Four or Five Blade
 

What is everyone tunning on ther 28-36 Daytona's with bravo drive style (4 or 5 blade, pitcg, gear ratio)? I have been debating where to strart with prop testing and am curious what prop most are having best luck with for best performance? So if anyone could tell me what they are running and if they tested other option why they chose what they did.

5s BIG Daddy :ernaehrung004::ernaehrung004:

I've had both a 28 Daytona with 496 HO's and currently have a 36 with Ilmor 625's.

In both cases, I've found the 5 blades to be a better prop for me. There is less slip, and especially with my 28 had a much better hole shot (4 blade 32's took a bit of finess to get on plane witha full load....never an issue with the 5 blades.

My midrange was also noticeably better with the 5 blades.

The only down side I've noticed with the 5 blades (especially on my 36) is they may be a bit tougher on the drives. Even taking it easy out of the hole, I would see a bit of metal in drive oil, even at 20 hr oil changes....with the 4 blades, I was clean and green almost each oil change.

My gear ratios were/are 1:36...but on my 36 I've recently swapped out my IMCO's for Teague Platinums.

Let me know if I can answer any further questions.

The current setup I have is using Bravo 1's and has no problem geting out of the hole. Is actually like a rocket. What did you end uo with on top end 5's versus 4's?

Currently running bravo 4 blades but would like to try a set of P5x props.

On my boat, I prefer bravos over the 5 blades. I tried a stock 30 P5X and it was decent, but my old set of mangled 30 bravos are a few mph faster and I like the way they handle better.

I just had my old 30s worked on (added a bit on length etc). I know a few folks with daytonas that have had good luck having the bravos worked over so I am going to be trying that for better results. Check out the attached pics.

I have heard that there are some slightly cut down merc maximus props that will work well. IIRC, Preston Wooley of Horizon motorsports recommended them. I would be curious to see how the Hering 5 blades work as well. I have heard that they are great props. Not sure how they would work for our application though.

BTW, I am running 496HOs with 1.35 XRs.

On my 28 I saw 100mph with the 4 blades, and 98 mph with the 5 blades.

On my 36, I've seen 123mph with the 5 blades and 118mph with the 4 blades.

My 5 blades were labbed with shaved diffuser rings. My 4 blades were stock.

From my research a 4 blade will generally net more all out top speed as there is less drag, but the cruising speeds of the 5 blades sometimes outweigh the 1-2mph on top.

Try Hering - it's worth the investment.

4 blade if your drives are standard bravo, XR could handle 5 blade if your HP is 500 ish.
my .02

1.21 and labbed mercury 33's on my 28...:party-smiley-004: Daytona's like prop speed, so turn as many rpm as your engines can handle....The only reason to run 5's with a 28 (at least with my boat) was to deal with planing issues when I was 1.36 and had to go to 36 bravo's...but that was with the old power. If you care about cruise speed then the 5's are always better also..