5.2 kevlacat prop advice

[fromeo]

Hi Wahoo any update on the 14p props ..

[wahoofishingcrew]

Hey fromeo, sorry I meant to get back on here sooner. I got the 14's and 15's out again on the weekend and compared them all with the same load of full fuel, 2 POB, full gear, centre esky with ice/bait etc. The figures are;

13.75 x 13p alloy merc props - WOT 6200/45kph Cruise 5000rpm/35kph
13.5 x 14P alloy solas amita 3- WOT 5800/52kph Cruise 4800rpm/44kph (5000rpm/45kph)
13.5x15p alloy solas amita 3- WOT 5600/53kph Cruise 4800rpm/50kph (4400rpm/45kph)

The big difference between the 14's and 15's seems to be that when I put an extra 2 POB and slightly more get, the 15's really stuggle, my WOT drops to less than 5000rpm/44kph but with the 14's it stays almost the same. I Pm'd lovey80 to see how his trimmed props are going and he said "last night I came home from the hards 4x80+kg blokes on board, -60l fuel full ice and heaps of gear. Maintained a fluctuating rev range between 55-5700 for an average speed of 53km/h was peaking up to 55 and down to 48 going up a swell.. Cruise it seemed to like the 4800-5000rpm sitting on 45-48km/h"

The extra 5-6kph that the 15's give at cruise makes a huge difference to how the hull performs in the rough weather, they are just really weight sensitive. I'm really not sure if I should play with trimming the Solas props to try and pick the revs up a touch on the 15's hopefully without loosing much speed. What do you guys think?

I wonder how stainless props would change things? Do you think as they should give less slip which in a 15p might help to push the weight a bit better?

Thanks for the help guys, despite all the prop posts I am stoked with the boat and am quite enjoying trying to get the most performance out of it.

[GBC]

22 knots sticks on the dash - sounds about right. Save your money and buy a big joint for when it glasses out.

[Lovey80]

Those 14's sound like the way to go. Remember also my last trip that you quoted was a glass out with me sitting on WOT on full trim driving with my feet. The -60 fuel is what I had used from full tanks so roughly 160l of fuel on board.

[Dean1]

The KC is going nice. I've replaced the VHF and added an AM/FM last week. Replaced the ally spin outs in the back corners with Stainless ones (bound up and wouldn't come out). Replaced the helm seats with new ones and just had the box seats recovered. Installing a new chart plotter tomorrow and hopefully outriggers the next day. Just did the 400 hour service and they are still going like new. Have an issue with the trim and tilt to sort out also.

Sounds good. Those back spinouts I replaced with those alloy ones as I couldnt find stainless big enough to cover the hole. I had to regularly grease them and always pulled them out after every trip to let it all breathe and stop them from seizing in place. It had plastic ones there from factory can you believe it! Sounds like your using her anyway thats good. Always something to replace on boats.
Youl get many years out of those donks .
Cheers

[wahoofishingcrew]

G'day guys, Spoke to Solas again and they agree the 14s are about as good as it's going to get. They said there would be no real improvement in speed/pushing weight with a SS prop, only that the fuel economy might improve a little.

Cheers for the help!

[fromeo]

Hay Wahoo thanks for the post , now that you have sorted the props enjoy your 5.2 , I have had mine for 15 Years and have never seen the need to change , its a good allrounder and you can mix it up with the big boys in the rough when you need to ... ENJOY ps recommend replacing those back hatches with alloy ones , the plastic ones will eventually fail . and if you can replace the ones on the pods with a set of armstrong hatches , same ones as on the newer pods , google them they are excellent. easy to open and check , seal great no issues

[Lovey80]

After my experience with the Alloy ones binding up so bad that I had to make up a cheater bar to try and get them to spin only to put so much pressure on the deck plate as to have all the sika let go I would recommend stainless steel anywhere that someone has to stand on them.

[fromeo]

Tip for the guys using alloys spin outs , I stop them from binding by using lanolin grease works a treat just spin off every 3 months for a quick hull check, quick thread clean and coat of lano and they wont bind , would probably work on most spin outs I would say..