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Proper prop

kaydano said:
You are right. Prop selection is NOT easy.

In addition to what you mentioned (pitch, blade count, diameter, metal, etc), it also depends how you use your boat! If you want top speed, there's a prop for that. If you want max acceleration, there's a DIFFERENT prop for that, even though your boat and motor are the same in either case. If you want best fuel economy, there's yet ANOTHER prop for that. Probably another one if you plan to run a heavy boat full of people vs just you and the dog. Or cat. Cat only goes out once though. Doesn't get to come back.

Just saying that's why the dealer can't pick the best single prop for a given boat/motor combination, because that same boat/motor combo can have several different "best" props, each depending on how the buyer will use the boat (which the dealer probably doesn't know especially if the first time boat-owner customer doesn't yet know himself).

Fortunately, it isn't too hard to get CLOSE. You could spend you're entire life looking at props.
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Thanks Kaydano! Very informative. Especially enjoyed the comment about the cat not coming back!! We are dog people too. Both of ours are always with us when going to the lake. A cat wouldn't even make it from the dock to the boat;).

Is finding the right prop as critical on a larger I/O duo prop boat as it is on an out board, do you know? Just another thing for me to think and/or worry about:(
 
I assume it's the same for an I/O, but someone else may chime in.

If you get a prop that puts your motor at the high end of the recommended RPM range with a lightly loaded boat, you should be 99% dialed in. The other 1% is for the prop geeks.
 
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The dual props have pitch and diameter just like single props. One is usually smaller than the other one. The duals try to give you an all around performance package. Just don't lose one. Borrowed Dad's runabout with the Volvo outdrive dual prop. Hit a small piece of waterlogged plywood that stuck on the blade. I raised the outdrive and pulled the wood off and drove on down the Ohio to Louisville for the night. Coming back, we were waiting at the lock and I reversed the boat to get away from the wall to load in the lock. I did not know that the props are only held on tightening them. When I hit the wood it loosened the rear prop and when I went in reverse the prop spun right off the shaft. Leaving the lock I could not get on plane. Raising the outdrive showed we only had one prop. Put everybody up front and finally got plane and stayed all the way to Cincinnati. I then found out the price of a Volvo SS prop. $800 25 years ago. That hurt.
 
I have a 2017 235RSB tri-toon with the sport handling package. The boat has a Yamaha 200 and I have 19 hours on the boat.....and I did the un-thinkable. I wandered into shallow territory and dinged the prop. I now feel a slight vibration at higher rpms. They are checking that I did not damage the shaft, but they are telling me that this prop is a new design from Yamaha specially made for tri-toons and it is on backorder for the unforeseeable future. Any suggestions?
 
Bring it to a prop shop and have it repaired and balanced.
 
Plus one on the repair! The backorder statement has been discussed on here many times.
 
v1rot8 said:
I think I have some information that may help you with your search for the proper prop. My boat is nearly identical to yours. I have a 22 SLMX with a Yamaha F115 four stroke. The pontoons are 25" diameter with no lifting strakes. I drove myself crazy about 2 months ago dealing with the same issues you are having with your propeller. My dealer set my boat up with the 13pitch Yamaha propeller when I picked it up also. In fact, Bennington provides the dealers with a chart that gives propeller recomendations based on motor and pontoon. For a 22' pontoon with the F115 engine they recommend two different propellers. The first being the aluminum 13 pitch you started with and the second being a Yamaha Stainless Steel 14" x 13 pitch (MAR-PNTN3-V4-13).

My boat also hit the rev limiter (6250 RPM) and was ventilating when I first ran the boat. My top speed on the GPS was 27MPH with this prop. When I brought the boat back to the dealer and discussed the issue with him he installed the 14" x 13 Yamaha prop mentioned above and told me to try it. I have had lots of issues with my dealer and feel that he is always trying to make a quick dollar rather than having my best interest in mind. Needless to say when he put the stainless prop on I thought it was just a way to get another $400 out of me. Reluctantly I dicided to give it a try. If you read this forum and many others the value of a Stainless Steel propeller is ofen debated especially on a 115hp engine. I will leave you to read about the pros and cons of stainless but the performance spoke for itself. With the 14" x 13p stainless the boat ran at 6000 RPMs and on the GPS the top speed was between 31 and 32 MPH. I was pleased with the holeshot and the top end speed.

*****By the way the boat was loaded with a full tank of gas and my son and myself with a collective weight of 300 pounds. Weather conditions were roughly 60-70 degrees for all of the props. and winds pretty much calm. *****

Not beleving that I needed a stainless prop on a pontoon I set out to find an aluminum propeller that would perform as well.....I went to a local prop shop and he was nice enough to fill the back of my truck with a bunch of new props. He let me try them and bring back the ones that I did not want. I tried several brands and sizes.

Here are my test results:

1) Yamaha 13 pitch 6250rpm on rev limiter 25-26MPH (aluminum)

2) Yamaha 13.5 x 15 pitch (6E5-45947-00-00) 5400 rpm 26-27 MPH (aluminum)

3) Mercury Black Diamond (QA2034x) 13.75" x 15 5200 RPM 26-27MPH (aluminum)

4) Mercury Black Diamond (QA2032X) 14" x 13p 5900RPM 28-29MPH (aluminum) ***** BEST PERFORMING ALUMINUM PROP I FOUND AND IS NOW MY SPARE****

5) Mercury Black Diamond (QA2832X) 14" x 13p "Pontoon Extra Cup" 5100 - 5200RPM 25-26MPH (aluminum)

6) Yamaha Stainless Steel (MAR-PNTN3-V4-13) 14" x 13p Pontoon 6000RPM 31-32MPH *****BEST OVERALL PERFORMANCE****

****By the way the Mercury Props require you to buy a Flo-Torque hub kit (835271Q2) it cost me about $50****

In the end I decided to keep the Yamaha Stainless Steel 14" x 13 pitch (MAR-PNTN3-V4-13) on the boat a my main prop. If you search for the Yamaha Performance Bulletin PB-BNT-24SLi-F115TLR-2010-10-13-PNT you will find this propeller is tested on a 24' Bennington SLi. Given the fact that my top speed and RPM data is nearly identical and it is one of the two props Bennington recommends for our combination of boat and motor I think it would be worth giving a try. I agree with the others that a 17 pitch sounds way too high for your boat. I hope that you find this information helpful....Before buying my boat I thought that the dealer would just set the boat up with the proper combination and I would be all set....What I found was that it takes a whole lot of trial and error to find the right combination. As you can tell by the responses on this forum everyone has different combinations that work well for them.
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v1rot8, what mounting hole was your engine delivered in? I have a 2019 22SSRX with Yamaha 115. Mine was mounted second from top. I have not been pleased so far with performance. Been trying to determine if that is contributing to the cause, or mainly the prop.
 
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I bought a used 2013 22SLX 115 Yamaha with lifting strakes. It had a 13.50 x 15 pitch 3 blade turning a lot of RPM 6100 top out at 32MPH with 2 people in it but really sucked when you put 4 to 6 people in it just didn't have the take off so I called Ken @ Progods great guy he suggested a Powertech 13.5 x 12 3 blade SWW it was perfect still tach around 6000 but it holds the speed much better may have gained 1 MPH. The wife even said the engine even sounded smoother.
 
Johnny C said:
I bought a used 2013 22SLX 115 Yamaha with lifting strakes. It had a 13.50 x 15 pitch 3 blade turning a lot of RPM 6100 top out at 32MPH with 2 people in it but really sucked when you put 4 to 6 people in it just didn't have the take off so I called Ken @ Progods great guy he suggested a Powertech 13.5 x 12 3 blade SWW it was perfect still tach around 6000 but it holds the speed much better may have gained 1 MPH. The wife even said the engine even sounded smoother.
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Glad to hear that you got it figured out. Ken does a great job!
 
Johnny C said:
I bought a used 2013 22SLX 115 Yamaha with lifting strakes. It had a 13.50 x 15 pitch 3 blade turning a lot of RPM 6100 top out at 32MPH with 2 people in it but really sucked when you put 4 to 6 people in it just didn't have the take off so I called Ken @ Progods great guy he suggested a Powertech 13.5 x 12 3 blade SWW it was perfect still tach around 6000 but it holds the speed much better may have gained 1 MPH. The wife even said the engine even sounded smoother.
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Is the 12 pitch a typo? I have a 2013 22SLX express tube Yamaha 115 and sounds like it might be perfect for mine. Numbers sound like too low of a pitch at 13.5 x 12. What does SWW stand for? Just looked at Powertech website .....gazillions of props....Can you give model/part number of this exact prop please? I couldn't find any 12p props there. What is contact number for propgod resource?
 
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Have a tri toon 25 QSB 2018 Bennington with Yamaha SHO VF-250XA motor. What is the recommended Yamaha prop and pitch for this motor for fresh water only usage? Much thanks.
 
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