labbed props....worth the money???
 

I have been chasing a very minor cavitation problem that comes and goes on my 90 pq 290 enticer. I have been working with Brett @ bblades about this issue. It sounds like having them labbed is a good choise for "all around" performance out of them. Here is my question. Is it worth the money having both of them labbed???About $800 worth. Keep in mind i am a weekend pleasure boater, I go out with the family, very rairly run w/o, im not out racing anyone and don't have anything to prove. From what he tells me, there are all pros with having this done, but for what i do is it worth the price? He also said it would help with the overall performance through the whole spectrum....balancing, smoothness, easier and quicker planing, maybe increase speed and slightly increase rpm..It all sounds good...Has anyone done this and what is the overall outcome. I am not trying to squeeze every mph out of this thing. It is stock everything...454 330hp, bravo 1 drive, stock gearing. The boat runs and handles great, but maybe having this done, it will make a big overall difference...from what is tells me??

I was just reading the post about the thrown blade from a prop that was labbed and everyone seems to agree that labbed props arn't as strong?? Now, Im not spinning the r's that you all are and not the hp either..might be something to concider. Im sure some will chime in and leave their 2cents.

Lab propellers work great for that little more performance when running high power and spinning them at higher RPM's for what you got going on save your cash for other things you might need. When are you have problems what rpm? is it planing out maybe your not triming down all the time and triming to fast on planning out.

little more performance,,,,lots of cuts and scars and several cracked blades,,,,I will never have another prop thinned again

I've seen many great props "ruined" by people letting guys talk them into having the props "labbed". BIG waste of prop and money.

The guys who are breaking props have high X dimensions. Means their prop ears are surfacing or coming out of the water while on plane. This loads and unloads the blades each time they break the surface and re-enter. Means alot of flexing, like bending a piece of metal back and forth. Sooner or later it's gonna break. I break em labbed or not.
Now if the prop stays submerged, it only loads, flexes one way and stays... for the most part.
Will yours break if you do? Nobody will want to answer that one. Guessin, the PQ drive is pretty deep, like the nose of your drive is 6 to 8 inches under the bottom of the boat when trimmed level, this would keep the prop submerged if so.
If you do it, do both. You will notice it and it'll feel good. I hear nothing but good about Bblades.
My .02

If you're not sufacing the prop, blades will live longer. When thinning the blades to half the original thickness, you are left with 10-15% of the original strenght, not 50% as some think.
Labbing is not necessarily about thinning blades. It is about customizing the prop to your needs. If you want to keep the original blade thickness, it is possible. Of course you won't get the speed increase from the thinner blades. Pitch, rake, cup, diameter, balance, ect can still be adjusted. You can also choose to thin the blades less ect. It's a custom process.

Wether or not it's worth the money, is a somewhat subjective opinion, every boat is different and some respond more to labbed props than others. I like it, but that's me.

"labbed" yes,,,,,thinned,,,,no !!!

also,,,,sharpen the trailing edge to help the water come off clean

ive had Brett @bblades do several for me , does exactly what he says its gonna do everytime , i think its worth it , but again every boat is different

No...on small horsepower boats I think it's a waste of money and time. I wasted tons of effort trying to make my old 496HO Nordic into something it was not. What a pain in the ass, the only thing it got me was a giant headache and lower performance. Three props later and money lost the best prop was a stock balanced 24p for that boat. Never again.

The previous owner had the props labbed on my boat.
They run smooth and the boat is fast, BUT, I got a little to close to the left prop when putting the drain plugs in the boat, while on the trailer and the prop layed my arm open like a razor blade. Left quite a scar too. Also, when they have been labbed they are much easier to damage if you hit something and much harder to repair, sometimes not repairable. I don't think I would spend the money on it unless I was racing.
My 2 cents, worth what you paid for it!

I would take the $800 and buy another set of props. If they work better you can sell the old ones.

Thankyou for all the input, the boat is wanting to cavitate while coming on plane and coming off of plane with drives down, if i play with trim and throttle, i can get it to go away, I have shortened the shower pick-ups (per brett) and noticed that my port pick-up in installed on the "wrong" side of the cavitation plate ( on the down stroke) of the prop. I will change this but wont have the boat out till next spring, im gonna winterize it this weekend. I have some small knicks in the props but overall they are in pretty decent shape. I didn't know that lab work involved making the blade thinner?? I boat in the ohio river, so there is alot of drift and debris that you do hit. I deffently don't want to weaken a blade by doing this, Maybe i can find someone that can just fill in the knicks and reshape the leading edge?? I am running mercruiser Bravo1 four (4) blade 24p

I am a lake boater & have always run labbed propellers. That being said, they have their place & that place is not on your boat in unfamiliar waters or on a river.
I have 4 sets of propellers & they all suit my needs. 4 sets of Bravo's, (2) labbed & (1) stock along with a labbed set of Maximus wheels.
I've owned probably 10 sets of labbed propellers & they all have lived very good lives, ever being broken by my supercharged horsepower.

290Enticer,
Have you tried using one of the Prop Calculator programs to gauge the efficiency of your current props. Props can make a huge difference (better or worse) but you need a baseline of your existing setup to know which way to go. Run your numbers on one of the free websites or download one of the free prop calculator apps for Iphone/Droids. Below is one of the freebie sites, you could also try BAM or Merc's websites too.
http://www.rbbi.com/folders/prop/propcalc.htm
http://go-fast.com/Prop_Slip_Calculator.htm

If your estimated slip numbers are single digits and the boat handling is decent you probably wouldn't see huge improvements with labbing or even different props. If there are handling traits you don't like or your slip numbers are really high then spending money on props can be money well spent and enjoyed.

Just my two cents worth, if you make changes please post the outcome we appreciate learning from others.
Thanks,
Rick

I love my props after i got them back from BBlades, boat is better in every way. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

That is good advice!

YEP:party-smiley-004:

I think you might loose some cruse speed after they are labbed. It seems there is always a gain and a loss somewhere else...

Yes Bblades do all my props! On my old 25' Motion with twin 280s he gained me 8MPH!!!:eek: He does every prop i own. I did chunk one blade one time but hey...that is performance boating!!

Skydog

Hate to buck the current anti-lab trend, but by all accounts from the owners, engine builders and boat builders I know having your props "labbed" (in Mercury parlance) or tuned is one of the most cost-effective performance upgrades you can make. However, it stands to reason that thinning any material will compromise its structural integrity.

That said ... just because a guy has a grinder and a business card doesn't mean you should let him touch your props. Check around.

Brett corrected my buddy's '97 290 Enticer cavitation problem on a set of 25" Mirage Plus 3-blades without doing a full lab finish on them. They were thinned and cupped but not thinned as much as a full lab finish. He has ran them for hundreds of hours with no problems. If your current props are dinged as you state, that is likely part of the problem. You would be surprised how much small imperfections in prop blades can affect a boat's performance.

By the way, I've seen many examples of thrown blades on stock Bravo I props on boats with moderate HP and conservative X's.

ok, I am torn between lab or not lab. Maybe i'll call brett and talk to him about a partial lab. When I talked to him, he talked about cupping them and he knew what my style of boat "liked"
He never mentioned anything about "thinning" a blade, being said that, im boating in the river and do hit some small drift from time to time. I don't really want to "weaken" anything at all. Maybe i'll just have them " reworked" to fix the small dings and just go with that. Can anyone just "balance" a prop??

I run different props at different events, venues or locations.
The immidiate answer is YES. Labb them and Bret does some great work to tune your props to your boat. I run the labbed set when I want to go a little nuts or on Poker Runs where I know the area. I run the standard set, on weekends or at locations I have concerns with sand bars, weeds or whatever.
I use a lower pitch set when heavy load on board or lot's of fuel, and I use the higher pitch set when I have the "need for speed" attitude, but 3 out of 4 sets are labbed. While thinning is a strenght issue, it's simple. You just spent $800+ for labbing.. don't hit any send bars. :)
Prop selection is like tie selection, Never just perfect.

I think I have made up my mind, i have found a local company that does pretty much all lab work but without thinning blades, I talked to them in length and they can weld, repair leading edge, polish, static balance as well as high speed balance....all for $125 each. That way i will have a nice "reworked and balanced" prop and still have a good thick hardy prop. I'll probably go with this guy.

for that money its sure worth a try

You may want to double check and make sure that isn't $125 per blade. I believe that most of the major prop guys (like Bblades) charge by the blade and for some reason I thought $1-125 per blade..

Frank & Jimmies in Ft Lauderdale charges similar rates ($125/prop) for repairs and tuning and they do excellent work.

Bblades is a great service company. Both Brad and Brett really work with the customer to understand their individual needs. Brett worked magic on my P5x's. Just sent them back to have them gone over after 4 seasons of no problems.

that was $125 per prop. Brett was alot of help! He explained the whole proccess and really did work with me to understand the problem i was having, and i didn't feel rushed to get off the phone and get to the next customer. I like everything but the blade thinning. This local guy does all but that. His take is the less you change the prop, the less trouble you have out of it. Im not saying thinning is a bad thing, but for what im doing and where i boat at...its not for me. Im not concerned about maybe the little more speed it will give me. I don't run around wot anyways.. I think this guy will do a good job on the screws.