Replacement Prop - Solas Aluminium

[spongy]

Gday all,

I am after a replacement prop for my 70hp 2stroke yamaha.

Ive been waiting patiently for 1 to pop up on ebay, but they seem very hard to find.

I have checked out a new aluminium prop from Solas.

I am currently running a 13 1/4 x 17K aluminium prop, and I think its a good match for my needs (WOT at 5400rpm).

The guy there recommended I get the following;

Yd 13 3/4x15 compression cast $289 delivered

Here is his comments;

"If you don't use your boat so much and mostly

in deep water then our solas compression cast aluminium will

be the best value for money as they are twice as durable as

normal aluminium."

"Its a larger blade area design and will give same

speed --more load carry capacity- and better acceleration

and wont rev past 5500 or their abouts"

Should I insist on getting a prop pitch of 17"? or get the 15" as he has suggested?

Any other props I should consider getting? $300 seems like a reasonable price.

Thanks,

Jeff

[tonyt]

spongy i just got a solas for my 50 suzuki four, same dimensions as the original and im very impressed with the performance the prop for starters was couple of hundred grams lighter than the original boat planes faster and stays on the plane in lower revs( which was my aim) without loosing top speed id recomend them to anyone

[spongy]

spongy i just got a solas for my 50 suzuki four, same dimensions as the original and im very impressed with the performance the prop for starters was couple of hundred grams lighter than the original boat planes faster and stays on the plane in lower revs( which was my aim) without loosing top speed id recomend them to anyone

Thanks Tony,

so maybe I should insist on getting the same 17" pitch prop that I already have, and not the 15" that the guy is recommending????

[tonyt]

every boat is different if you described to the guys what you want the boat to do then you could be pretty sure they know what they talking about ask them what your options are if the prop doesnt do the job

[pelican]

The only way to be sure it to do the test runs.

How old and what condition is your existing prop in ? Hours? What isn't your existing prop doing you want it to do or do better?

Is the boat rigged correctly with the motor at the right height?

Did you motor rev correctly with this prop previously? Just checking as motors wear and go out of tune etc and a prop won't solve this long term.

Has your existing prop been modified previously or had a big ding? - lose effeciency or performance when played with and not professionally straightened.

The company you refer to I think will exchange or send you 2 and accept one back as long as you buy one if they haven't got it right 1st time. They may re-cup or pitch the new or existing prop for you if it is not quite right. Always best to see what the same boat and motor combination is run by others at the ramp as a comparison or hopefully another raider will have a spare you can try.

Prop pitch is a black art as it is only one factor that makes up the performance of a prop. No manufacturers prop is really a 17 or a 15 anymore as they all have different blade surface area, blade shape , blade thickness, number of blades, progressive pitch , cupping, rake and etc etc. Some engine makers are renound for their props actually being a finer pitch than their stated number on the hub. The numbers on the hubs are realistically just a comparitive number so a Mercury 15 may offer similar revs to your motor as a solas 17 or whatever. All blades have a progressive pitch these days as they try and accellerate the water as it leaves the trailing edge.

The key to prop selection is to find a sweet spot for your 80% usage and be honest about that usage. Saying you want 50MPH speed is not so, as you only get to use it 5% of the time so what you want is your sweet spot with boat a little heavier than normal (extra mate) in a little worse chop than you normally run in at a midrange speed that is not labouring your motor at too lower revs. That should give you good ecconomy as well. No prop is best in all conditions as all are a compromise between effeciency , speed power, grip on water and performance. With outboards only having one forward gear unlike your car with 5 a prop has to allow it to get going , get onto plane and cruise and high speed- no prop is effecient at all 3 of these.

As you know whatever prop you select needs to keep your motor in the correct rev range otherwise you'll use lots of fuel, have poor performance and longer term cause more wear on the motor.

Theories

bigger blades- more resistance - slower speed- more power to turn.

Thinner blades - less resistance

More blades- usually more grip on water as 2 are always deep in the water and as an example pulling skiers up- more evenly balanced . 4 blades in many brands are designed for heavier boats that also benefit from some transom lift.

Rake - can help lift bow and be more effecient at higher speeds

Diameter- Higher blade speed is effecient until true cavitation on the tips

Stainless- thinner blades - less resistance and less flex- bad point is that on a log strike you may damage your gearbox rather than just your prop as prop won't bend

Ally prop- generally thicker than stainless - more flexible , wears out faster- older ones will snap or bend a blade rather than wreck a cog in your gearbox on a log strike. Not sure that is the case with these new superstrong alloy ones though.

lots more I'm sure others will add.

Edited February 7, 2008 by pelican

[achjimmy]

Gday all,

I am after a replacement prop for my 70hp 2stroke yamaha.

Ive been waiting patiently for 1 to pop up on ebay, but they seem very hard to find.

I have checked out a new aluminium prop from Solas.

I am currently running a 13 1/4 x 17K aluminium prop, and I think its a good match for my needs (WOT at 5400rpm).

The guy there recommended I get the following;

Yd 13 3/4x15 compression cast $289 delivered

Here is his comments;

"If you don't use your boat so much and mostly

in deep water then our solas compression cast aluminium will

be the best value for money as they are twice as durable as

normal aluminium."

"Its a larger blade area design and will give same

speed --more load carry capacity- and better acceleration

and wont rev past 5500 or their abouts"

Should I insist on getting a prop pitch of 17"? or get the 15" as he has suggested?

Any other props I should consider getting? $300 seems like a reasonable price.

Thanks,

Jeff

Spongy

I have been going through looking at changing prop on my boat. It is 90 yam with 17" stainless on a 5m Quintrex. It is only revving to 5k max and the 90 should go 5400-5500. Am skeptical of changing to 15” as all the other 5m Quintrex with 90 yams have 17” props. Huey explained to me how this can be and A Yamaha dealer I trust told me that the 90 it is not a big capacity motor and struggles on props much over 15-16” and he believed a 15” would be a good match. Perhaps that is what the Solas man is thinking? I would be following up on Pelicans good advise and be getting and sale and return agreement with them

e

[spongy]

Thx guys,

I really want better "out of hole" performance. When wakeboarding with 4 in the boat, it struggles getting onto the plane. If dropping pitch will help in this area then I think I will give it a go. If its not going to make any difference then I think I might stick with the 17" pitch. Your thoughts?????

BTW, Solas has an exchange policy - if its the wrong pitch, etc, you can exchange so long as you pay $30 postage fees. So I guess you cant go wrong, but I would prefer not to unnecessarily pay out $30 if I can help it.

[lighthouse2k]

$30 is a small price to pay to get it right. If you tell Solas exactly what you want, all I have heard from everyone is recommendations on them providing the right prop for you.

[jewgaffer]

Hi spongy.

It will pay you to phone Huey at Huett Marine. He'll work out the best pitch for your boat that's for sure.

He recommended one of his Turning Point alloy generic props for my boat and not only did it save me a lot of money my Mustang literally leaped off the mark and planed along effortlesslly with a full load.

The Turning point prop made so much difference to my boat Jeff, I wouldn't use any other.

Cheers

jewgaffer

[spongy]

Hi spongy.

It will pay you to phone Huey at Huett Marine. He'll work out the best pitch for your boat that's for sure.

He recommended one of his Turning Point alloy generic props for my boat and not only did it save me a lot of money my Mustang literally leaped off the mark and planed along effortlesslly with a full load.

The Turning point prop made so much difference to my boat Jeff, I wouldn't use any other.

Cheers

jewgaffer

Thanks Jewgaffer,

I spoke to someone at Huett Marine, and got a quote for $250 for the turning point 2 piece prop. Sounds pretty good, and may give him my business. Only small prob is the distance to Cowan. Might choose a nice day and cruise the bike up there....

Thanks,

Jeff

[tonyt]

there's another trick you can have done on your prop i used to have holeshot problems with a four stroke merc i used to have i took the boat for a regular service and the dealer told me to try a thing mercury actually recommended instead of forking out money for another prop they drilled three holes one for each blade in front of the blades and amazingly that fixed the holeshot problem apparently the holes let the prop spin easy on the slow revs and when the boat picks up speed you don't loose top end performance it worked a treat for me i could be another option to save you a bit of money

[jewgaffer]

Thanks Jewgaffer,

'''''''Only small prob is the distance to Cowan.

Jeff

Hi again Jeff, I live at Campbelltown. Huey worked the correct prop size I needed to go down to over the phone and sent my new Turning Point prop using his regular courier. It arrived the next day and only cost ten bucks for delivery all the way from Cowan to my door !

Cheers

jewgaffer

[johnno]

there's another trick you can have done on your prop i used to have holeshot problems with a four stroke merc i used to have i took the boat for a regular service and the dealer told me to try a thing mercury actually recommended instead of forking out money for another prop they drilled three holes one for each blade in front of the blades and amazingly that fixed the holeshot problem apparently the holes let the prop spin easy on the slow revs and when the boat picks up speed you don't loose top end performance it worked a treat for me i could be another option to save you a bit of money

Tony that sounds very interesting

[spongy]

Tony that sounds very interesting

Thanks Tony,

Huett Marine also mentioned the idea of drilling holes into the hub. It kind of makes sense, but its a mod that you can't go back on if it doesnt work. I guess as a last resort, or if you have a spare prop lying around.

Jeff

[twoducks]

Hi spongy.

It will pay you to phone Huey at Huett Marine. He'll work out the best pitch for your boat that's for sure.

He recommended one of his Turning Point alloy generic props for my boat and not only did it save me a lot of money my Mustang literally leaped off the mark and planed along effortlesslly with a full load.

The Turning point prop made so much difference to my boat Jeff, I wouldn't use any other.

Cheers

jewgaffer

I agree if you havent already give Huey a ring,at least you will get fair dinkum advice

Cheers twoducks