Stainless steel prop on small ribs

[two stroke mick]

Is there enough benefits in fitting a stainless steel prop to a five meter rib with sixty up to warrant the expense of the prop and the risk of gear box failure as a result of a. Prop strike. Or are stainless steel props really only of benefit to larger ribs with big up?

Tsm

[9D280]

I can't answer for sure but I guess the zapcat guys might be able to shed light on the subject.

What I can say is the 2 vs single + aux discussion takes on a whole different set of Reynolds numbers at the smaller HP and speeds so I guess the prop arguments are also affected by scale.

Could you sell it on if it didn't work?

[jonp]

The difference Ive found with any boat Ive owned has been minimal. Ive experimented with many props on my Yam f70 and though Im using a solas stainless prop the difference between that and the Yam aluminium is not huge. This is my second boat with the f70 and I found getting the prop right for this small engine a little trickier than with what ive found with bigger engines.

I still keep the aluminium prop as backup but run with the stainless most of the time. I use my boats far more than the average user, so far clocking 412hrs engine hours in the last 17 months, much of which is in and out of gear work very close to rocks and reef. This constant in and out of gear with the heavier stainless prop is far more clunky than using lighter aluminium, in saying that many props now have much better prop dampening systems built in.

On one of my older boats also with a f70 I tried the black yamaha stainless prop which looked awful with the rust coming through the black paint.

If you are using aluminium and decide to go stainless on these smaller engines you often need to drop down in pitch when you go to stainless to maintain the same max rpm.

Cost of an aluminium yam prop here $112, stainless solas $650, stainless Yam $475. All our propeller dealers offer free exchange and excellent help and service.

[Roflhat]

It depends on what speed you are getting currently, a properly selected stainless prop can give you a few extra mph top end because the blades flex less and can be thinner, which also helps your mpg slightly.

If you know roughly what pitch you need or if you are happy with the overall acceleration/top speed combination your current aluminium prop provides then that's a good starting point. There shouldn't be much more clunking when changing gear with a stainless prop than an ali one, as long as the condition of the rubber hub is reasonable, although as stated they are heavier.

The yamaha black series stainless are really nice props, the stainless yamaha used is extremely good quality, so the blades could be made a lot thinner than almost any other prop available. The 15g Yamaha is my favourite of the 24 props for the thundercat