posted 06-03-2009 02:31 PM ET (US)
I would be curious to hear from others running the Mercury Tempest Plus propeller. I purchased a set of these in 23P to try out on my twin outboard Temptation (Yamaha 250 EFI's) and was pleasantly surprised at the overall performance. I expected the propellers to provide good top end, which they did, but also saw just about the best fuel consumption numbers of any props I have tried. My testing was done with a light load of only me and about 80-90 gallons of fuel and other standard equipment (anchor, 3 batteries, etc.) totaling approximately 6,300 lbs The results were:
Minimum Planing Speed: 15 MPH
Best Fuel Consumption: 2.0 MPG (19.6 GPH) @ 3,500 RPM/40 MPH
Maximum Speed: 61.2 MPH @ 5,400 RPM (60 GPH)
A single engine provided:
Best fuel economy of 2.5 MPG @ 4,000 RPM/35.5 MPH.
Max Speed, single motor was 44.4 @ 4,700 RPM & 1.65 MPG
In addition, throttle response was quick and the boat planed easily on a single motor. Earlier, I had a crew of 11 (6 adult size & 5 kids) on board with lots of equipment and inched up to 55 MPH with a little more throttle to go and not fully trimmed out; ride was smooth and strong. I didn't realize how fast we were going until I glanced at the GPS.
I do not have any rough water experience with the prop as of yet, but think with the ability to plane a low speeds they should handle moderate to heavy chop reasonable well.