Props for my 25
 

So far I have had pretty good results with the Bravo 1 26" four blade. Im going to purchase a new one and have my old sent out to be Lab Finished. Is there any other props I should try before I purchase another.

I was using pretator 26 pitch props on my 25 that I was having great luck with. If you are interested let me know and I can try and dig up the old info I have on them.

thunderdan,
Im interested let me know if you have any info on them.
What engine and mods did you have
Thanks
Chris

Chris,
I had single hp 500 carb with no mods. I did however have an extention box on it. I was told from the guy that I bought it from(Not Active Thunder) that it would do 80mph. My best was 78 mph with two people and 1/4 tank of gas. I will look around for my info that I had. I would talk to Mike (gordo) Gordon of one vision. He helped me a lot and he is getting over 81 mph on a 25 with stock 500 efi and no boxes. I am sure he tried a lpt of the props out there. I will post as soon as I find out my info,
Dan

Chris,Sorry I haven't responded sooner, but it's been a ***** of a week.
I own a 1999 25' Thunder that is a somewhat light layup and fairly high X dimension. I ran over 81 in the Shooters Shootout with a lab finished bravo 4 blade. I can run close to the same speed with a 26" Hydromotive Q IV. I wish I had played with the hydromotive props a little more because the boat seemed to handle better with the Hydromotive. I tried a 27" Mirage 3 blade and the boat hated it. On the other hand, I tried a labbed/cutdown 29" 3 blade Mirage+ that performed really well, but lacked acceleration coming out of the turns. I also had more prop torque with the Mirage 3 blades as opposed to the 4 blade props.Bottom line is, I know just enough about propeller technology to be dangerous. I have tried lots of props, but the Bravo 4 blade props seems to work best on the 25 Thunder. I would suggust you send your favorite prop to a place in Wisconson (I can't find the name, but I'll get it) to have lab finished. As good as Mercury, but a little less money.

Thanks for the info.
Gordo if you could get me the info on where to send it that would be great.
Dan, did you buy Pete Smiths boat.
I need to get mine really dialed in this year. Ive had some mild engine work (s/b pushing 525hp) and cant get it outta the low to mid 70's.
A little disapionting for the power it has but it is an awsome boat. Ill stay in touch and have lots of questions in the next couple of months.

I did buy Pete's old boat. It runs like adream. It will now be crusing I think lake Erie this next summer as it was sold about two months ago to a lucky man. :D :D

I have a '99 25ft. Tantrum with a 502 MAG/Bravo1. Gil wet exhaust, K&N air filter, Rapidfire plugs are the only mods to the engine. The prop was a 26p Bravo One sent it out to Murphy's in Norfolk, Va. Had them tweak it to a 25p and balance it. Boat runs 71 MPH on GPS. Sent the prop back to Murphy's to have it Blueprinted and balanced for this year. They do nice work for a good price. I tryed a 25 3 blade on the boat and it took forever too get on plane, plus it lost 5 MPH. Tried a 4 blade Mach prop got good RPM but lost speed and cavitated alot. The boat has a full interior/cabin, weighs about 3975lbs. The X dimension is aggresive. Good luck!

i just recently purchased a 91 actve 24 and the motor is a built 565 stroker, headers the whole nine yards, putting down according to the previous owner 600+ hp what types of speeds should i be seeing. running an 23p mirage. i saw 75mph with 1/2 tank and 5 people, does this seem right. was turning 5000rpm tapped. it just seems like there is more their and the boat has to small of a prop. please any advice would help.

First of all welcome to the family. 2nd we need pics. 3RD congrats on getting a great boat. I have no prop experince with the 25 but there will be guys chimming in that do. Good luck and welcome.

I don't know how it would work for you but my neighbors 27' Baja with a single 502 had a 23 Mirage on it. I called Bblades for him and and Brett wanted me to try a 23 Rev 4 on it. Doesn't even run like the same boat. Getting on plane was terrible with the Mirage and now it hops on top like a inboard ski boat. He picked up 5 mph at 3500 and 4000 and 2 mph top end. 70.6 at 4800 with my handheld Garmin.

Mark, I'm gonna have to try that prop next summer. Tell Russ not to do any dredging with it before I get there:p

He did some dredging at the ramp Monday but didn't hurt the prop only some metal on the skeg :rolleyes: I think i can arrange a test run next summer probally mid July :cool: Will that work ? :D

We'll be there.....Can I get a spot on the ski boat lift?:p

Yeah i think i'll put it on the trailer next year for you :D
You'll be hangin by OVERACTIVE :cool: Should make for some good pics. :cool-smiley-027:

thanks for the friendly welcome, and yes ill post some pics, and third i wouldnt have bought any other type of boat. i just love these boats and the looks.

the boat gets up and going just fine. no prob at all outta the hole. and it just screams mid range but when i bought the boat i was looking for an 80 mph + and it should i would think with the motor at least touch that. this is what leads me to beleave that the proping is wrong

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...ki/myboat2.jpg

here are some pics

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...ski/myboat.jpg

If that HaHa of my neighbors does 70 with 415hp. you should do 80 with your HP when you get it dialed in right ;)
Keep us posted :D

Nice looking boat.

That trailer looks like it supports that hull really good.

John you bought Morrys 24? Nice boat. And it flys real well.....

yeah it does its an vangaurd and it was built for the boat. so does anyone know what type of prop i should maybe try. i think i should be able to turn an higher pitch with no problem.

yeah i did buy his old boat but i think it has more in it than what it does. it should be an 80 mph boat and it just doesnt seem to want to get there with this prop. i keep in touch with him hes a great guy i love his new boat he bought quite an upgrade. his wife was sadder than him when i pulled it away. they realy loved this boat.

Help Please

lets see...I'd try a 22 4 blade bravo one. Lab a 24 pitch 4 blade bravo one.......John, you are going to have to try different props to see what works for you and your boat. Do you normally run with 5 people and a 1/2 tank of fuel?

no ushally its me and the old lady and thats it. i know this is what im going to hae to do but i cant justify buying 5 diff props to test i just wont spend that kind of money. thats why im hoping someone on here has already kinda gone this route and can point me in the right direction. so if you say try a smaler pitched prop will give me better results up on the top side? im not trying to be a pain at all just hoping to absorb as much knowledge from u guys as poss to help me along my way.

john,
If you use Throttle Up you can try as many props as you want as long as you eventually buy one from them. Julie & Matt are great, they helped me and labbed my Hydros even though I didn't buy from them. Of course, the labbing was expensive but worth it.

Running asmaller diameter prop will give you more engine RPM not neccesarily top end speed. Once again this has to do with alot of different variables. What I've done is get a bunch of the people you boat with and swap out props to see how it affects the boat. I've gone to a 4 blade spinelli to a 3 blade mirage, tried a hydromotive 4 blade.....the list goes on. I've stuck with a 26p 4 blade bravo one. And yes Matt and Julie are the ones to talk to about prop selection and as long as you don't damage the prop if it doesn't work for you send it back and try another. Its not a perfect science thats for sure.

Where's Clark?:rolleyes:

John,
Funny you should mention the diameter; I did reduce the diameter to gain rpm's, & hopefully pick up mph. It has to be done carefully and only 1/16" max @ a time. Once its gone, you can't put it back and you might just increase your slip and actually lose speed. Matt was careful "tweaking" my Hydros & they are good; not perfect but next year I may get them fine-tuned once more.

I run a 25 hydromotive on mine not in the best of shape, BBlades thinned and reworked it best they could last winter.

best I saw last year in the early spring(colder water and air) was 69-70 @ around 5000 rpms.

Hi John The prop that's on the boat has been repitched to a 24 or 25 pitch. It's stamped on the hub RP then the new pitch . The drive is a 1:36 gear ratio and reverse rotation prop, I didn't seem to get as much prop torque that way. I was thinking of changing the gears to a 1:5 ratio so I could run a larger prop, don't know if it would gain speed or not, maybe Gordo or someone else on here would know? What kind of speeds are you getting on GPS with 2 people on board? [ I didn't have a GPS on boat when I owned it ] Here's a copy of dyno sheet pull #7. How's the trailer doing with the new tires? Hope everything's going good.

Morry

Try the Rev4. With the additional hp a 25 may do the trick.
Talk to BBlades..he knows his sh*t. The Rev4s are a little known Mercury secret.

My earlier post mentioned the Rev 4. It set my neighbors Haha on fire. :boat:

Morry, Key West this year? We'll bve down tuesday to tuesday:ernaehrung004:

hi morry and yes the trailer is fine. boat is in storage for the winter. just seing what i can do or it next spring. hows your new boat coming along. hopefuly in the spring we can get together up here some time. w/ 5 people it ran out at about 75 and i ran out of lake couldnt trim it up. so with 2 i have no idea we'll see next year!

Hi John and Leslie We'll be there Tuesday thru monday. We're staying at the Customs House right beside Hogs breath. Don't know if it's a dump or not, place to sleep a little. Hope to see you guy's there. cell 317-502-2812


Morry

We'll see you down there Morry. We are staying the same dates. Keep your phone on!!:ernaehrung004: