When was the last time you purchased a new prop for your boat?

[oldjeep]

Typically buy a spare when I get a new boat and then just have them repaired unless i do a really good job of boogering them up. Propmd is local and can work miracles.

[thager]

Always buy a spare.

[dvskier]

I have 3 spares, two Acme and an OJ.

[Drago]

Mount spare and Repair unless it's pretty totaled (Lake Powell is unforgiving). Average one every 5 yrs-ish

[Kelvin]

Bought an ACME 668 when Nautique started using them for the 6.0L 200s. Also have a couple of older ACME 422s that got dinged up and had them recupped to match the 668 when repaired.

[LeonL]

'08 196. Original 422.

[h2onhk]

A new prop or freshly rebuilt prop is like driving a car with a brand new set of high dollar tires. So smooth you kick yourself for not changing it out earlier

[disland]

@dvskier 3 spares, I am concerned

[Zman]

What I wanna know is what did @Horton do to his prop?

[skiinxs]

I have a large assortment of stock and tweaked props, but bought the three blade jump prop a couple years ago for jump. Phenomenanal combination with the 6.2, on the 200, but never even tried with the '19 Ski Nautique. It is so crazy strong with the 6.2 it doesn't really need the 3 blade.

[BraceMaker]

Ive never roasted a prop on a DD. Our lake gets to about 4 feet before the docks do you have to be a real turd to roast a prop.

[dvskier]

@disland 3 spares as a result of living on public water hitting semi submerged objects randomly. I should probably have sold some of them but they are sentimental. They all have a story.

[PatM]

I bent one prop about 15 years ago. It is now hanging on my wall under an old ski platform which I use as a bar

[Bill22]

Last year I got an OJ 13 x 11.5 just to have a spare. Wow! Put it on my Lx with 5.7 and it has a better hole shot for short setups.

 

Edit: new prop vs. non-CNC 13 x 12. And I didn’t loose any on the top end due to added performance of a CNC prop, still getting 46-47mph GPS speed.

[Kelvin]

My son won the classic crash award at the 2017 NCWSA nationals. His award was a bent prop from Bennett's.

[Dacon62]

Went from a 4 blade 13x13 on my previous 2001 response 325hp monsoon to a 3 blade Acme 515(think it was a 13x12). Better grunt and also better top end 47mph from 45. And sooo smooth. Very happy with the choice.

[Bill22]

It would be interesting to know how many Ballers have upgraded to a CNC prop, kept the same diameter & pitch and seen an increase in performance? Hole shot, max speed, less vibration, overall smoothness or possibly wake?

[skimtb]

@Bill22 I “upgraded” a year or two ago. ‘94 MC PS205. Goal was better -22 hump, not that it’s terrible to start with. Don’t care about hole shot, top speed, Rpms, etc. I’m honestly not sure the goal was accomplished, my old prop was maybe 12 or 12.5” diameter and made a great wake. Better than my 13” “stock” backup prop. It was reworked though and the cup or other stuff could have been off a bit? I told myself it’s better since I spent the $$$. I found 3 blade to be better -22 than 4 blade, tried both.

I for sure noticed the smooth ness and hole shot / pull up were much better. I think it runs 100 or so lower rpms at 34, don’t recall exactly.

The smoothness is worth it in my mind, especially if your current prop is not perfect.

[oldjeep]

"upgraded" to a CNC prop? How old is your prop that there is some option other than CNC?

[Bill22]

I bought the ‘01 boat used and it was on the boat when I got it. Just based off how it looks I don’t think it’s a cnc (no groves on the blades).

 

When did CNC become standard? You know there are a lot of guy’s still enjoying early 90’s boats.

[Bill22]

@oldjeep also last time I looked at the OJ website you could still buy the classic Legend (non-CNC) prop. They must still offer it for those guys that want to save a few pennies.

 

Edit: “The original LEGEND is a design handed down from the originator, Oscar Johnson. This hand crafted 3-blade has been a consistent performer for many years. The LEGEND 3-blade is still a popular choice for its performance and affordability.”

[oldjeep]

Never owned an oj prop. Every acme I've seen is cnc, but I don't really mess with anything but malibu and axis boats.

[ALPJr]

Called Eric at OJ

[Bill22]

@oldjeep I assume when my boat was new it had a Acme 515 CNC.

[Horton]

@zman nothing

[skimtb]

@oldjeep Did you miss the ‘94 boat mention? Prop was at least 10-15 years old but ran smooth and wake was nice so why change...

[jercrane]

Less than 20 hours on the new SN 200 this past summer and my wife put it into a sandbar.

 

 

So now I have a spare.

[BraceMaker]

Dont you hate it when your "wife" puts your "prop" into a "sandbar".

 

Not when you just slip it into gear on tbe trailer to see what happens ;) .

[oldjeep]

@jercrane - did the same thing to my Malibu the first day I ever used it. We had gone out super early in the spring before all the markers were in the lake. I drove it over a rock onto a mudbar in one of the channels and then had to back over the rock to get out after a bunch of failed pushing. It was a long drive back to the launch at about 4 MPH.

 

Prop guy did an awesome job on it even though I had messed up the leading and trailing edges of every blade.

 

[lpskier]

The last prop I dinged was on a turtle right in the middle of the slalom course.

[bassfooter]

Trashed a brand-new Acme 422 beyond any hope of repair. The rear guidepost on our trailer broke off as I was backing the boat off. This allowed the stern swung over far enough for the prop to hit the trailer. We're still on the 422 that replaced it.

 

@Zman I suspect @Horton is hiding something. Otherwise a fairly random question...

[BraceMaker]

Maybe this was an augmentation of the reader survey to interest ons of the big 2 prop brands.

[E_T]

Need a new one

[HighAltitude]

Still working on the best prop for my 6.0L 200 at altitude. Currently running a 654 with a slight cup mod to reduce RPMs at 34 mph. Have tried a 1868 but didn't like the high RPMs. The 668 has a beautiful wake and it's pulls me and my family (all under 150) out no problem. Unfortunately, my 250 lb neighbor can barely get up. I plan to sell a couple props next year and buy a three blade to see if I can beat the 654.

[oldjeep]

@Highaltitude - seems odd that you would switch to a 3 blade for more holeshot. The typical change on an I/O for more hole shot is to go from a 3 blade to a 4 blade.

[skiinxs]

@HighAltitude Don't buy the 3 blade planning to use for slalom, you won't like the pull (brutal strong with the 6.0) or wake.

They also vibrate a lot. If I were you I would go with the 12.5 x 15 and have the cup bumped up from .105 to around .130. Also, tell your neighbor to quit pushing with his back leg when he gets up:)

[skiinxs]

@oldjeep The approved acme 3 blade definitely has a ton more hole shot, and is a great jump prop, good for trick, but not a good slalom prop. When I run the 3 blade in tournaments for jump, I ALWAYS put the 4 blade back on for slalom.

[oldjeep]

@skiinxs - do the 3 and 4 blades you are using have a similar top speed? Or is the 3 blade significantly different. It's only an apples to apples comparison when they have the same pitch and close to same top end speed.

[skiinxs]

@oldjeep apples to oranges in this case. The 3 blade is a larger diameter but lower pitch and actually more blade area. Other than high altitude the stock 4 blade shipped on the 6 liter on the 200 hits the rev limiter softly around 50 mph The 3 blade hits the limiter hard at around 46.5 mph. It only takes it a couple seconds to hit it with the 3 blade.

[A_B]

Skiing in a private lake, so would really need to mess up driving to damage one, but I did put a less pitch prop on last summer for a better hole shot. A few more rpm, but not a noticeable drop in gas consumption. Still way better than the 2016 my friend has.

[HighAltitude]

@skiinxs What three blade prop do you use? I had a 3 blade on my 196 and never noticed a difference. Then again, my neighbor's '06 Prostar wake feels the same as my '14 200, so what do I know? :)

[skiinxs]

@HighAltitude Acme 1458 which is a 13×14 with a .135 cup. It us the only approved 3 blade for the 200 and 2019 ski Nautique

[GaryJanzig]

Currently running a 13x13 oj legend on a 1994 Ski Nautique 1:1 transmission 240 HP. I am looking at upgrading to the OJ force 4 blade 13x13, or the Acme 430 13x13 3 blade CNC. The Acme has a .080 cup and the OJ force and legend(current) have .090 cup. I primarily pull slalom and tricks, but pull some barefoot too. I did an acceleration check last week, idle to 36 in 6 seconds with no skier, and top speed 43 MPH. Looking to improve speed holding if possible, any maybe help improve acceleration. I have heard some props help flatten out the wakes on some boats. Anyone had any experience with that? Any ideas?

 

[skimtb]

@GaryJanzig I had ‘94 Prostar 205 and wanted to reduce -22 hump. After reading an in-depth test on MC teamtalk (he tried acme and oj 3 and. 4 blades) I decided to try OJ 3 and 4 blade cnc props. I had been running 13x13 cast / stock prop.

 

The cnc props both were smoother than stock. The 4 blade gave a little more holeshot (don’t care, boat had plenty), but I felt the 3 blade gave better -22 hump reduction / softening. Same result as the original poster. It’s still on the boat today….

[GaryJanzig]

@skimtb Sounds like the 3 blade Cnc may be the way to go.

[Dano]

I put an OJ 310. CNC 3 blade 13x11.5 on my Centurion falcon 1:1 trans. Hole shot is unreal and the pull while skiing is very good. With my old 13x13 stainless steel prop the boat felt under powered, and the pull while skiing felt weak. This prop fixed all of that. By the way perfect pass works way better with a boat that doesn't get pulled down easily. putting this prop on this boat made Perfect Pass feel much better and the ball times have very little variance from specified. The OJ prop was probably the best money I've ever spent on this old boat.

 

[ReallyGottaSki]

@GaryJanzig , beware a 13p acme is going to run like a 14p oj, federal or Michigan. 430 is a big block prop. A 540 runs 100rpm/mph like you are used too.

My experience on a different hull is the 4Force is most effective at spreading the propwash wide for roost mitigation.

The 541 similar but more efficient, less frothing, and rpm/mph less effected to boat loading. Higher top end due to less parasitics.

The 4Force let's the revs come more on launch, for a more exhilarating launch, but its not practical usable nor helpful for any of our skiers.

If speed holding is your aim, I would give the edge to the acme

 

 

I started with the same base engine. If you intend to keep the boat a long time, and mechanical, consider heads/cam/ Intake. You won't be disappointed.

Speed holding is rock solid,

I'm at 30 mph in 2.6, 40 in 4.6 to tops 49-50

 

[chaloux]

I had to this year because my Sport Nautique came with a wake/surf prop. Changed to an OJ 428. Much better but it still seems to be revving a bit higher than I thought it would.

[BraceMaker]

@chaloux always worth a call to eric at OJ may even tune up your prop with a bit of cup.

[GaryJanzig]

Eric at OJ recommended the 4 blade Force prop for my boat.