning, I will verify my previous results.

posted 07-16-2007 01:38 PM ET (US)            

Sorry to interject some information that is not directly related to your situation.

My 200 Suzuki turned 5500 RPM at wide opent throttle yesterday. It was not a good day to record speed however, as a large tidal exchange was in progress and there was a pretty stiff varible 10-20 knot wind blowing all day.

With the large t-top, speed is affected quite a bit by wind.

Sal, how does one check for prop slip? It seems to bite OK to me, but I am not that experienced at prop selection and performance trouble shooting. The boat seems to perform OK to me as well.

posted 07-16-2007 03:08 PM ET (US)            

You can use the Propeller Calculator to calculate propeller slip:
http://continuouswave.com/cgi-bin/propcalc.pl

If you are hitting 5500 RPM at only 42 MPH with your Suzuki 200 that suggests your 19" pitch propeller is suffering 20 percent propeller slip which is a lot.

5 to 15 percent is more normal but the reality is that if your boat is faster with more slip, then who cares?

I actually tend to agree with Sal that you do not have the right prop for your boat. I suspect you could do better. Next time you get a chance, pull your prop and find the part number or marking son it. If you have a photo I can probably tell you what it is.

posted 07-16-2007 03:12 PM ET (US)            

I did not recommend "a four blade prop." I recommended a very specific propeller that I have personal experience with that I think will work well in your situation. This particular propeller happens to be a four blade propeller.

posted 07-16-2007 04:03 PM ET (US)            

On the inside of the propeller is cast the following:

Sterndriver Mach

I will try to check into the part number soon.

posted 07-16-2007 04:14 PM ET (US)            

He did make a blanket statement that four blade props cause bow lift. I'm sure it is entirely possible that the prop you recommended does not cause bow lift. Shoot, I can't figure out why a four blade prop would cause bow lift in the first place! However, I do know that I want the best possible prop for my setup.

Thanks for your response,

posted 07-16-2007 06:39 PM ET (US)            

I just spoke with my mechanic. He said that he would loan a 17" stainless steel prop to me to see how she runs. No pressure from him at all. Also, the motor has 337 hours and each cylendar has about 125 pounds compression. He changed all of the filters, spark plugs, and lower unit oil (no water). It ran sweet before I took it to the shop and I can't wait to get her out on the water again.

I'll let you know what the loaner prop is.

posted 07-16-2007 07:22 PM ET (US)            

The more props you can try the better. We can make some predictions based on similar boats that have tied out specific propellers, but general statements don't get you much in propping a boat. Testing does.

posted 07-16-2007 07:25 PM ET (US)            

The Mach Sterndriver is an older design by a manufacturer that is no longer in business. This model of propeller has a good reputation, though it looks sort of old fashioned with its non-swept round tipped blades.

posted 07-16-2007 11:48 PM ET (US)            

This Mach Sterndriver prop is a three blade prop. I guess it is even more old fashioned than you thought?

Doug

posted 07-17-2007 02:27 PM ET (US)            

I had never heard of Mach Sterndriver propellers, much less 4 blade or 3 blade Mach Sterndriver prppellers.

posted 08-04-2007 10:50 AM ET (US)            

If you getting 5200 RPM on a motor with a 5500 RPM redline, that is not bad at all. With the tenacious grip of the Stiletto, you could easily raise the motor a bolt hole or two which will gain you both RPM and speed.

I think the 17" pitch Stiletto will be a good prop for you. At 43 MPH that is about 5 percent slip which great. If you pretend the prop is a 19" pith, the slip calculates to about 14-15 percent which is not reasonable on this size boat/motor combination. I would argue that the 17" Stiletto (in this case) is performing like an 18" prop.

posted 08-04-2007 01:41 PM ET (US)            

Thanks for your advice. I think I am going to raise the motor one or two sets of holes and see how she runs. I hope that will get me a few 100 RPM. The motor is trimmed up pretty far for my speed runs.

I think I'm also going to get the 15" Stiletto. I carry about 1000 pounds of gear when I go to Catalina, so I'll use the 15" for these trips. I can't tell you how happy I am with this motor and I really want it to last.

Sal, I have not had the pleasure of meeting Jim Brown.