Yamaha 115 four stroke 5 props comparison

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Hey. I’ve been struggling to find posts using a 2017 and up Yamaha 115 four stroke. I found this post from 2019. Hope this helps

Thanks
v1rot8.


Jul 23, 2019 #47

New Member​

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