Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Went on a "Ghost Tour" the other weekend at night and found a rock with the 3 blade stainless prop on my 115 Honda (It is connected to a 2365 Batata Bay Crestliner Toon)

Who uses who to buy replacement props? I know on my Fast boat going with the stainless is the only way to go (77.5MPH) but on the 'Toon does it make that much difference over an aluminum prop?
Thanks for the opinions and help in advance!

Have you considered getting the prop repaired? Much cheaper than a new one.

I just bought a new Honda brand SS prop at a good price from Great Lakes Skipper (eBay).

People use aluminum props every day on their 115 hp outboards. Go for it, and save $350 bucks.

You are not going to lose much if any performance at all using an aluminum prop on a 115HP engine. Save some money and get the aluminum.

Scott1 wrote:You are not going to lose much if any performance at all using an aluminum prop on a 115HP engine. Save some money and get the aluminum.

I'd argue that, the difference in GRIP is huge between the 2. All my props are big ear pontoon props and the Stainless gets FAR better grip than either of my Aluminum ones. Both the aluminum ones are very sensitive to "blowing out" on turns and trying to trim up. Also get 2mph more speed to boot, with a 70hp on a tritoon. I do have an Aluminum that gets great grip, a 4 blade Mercury Spitfire, Awesome prop for watersports/HEAVY loads and actually bites better than my Stainless 3 blade. Not sure which Honda 115 you have, the Newest ones swing a bigger diameter prop and an aluminum might do alright, the older ones only took a 14" diameter max.

rancherlee wrote:

Scott1 wrote:You are not going to lose much if any performance at all using an aluminum prop on a 115HP engine. Save some money and get the aluminum.

I'd argue that, the difference in GRIP is huge between the 2. All my props are big ear pontoon props and the Stainless gets FAR better grip than either of my Aluminum ones. Both the aluminum ones are very sensitive to "blowing out" on turns and trying to trim up. Also get 2mph more speed to boot, with a 70hp on a tritoon. I do have an Aluminum that gets great grip, a 4 blade Mercury Spitfire, Awesome prop for watersports/HEAVY loads and actually bites better than my Stainless 3 blade. Not sure which Honda 115 you have, the Newest ones swing a bigger diameter prop and an aluminum might do alright, the older ones only took a 14" diameter max.

Sounds to me like you just need the correct aluminum prop

I use an aluminum prop and it does a good job on my 135 Honda. Is it as efficient as a stainless? prolly not but its a pontoon not a racing hull,(MHO) and if I ding it I can replace it for 150 bucks on the internet.

My tritoon with a 135 and aluminum prop will do 32 MPH by GPS. any faster and my nose would probably bleed!

Try these guys- http://boatpropellers.iboats.com/propeller

I found that iboat.com has the cheapest price on aluminum prop.

What are the odds of it happening again...if odds are high, aluminum props are not only cheaper but probably less likely to do serious damage to the outboard...IMHO

My husband and I just bought a new stainless steel Solas New Saturn 14.25 x 17 from iboats.com for ~$263, I think. We're new to boating, and we learned a lesson. We had an aluminum prop that was a 14.5 x 15. With the old prop, we were getting 28 mph at 5800 RPM. With the new one 23 mph at 5000 RPM wide open throttle. We haven't tested the hole-shot yet, but we guess it is better. We're expecting to pull tubes, not skiers, so we think this new prop will help a bit with fuel economy and still give us what we want. Next prop will be a stainless steel 15 pitch definitely. iboats seemed to have pretty good prices overall.

lorisuemiller wrote:My husband and I just bought a new stainless steel Solas New Saturn 14.25 x 17 from iboats.com for ~$263, I think. We're new to boating, and we learned a lesson. We had an aluminum prop that was a 14.5 x 15. With the old prop, we were getting 28 mph at 5800 RPM. With the new one 23 mph at 5000 RPM wide open throttle. We haven't tested the hole-shot yet, but we guess it is better. We're expecting to pull tubes, not skiers, so we think this new prop will help a bit with fuel economy and still give us what we want. Next prop will be a stainless steel 15 pitch definitely. iboats seemed to have pretty good prices overall.

I would not be happy with this performance, you may have over propped your boat. You need to find out what the engine manufacturer recommends for WOT rpms, and get it somewhere close to the higher end. You actually lost performance with this change out. Most likely, your hole shot is going to suffer because you went up 2 pitches, which normally will worsen your hole shot. Go to propgods.com, give Ken all your information that you just gave here, he will tell you what prop you need. Running your engine at too low rpm's can do damage. I don't know what Honda suggests though.