Aluminum 4 Blade prop?

[jayw]

In my never ending prop hunt I may want to buy a AL 4 blade large diameter prop for my Suzuki DF150, mostly to keep as spare/alternate from the SS.

Anyone have any experience running 4 blade AL props on the Suzuki DFs, on a Tritoon?

[Bamaman]

Your Suzuki is a fine motor, however availability of the correct propellers is one of their cons. With their geared down drive line, they run large diameter, high pitch propellers.

And unfortunately, propellers and those with pontoon experience and Suzuki's are not all that common.

I still am a believer in 3 blade stainless steel propellers, especially Enertias for Merc and Reliance for Yamahas. But I cannot help you on a Suzuki.

[dodger]

Iboats has a good prop selection. We had looked at an aluminum 4 blade that would have fit our Yamaha 150. But, we needed it like now as we were going on vacation, so, we found one local in an aluminum 3 blade, but, we do have a 3 blade SS for everyday. Love the performance. Yes, it does sing.

If you are having cavitation with a 3 blade and can't adjust your motor anymore, then a 4 blade might give you a bit more bite so you hold better when cornering particularly. It is hard to find 4 blades with enough pitch to give you the right rpms at wot.

Others have called the Prop Gods. Their website is not working, too much spam, so you need to call.

Good luck with your hunt.

[jayw]

Hey all, thanks. I've been round the block with Ken @ Prop Gods a few times on propping this boat. Few yrs back I got a Powertech SS OFS 3x15.25x18P on, it ran decent. But like most boaters I thought I could squeeze more, so a local prop guy talked me into something that it turns out is usually bad for any toon - he labbed the prop. Fast forward 2 seasons and it was really never right. Rich Junker in FL (via Ken @ Prop Gods) did what he could, he worked a miracle to get it back, but warned me it might crack due to thinness of the steel and flexing. Sure enough, mid summer, I split a blade half way thru.

I always wanted to go Merc prop so Ken set me up with a Mirage Plus (Quicksilver Thunderbolt) 3x15.3x19P. Boat ran great but needed tweaking. On my way back in to dock FIRST DAY out with prop I ragged up the edge on an unmarked obstruction in the no-wake shallows, an area I travel all the time w/o issue.

So, back to Rich @ Leading Edge it goes. It also has to be balanced so it's fine, Rich will work his magic.

Now I have the "stock" aluminum Suzuki 3x14.25x21P on, and let me tell you that prop does ZIP for this motor. It is a total misfit. Light load it is fair at best. Add any weight and any RPMs over 5K just convert to increased slip ratio. Bad news. We're talking like 30% or more slip.

I want to try a 4 blade SS but I don't want to spend another $500 propping this year. A 4 blade AL may be a nice compromise, and make the boat more usable if I have to swap to the spare. Rich may not get me the prop back for another 10 days, I may have to run 2 more weekends with this POS.

Ya know, our JC/Suzuki dealer is a good guy. I believe he knows his stuff. but it seems to me, WAY TOO MANY boat dealers don't go far enough when it comes to propping correctly. I admit, it can be a messy can of worms to open. But why would you not want your customers to get the VERY BEST from their setups? That 14.25D AL prop has no business being on that Suzuki engine, least not pushing a tritoon. I don't care if it's a Suzuki branded prop or not (I think it's made in China by Solas like all the Suzuki props, or it may be a rebadged Yamaha) that motor needs min. 15" diameter for the reasons Bamaman mentioned.

You are right Bamaman, Enertias and Suzukis outboards generally don't mix well. Great prop for the Mercs but not for Suzuki.

I press on.

[rancherlee]

Not sure if mercury has a larger version of the Spitfire yet but I have the 13.8x11 4 blade on my Johnson (DF70 painted white) and its a dang good prop, grabs better than my big ear 3 blade Turbo Stainless "pontoon" prop. If I had the DF150 I'd be looking for at least a 15.5" diameter prop on a pontoon.