Back to the main site

Prop Comparison - Enertia vs. Revolution 4

Ok this makes NO sense:

So I put my stock prop back on yesterday after that 4-blade was a flop. This evening I took the boat out and recorded 40.1mph.....and here's the kicker.....@ 4850 rpm's. With this prop I have NEVER had more than 4400 rpm's. Never. Have no idea what changed. I do have a little less weight now as my 55 gallon gas tank is down to 1/4 of a tank (whereas the first time I recorded my stats with this stock prop I had 3/4 of a tank full). That would explain the slightly faster speed but not the rpm's right? If my tach is correct then I can't believe I'm going to get any better than this (again, the engine states 4600-5000 rpm's max).
 
Did you tighten up on your nuts a little?? :rolleyes:
 
LOL! Somehow I knew you (and only you) would ask that. :lol:

Every time I put a prop on it gets tightened to 50 ft. lbs. so nothing is different there. Weird.
 
Figure about 6 lbs per gallon, so you lost about 200 lbs of baggage. I wouldn't think that big of a difference in RPM, but it would definitely slow it down a little, just like extra passengers.
 
TomS said:
Figure about 6 lbs per gallon, so you lost about 200 lbs of baggage. I wouldn't think that big of a difference in RPM, but it would definitely slow it down a little, just like extra passengers.
Click to expand...
Slow down the rpm's or just the speed?
 
Did you clean your toons at all? Less weight no matter how (less people, less fuel, etc) will give you more rpm and theoretically more speed. Working the motor less. It's funny. You would think that 2 boats being identical and 1 having a 300hp and the other twin 150s. 9 times out of 10, the twin 150s are faster. Why? More drag, more weight, etc. But the fact the twins are doing 1/2 the work and can run a lot larger pitch prop making them faster 90% of the time. My Wellcraft with a single 250 was almost 10mph slower the the same size boat with twin 150's. 50hp is NOT going to make 10mph. It's the pitch of the props etc. A bit off topic I know, but weight, clean toons, etc. Can make a huge difference

T
 
No I did not clean the toons....my boat sits in the water so if anything they're more dirty now that when I first checked the stats on this prop. So maybe the less weight is the difference. but it's only about 160 lbs difference in fuel weight. I have a hard time believing that's going to give me 450 more rpm's.
 
Using 21% slip as the std. for the Thunderbolt 17p, the speed at 4850 rpm's should have been about 43.1 mph (a 3.8 mph increase). That didn't happen. The speed of 40.1 mph would equate to ~4500-4550 rpm's. We're only talking 0.8 mph here. A good air day and 160lbs less in fuel can make that difference.

Heck, the speed of our boat can vary by a mph or so on any given day.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Wind, air temp, chop, weight...

Retest next time your tank is filled to where it was the first time.
 
Water conditions were actually exactly like they were the first time I tested that prop.....calm. Water temp was probably a little warmer this time around. Air tempt was probably warmer as well by a little bit. I need to add more fuel today anyway (will FINALLY be able to test out my new Super Siphon) so I'll try to fill it at 3/4 tank and retest it today. I am thinking that the RPM's were truly what it read on the tach (higher) because the engine rpm's even sounded higher/louder to me.
 
Well, the boat didnt gain 450 rpm's worth of speed that's for sure. But, if you read the tach correctly you did have a nice gain...........about 5 % more prop slip. :eek: A little heavy on the trim button maybe???
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well I went to try my solaris this weekend, and it did not fit. The washer behind the prop nut is splined and would not engage the spline. i thik it needs a different prop thrust washer. When I look in the honda catalog, the powertech props use a different prop thrust washer. Also, I lloked at some eleses setup out on the lake. For my prop (powertech and solas) it cam with a thich beveled washer for behind the prop nut along with a tamped metal piece tat the nut fits in, and you fols down locking tabs (like mercury uses). However it looks like the Honda I saw onthe lake uses a washer + catle nut + cotter pin.

Can anyone out there that has run a solaris on a Honda engine, or other Honda owners let me know what type of prop hut arrangment you have?
 
I have the nut with a cotter pin on our Honda and run a Mercury Enertia. I did have to get a different thrust washer so I had to get a Honda hub kit from Mercury.
 
Carl,

I think the enertia you bought is universal, and you buy the hub kit. The solas I just bought does not have a hub kit it fits directly (I think mercury and honda splines are the same), but as I stated, when I look at the Honda catalog, the powertech props have a different prop thrust washer. When I called the place I bought the prop from they said to use the "stock" prop thust washer. But now after looking more closely I am wondering if I also need washer behind the prop nut and the prop nut itself.

Thank for the advice about the Enertia. I bought the aluminum solas because I want to make sure I am in the neighborhod first (AL Sola was $100). I figure I can use as a spare, and make sure it is close before I sink $500 +
 
So they are now sending me out a 4-blade 14.5 x 17P....exactly what I thought he would come back with. Should be here Wednesday. So basically that's the exact size and pitch of that 17P Enertia with an extra blade.

He thinks the 19P will drop my rpm's too much....I agree.
 
Just put the Solas 14.5 x 17P 4-blade on this evening (weather was crappy Saturday and had company yesterday) however as I was straightening out the cotter pin to remove my stock prop off I broke part of the pin so I will have to buy a new one tomorrow before I can test the new prop out. Hope it tests as well as it looks on there. I already told the guy that if this one doesn't work out I'm going to try just one more and that's it. I told him I realize he's very confident he can find me a better prop than what's on there now but so was Ken at Propgods.
 
Prop #5 (#4 after my stock prop), Solas 14.5 x 17P 4-blade aluminum.

RPM's Speed

1000 4.0

2000 9.7

3000 22.1

4000 31.8

WOT: 4550 @ 40.2mph

0-30 time: 9.5 seconds

No wind, lake like glass, 1/3 tank of gas (55 gallon tank).

So once again, nothing has been better than my stock prop. I get 1 more mph faster with this prop (just less actually) and gained about 150 rpm's but my speed is slower at all the rpm's AND the 0-30 second time is actually a full second SLOWER with this prop. So much for the theory 'You get a better hole shot with a 4-blade over a 3-blade.' While I'm at it, so much for the theory 'When going from a 3 blade to a 4 blade you have to drop pitch by 2 sizes.' At least on my boat.

One might point out that I'm using an aluminum and that I would get better performance from a ss prop. I always thought so as well. This Solas dealer disputes that....at least anything significant.

The ONLY thing better I noticed is that I didn't have to trim my outdrive back down at all when clipping along fast and going into a hard/fast turn. I've always had to do that with the other (3 blade) props otherwise the prop would come out of the water a bit.

So if he insists, I'm going to try just one more prop and then that's it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Keith, I don't think you'll be able to quit after coming this far...
 
Yes I will because obviously there's no more point to this.
 
If you quit, who's posts am I going to read???
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top