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2016 150 SUPER SPORT with Mercury 60-HP FourStroke Command Thrust

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2026 11:58 am
by mjl7245
Give me a recommendation for a propeller for a 2016 150 SUPER SPORT with a Mercury 60-HP FourStroke Command Thrust engine.

The boat weighs 900-lbs. The engine weighs 260-lbs. The average load (persons, gear and fuel) is about 350-lbs. I'm looking for a reasonable balance between acceleration and maximum speed without sacrificing handling. I am willing to pay for a stainless steel propeller to get what I’m looking for.

CURRENT PERFORMANCE DATA
Propeller: 13-3/4 x 15 Black Max with dings
Engine speed = 5200 RPM
Boat speed - 31-MPH

The engine is properly trimmed. All other concerns that could affect boat speed have been addressed. For that reason I think the propeller needs to be changed.

The engine is rated for a maxim engine speed of 5,940-RPM.
The boat is rated for 36.3-MPH

Re: 2016 150 SUPER SPORT with Mercury 60-HP FourStroke Command Thrust

Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2026 7:35 am
by jimh
mjl7245 wrote:The boat is rated for 36.3-MPH
I don't understand the meaning of the boat being "rated" for a certain boat speed. I have never seen Boston Whaler supply information about a maximum "rated" boat speed. The only maximum value provided by Boston Whaler for their boats regarding performance is the maximum allowed horsepower, and in some models, the maximum allowed weight of the engine or engines.

I presume you probably are making reference (without any attribution) to some performance data for your boat published by some unknown source for what is presumably a very similar boat and engine combination.

Regarding your performance data, in order to evaluate the information you supplied readers will need more information. Please give the following data:

Q1: what is the manufacturer's recommended full-throttle optimum engine speed range?

Note that the maximum allowed engine speed is not necessarily the optimum recommended full-throttle engine speed.

Q2: what is the gear ratio of this particular engine?

Q3: what is the material used for the current propeller?

Q4: how many blades does the current propeller have?

With all the necessary data available from actual measurements or specifications, the PROPELLER CALCULATOR can be used to assess the current propeller performance by calculation of the SLIP value. The SLIP value should be in the range of 10 to 15. SLIP is a value that cannot be directly measured; it can only be calculated from careful measurement of engine speed, gear ratio, and actual boat speed through the water.

Regarding the presence of any deformations of the blades of any propeller, such damage will always affect the performance of the propeller. Deformed propeller blades will reduce the thrust produced and also create imbalances which could cause damage to propeller shaft seals.

Re: 2016 150 SUPER SPORT with Mercury 60-HP FourStroke Command Thrust

Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2026 7:46 am
by jimh
In the absence of any actual performance test data, you can estimate the speed potential for a moderate V-hull boat from its engine power and its total weight, using a method developed by naval architect Crouch, and implemented by me in a calculator, at

Crouch's Calculator
https://continuouswave.com/calculators/crouchCalc.php

Using the calculator with this data input
POWER = 60
WEIGHT = 1,520
HULL FACTOR = 180

The expected top boat speed will be 35.8-MPH.

Rough estimates of total boat weight tend to be lower than actual weight, so recalculating with more total weight, say 1,600-lbs gives an expected top speed of 34.9-MPH.

The value used for the HULL FACTOR (180) is a typical value seen with Boston Whaler boats with moderate V-hull designs. If there were performance data with actual measured and accurate values for power, weight, and boat speed, then the hull factor could be deduced from that data and used to calculate of speeds with different weights and power.

Generally at the 60-HP level an aluminum propeller will produce good performance. Use of a steel propeller may enhance performance due to the propeller having thinner blades (possible due to higher material strength). A steel propeller will be more expensive, but in additional to better performance a steel propeller will generally be able to endure minor blade strikes with softer objects in the water without any damage.

Re: 2016 150 SUPER SPORT with Mercury 60-HP FourStroke Command Thrust

Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2026 9:49 am
by mjl7245
Thanks, Jim. The 36.3 MPH speed figure is based on Boston Whaler’s published performance data for the boat with the same engine, same propeller and roughly the same weight of persons and gear.

Regarding your other questions:

The only published data from Mercury I’ve been able to find is a maximum RPM range of between 5500 - 6000. The above-referenced performance test lists [engine speed was] 5940-RPM.

The engine gear ratio is 2.33:1.

The propeller for my performance test was a three-blade aluminum.

Q4: Three.

When using the propeller calculator to find the estimated recommended pitch, should I use the actual values I experience for max RPMs and max Boat MPH? Or should I use the maximum potential values as per manufacturer data, performance tests and/or the speed calculator?

Thanks.

Re: 2016 150 SUPER SPORT with Mercury 60-HP FourStroke Command Thrust

Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2026 1:45 pm
by jimh
mjl7245 wrote:When using the propeller calculator to find the estimated recommended propeller pitch, should I use the actual values I experience for max RPMs and max Boat MPH? Or should I use the maximum potential values as per manufacturer data, performance tests and/or the speed calculator?
You cannot use the Propeller Calculator to find a recommended pitch propeller. But you can use it to estimate what a particular pitch will produce at a particular engine speed, gear ratio, and assuming a particular SLIP

The most common use of the Propeller Calculator is to enter actual measured data from testing for engine speed, engine gear ratio, boat speed and propeller pitch, and then deduce the propeller SLIP. Finding the propeller SLIP gives a good indicator of how well the propeller is working. The typical SLIP value at maximum boat speeds--assuming at leat 25-MPH--should be 10 to 15. A higher value of SLIP indicates the propeller is not working as effectively as it should.

From the Boston Whaler boat test data, you already have reliable data for performance of your boat, as you have the same elements: engine power, gear ratio, hull, and propeller.

Now that you provided the gear ratio you can use the Propeller Calculator to deduce the SLIP value in the data you provided:

With this data set:
RPM = 5940
RATIO = 2.33
PITCH = 15
MPH = 36.3

the deduced SLIP value is -0.2, which is not possible. There must be an error in the data. Most likely the propeller pitch was understated. The same data set with a 16-pitch gives SLIP = 6, which is a very reasonable answer.

Please give the URL to the webpage with the performance data, so it can be checked.

Now with your data set:
RPM = 5200
RATIO = 2.33
PITCH = 15
MPH = 31
SLIP calculates at 2.2, which is a very low value.

There seems to be something off here. Are you sure about the RATIO being 2.33:1?

The reason your performance does not match the Boston Whaler result is most likely due to two factors:
  1. your engine power output was not as strong as the Boston Whaler engine, that is, perhaps there is a problem in the throttle linkage or perhaps the engine is not in perfect tune; or
  2. the total weight on the boat was higher in your test; in small boats a change in weight has a significant effect on performance.

There are also many environmental factors that affect engine and boat performance, including:
  • air temperature
  • humidity
  • water salinity
  • water temperature
  • altitude above sea level
  • and the presence of winds, waves, and current effects.

Note that the case for lower power output is supported by the engine speed at full-throttle being below the recommend full-throttle range of 5,500 to 6,000-RPM.

Also the engine mounting height might be different on your boat compared to the test boat.

Also, a very likely possibility for variation is that you might be measuring BOAT SPEED in Nautical-miles-per-hour, while other data is for MPH or statute miles per hour. Check the settings on your GNSS receiver to verify you are reporting boat speed in MPH and not in Nautical-miles-per-hour.

A further area to check in the tachometer; if not using a digital tachometer being driven by digital data from the engine control module, there is always a possibility for tachometer error.

Re: 2016 150 SUPER SPORT with Mercury 60-HP FourStroke Command Thrust

Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2026 3:24 pm
by mjl7245
Thanks, Jim.

The performance data is here: https://www.bostonwhaler.com/content/da ... e-2016.pdf I did just notice that the test date for the performance data for the 2016 model year boat is 2008, so something is obviously not right about that.

On the gear ratio, it looks like the actual owner's manual lists it as 2.31:1 instead of 2.33:1 (Mercury website and BW performance data say 2.33:1), but I doubt that makes much of a difference.

I am measuring speed in statute miles per hour using a GPS.

Matt

Re: 2016 150 SUPER SPORT with Mercury 60-HP FourStroke Command Thrust

Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2026 11:46 am
by jimh
Thanks for providing the URL to the Boston Whaler factory testing of a 150 SUPER SPORT with 60-HP engine.

Looking at the reported boat speeds obtained at various engine speeds, I have calculated the propeller SLIP for each:

RPM    MPH   SLIP
3000 14.7 19.6
3500 19.5 8.6
4000 23.3 4.5
4500 27.2 0.9
5000 30.1 1.3
5500 33.4 0.4
5940 36.3 -0.2


The value of SLIP tends to decrease as the engine speed and boat speed increase, which is completely expected and very typical. What is NOT typical is the values for SLIP are extremely low when the boat was at moderate planing speeds of 23 to 33-MPH, decreasing from 4.5 to 0.4. The SLIP values in this range are much lower than would be produced by most propellers. Finally, the SLIP at maximum speed has gone to a negative value, which is entirely unreasonable.

The general deduction from seeing values like this is there is an error in the data. The most likely error in the data is possibly that the propeller's marked pitch was understated, that is, in this case, the pitch is higher than "15".

Finding the actual blade pitch on a propeller is difficult with modern propellers because they typically do not use a constant pitch across the entire blade, but instead use a progressive pitch. So when the manufacturer marks the propeller as a particular pitch, he is, more or less, giving his assessment of how the propeller will behave in use, and this is also usually in relationship to other propellers in the same family and their "pitch" numbers.

The other data value used in the SLIP calculation that would have a big influence is the gear ratio. The gear ratio determines the actual propeller shaft rotation speed as a function of engine speed. A variation of a only 0.02 in the gear ratio would not produce a significant change in the SLIP calculations.

The final data value with influence in the engine speed, but here I will have to take the Boston Whaler engine speed data at correct, as they seemed to be measuring it with a digital readout, probably taken a value of engine speed sent from the engine's main control unit.

ENVIRONMENTAL DATA
The Boston Whaler reports notes the water and air temperatures were 82 and 86-degrees-F, respectively. Those are not favorable values that would result in better power output from the engine and propeller. Both engine and propeller will produce more more in colder air and colder water.

YOUR DATA
As for why your boat is not able to duplicate the performance seen from Boston Whaler's testing, there are only two possible reasons: more weight and less power.

The factory tested boat total weight was 1,779-lbs, of which "personnel" weight was 355-lbs. That sounds like two adult men. You can comment on what you think the total boat weight was during your testing.

The engine power output during the factory test is assumed to be 60-HP, as the engine was in new condition. The engine power output from your testing is really not known precisely. We can estimate the engine power output using the Crouch method.

If we assume that the factory data was exactly accurate, the 60-HP and 1,779-lbs produced a boat speed of 36.3-MPH. From that data we can deduce the hull factor as 198. That is a reasonable value for a hull with variable deadrise and only moderate V-hull form, as a value of 200 is often suggested for moderate V-hull forms at higher speeds where more and more of the hull is lifted out of the water.

Using 198 as the hull coefficient, the Boston Whaler test weight value 1,779, and your test reporting of boat speed as 31-MPH, we can infer the power needed to reach that boat speed was only 44-HP, much less than the 60-HP assumed for the factory test. That suggests the cause of underperformance is the engine. It could be in poor tune or perhaps the throttle cable from the remote does not move the throttle position to completely open at the engine.

Finally, the "dinged" propeller is also likely to be an influence. You need to re-test with a new propeller, get new data, and see if you can get closer to the factory performance values for full-throttle boat engine speed and boat speed.