Is it worth while buying a stainless steel prop for 60hp

[two stroke mick]

As the title suggests is it worth while buying a SS prop for such a small obm? I would expect that the gains in preformence would be minimum

Tsm

[Bern Hanreck]

I'm no prop expert but suspect you are correct ! What do you use the rib for ? If you like exploring rocky areas would a ss prop be more likely to damage gearboxes etc ? An ally prop would probably give first !

[ShinyShoe]

Something made me think a stainless prop was suggested to give about 10% more "torque / power /something"

Would hanging a 66HP on the back instead of a 60 make a difference you'd notice?

It presumably depends if you are getting right on the cusp of the power / torque etc you need. So are you unable to get on the plane? Or just sluggish to get on the plane for instance.

[jeffstevens763@g]

according to steel developments its 5% more when i asked for my 25 hp when i had my 90hp i didnt see any difference between ss & ali then again i never used them on the same day or conditions

[ShinyShoe]

I also thought it didn't affect top speed more the speed at which you got there...

[spartacus]

I took the plunge earlier this year with my Tohatsu.

I'd been running the standard 15 pitch aluminium propeller on a flo-torq hub kit which was never really satisfactory. It had great hole shot, but I wanted a better top speed, so switched to a second hand 17 pitch aluminium propeller which had the beginning of cavitation surface damage. Perfect for my boat.

I hit a creel pot last summer with too much free rope and a hidden bouy. The practically destroyed the propeller as the rope wound round the prop and bent the blades. It isn't worth repairing with cavitation surface damage considering I could buy a new aluminium prop for about £100 so opted for a new 17" Solas Saturn stainless steel propeller.

No flo-torq hub, and no forward play once it's tightened up. Seems to lay down power well and I'm very pleased with it. I wouldn't say I've increased my top end speed, if I have its possibly marginally.

One thing to be aware of is your boating area. If you strike rocks this will probably result in stripping the drive shaft if at speed given these are medium sized engines. My local harbours are all sandy bottoms, but again never say never.

[Roflhat]

Depends very much on what you want from the boat, but performance all round is better with a stainless prop. If it's a fast ish boat anyway you'll notice more of a difference going to stainless

[macspite]

Originally Posted by spartacus

I. My local harbours are all sandy bottoms, but again never say never.

Quite true! I've dived for many years and often come across "unexpected items in the sandy area>" Mainly rocks exposed by scouring tides but also a fair amount of concreted lumps of metal,

[Navajoturquoise]

Stainless steel for me. I would say better overall performance, better initial response, 10% speed increase, and faster acceleration. Hard to explain, but the stainless steel prop feels good and looks good on the Etec 115.

[jeffstevens763@g]

some reading


https://www.propeller-shop.eu/propeller-info/

[Bushrider]

I made a lot of experiments with my former F100 .
I tried all kind of stainless steel props including Ballistic , Apollo , Solas etc
In the end I found that between the Ballistic and the original alu Yamaha prop was no difference at all .
With the other propellers I lost some speed .
The here mentioned 5 to 10% speed increase I cannot confirm .
For durability of the lower gear I would go alu and would if possible carry a spare prop .
My last encounter with a stainless steel props and "something" under the surface resulted in a damage of the gear box ..