SO……

[spareparts]

at those speeds, stainless steel isn't any help, its really not until you get into the 50+ mph range that stainless helps, its more of an issue with prop design than material. If you luck up and find one of the old straight back blade, black painted factory Yamaha stainless steel props, they are great for lower powered boats. You can pick them up used pretty cheap because they aren't pretty like other stainless props, check with your local prop shop. To give you an idea, my 17 Sea Hunt has a 150 Johnson V6 on it, spinning a 19 pitch prop 5200 rpm, I'm only getting about 44 mph out of it. It should be a rocket ship, but its not. The previous owner was a diving company, and they left teh boat in a slip with ablative paint. Its had a bunch on it. I've hit it with 80 grit on a DA, paint remover, and a pressure washer. I've got about 50% of teh paint off, and it helped(wouldn't break 40 to begin with). Every time I haul it out, I hit the bottom with the pressure washer, between that and sand bars, I'm slowly removing the paint. i need to crawl under it with a scraper at this point.

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by spareparts

at those speeds, stainless steel isn't any help, its really not until you get into the 50+ mph range that stainless helps, its more of an issue with prop design than material. If you luck up and find one of the old straight back blade, black painted factory Yamaha stainless steel props, they are great for lower powered boats. You can pick them up used pretty cheap because they aren't pretty like other stainless props, check with your local prop shop. To give you an idea, my 17 Sea Hunt has a 150 Johnson V6 on it, spinning a 19 pitch prop 5200 rpm, I'm only getting about 44 mph out of it. It should be a rocket ship, but its not. The previous owner was a diving company, and they left teh boat in a slip with ablative paint. Its had a bunch on it. I've hit it with 80 grit on a DA, paint remover, and a pressure washer. I've got about 50% of teh paint off, and it helped(wouldn't break 40 to begin with). Every time I haul it out, I hit the bottom with the pressure washer, between that and sand bars, I'm slowly removing the paint. i need to crawl under it with a scraper at this point.

Soda blasting. Messy and it costs a bit but it works wonders for paint removing without hurting the glass underneath.

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[charlie_the_tuna]

Ok, numbers on prop are (I believe) 13X19. After running it a few times, the paint wore off. Almost looks stainless underneath. Weird that the paint wore off just from running it. We sure didn’t hit anything. Dying to get out there. Wouldn’t dream of leaving the dock on a holiday weekend. I took a shift with Wednesday/Thursday off for the summer so we could enjoy the water without the entire Italian navy and the Israeli fleet. Of course they’re calling for rain on W and T this week. I don’t give a sh!t! I’m going fishing!

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by charlie_the_tuna

Ok, numbers on prop are (I believe) 13X19. After running it a few times, the paint wore off. Almost looks stainless underneath. Weird that the paint wore off just from running it. We sure didn’t hit anything. Dying to get out there. Wouldn’t dream of leaving the dock on a holiday weekend. I took a shift with Wednesday/Thursday off for the summer so we could enjoy the water without the entire Italian navy and the Israeli fleet. Of course they’re calling for rain on W and T this week. I don’t give a sh!t! I’m going fishing!

Good luck on the fishing. If you have a 19P prop and are turning close to max WOT then I would say to try a 13.5 or a 14 inch prop at 19P.

Hint... Check Craigslist for your area (NYC) under boat parts. You'd be surprised at the deals you sometimes find for props. I got a 4 blade 21P alum prop last year for my Merc engine for $100. Brand new, never been used.

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[spareparts]

Destroyer, Ive used soda blasting for my customers several times, it does a nice job, but its not cheap. I'll keep pressure washing and sanding my bottom and let the sand bars do their work.

Charlie, if that prop has straight back blades, its the factory stainless prop I was talking about. For you to have a 19 pitch, you're slip numbers are way off, back to the issue with bottom paint again. Post up a pic of the prop

[charlie_the_tuna]

i wish it was a little (a lot) easier to post pictures and video. it's a cheap. no name aftermarket prop on there now. no markings except the size. i'm convinced i would see 30mph with the right stainless prop. until i can find the right one.... i'm just gonna burn way too much gas and go way too slow. it's funny. (not really) the place i keep the boat is a yamaha dealer and they won't rent a slip to anybody who doesn't have a yamaha on their boat. it was the first question they asked me. when you walk around the docks, every single boat has a yamaha on it. and 90% of those have the dealer's sticker on them. weird.
oh well, i'm going fishing. later gators.