jaroot

Been doing some prop experimenting and i'm to the hydromotives right now. Playing with the Quad IV OT at the moment.

I started with a 27P and put her on the propshaft and it wobbled like no tomorrow so i checked my propshaft and it is straight within 0.003 inches. Discovered the hub is pressed in off center. So i trade her for a 26P since i could use some more RPM. Same issue to a lesser degree and you can see the runout between the hub and the hub housing. This in turn makes the propeller blades not track straight when viewed from the side.

Hydromotive tells me NOT to worry about this that it won't hurt anything. In my better judgement i get that gut feeling that this really isn't helping anything.

I am looking for some honest opinions on this issue. As well as any experience with this propeller and it's performance and charactaristics.

I guess i feel that for the money they charge you should get better quality than what i seem to be receiving at the moment... still have 2 1/2 weeks left to trade up.

Thanks!

TeamSonic42

If your looking for a first hand experience with Hydro's, I have 24 4 Blades on my 42 Sonic and they suck ! They were on the boat when I got it. Have a very hard time getting on plane, as they blow out constantly. Additionally because the blades are long and thin, they vibrate when comming on plane....... a vibration that is very noticable. Once on plane it dissappears, and they bite good. But if you loose the bite, you have to almost stop and start all over again. A BIG pain azz.........

My brother in law has the exact same prop you have on his procharged 26 Sonic Prowler. He has the same problem as me, except worse due to the bow rise his boat has. His prop hub is centered and spins true, as do mine.

Was given a set of Bravo 1's to try, and getting on plane was night and day. No problem.No vibration. But due to another issue I couldnt give them a full workout. The Bravo prop did exactly the same for his boat. He tried a 28 B1, big, big difference comming on plane and staying on plane at lower speeds. Top end stayed the same.

Since the Bravo prop is installed on the majority of new boats, and works very, very well out of the box, and from what I have experienced and heard about the Hydro's, I would try a Bravo 1, and ax the Hydro........

The Hydro's do have their place, but only in a few applications as I have been told, and experienced personally.

If the hub is off center, I would tell them I want a new prop. Props do not come with offcenter hubs. I can only imagine the kind of constant vibration you would & will have, not to mention the damage from such to the drive, etc.

mopower

To me it seem like the wobble would cause some vibration. This can't be any good for your propshaft seals and bearings. IMHO.

HOUSTONPROP

YES ,props do sometimes come with crooked hubs ,but since merc made the change over to the flo torque hub inserts they are nothing more than excellent,alot of hydro props are welded in hubs which to much heat applied can cause it to be off center or wobble,

also, I have been repairing props for 25 years almost everyday since 1979 and I have yet to see a prop perfectly round on the hub barell.as they distort in the cooling process,some worse than others.


if you remove your props almost all of you will see where it has rubbed on the housing in one place or the other.Darin Houston PROP 281-580-7767

iveyhoe

I've been running a Hydro 26P on my 24CS for 6 yrs. No problem.

Steet

I have both sets of props and the only complaint I have with the Hydro's they just don't plane well. My hydro's are 29 labbed and the boat has to be brought up to about 4000 rpm and slowly gets on plane. The hydro's will not blow out on my boat once on plane in a low or high speed turn and they are about 2 to 3 mph faster than my labbed bravo's. However, I like the bravo's because they will come out strong out of the hole with 6 people and an full tank of gas. If I could get the hydro's to plane I would go with them, but since I have had them worked on twice and I still can not get up easy, I put my vote on the bravo's

JimV

iTrader: (1)

Do you have the diffuser ring on your props? It helped me when I was using the hydro's

jaroot

Thanks for all of the replies. Yes i run a donzi 16 classic. i swapped from the GEN II to an alpha SS this spring and have to go through the prop testing all over again. the 16 by nature of the CG is a natural bow lifting boat. It can be extremely squirrly with props which cause excessive lift like the mirages... cleavers perform best but suck midrange to put it bluntly.

The SS has definitely helped in speed, handling and stability and needs a prop to compliment it because while it is now stable in the 60's it is now on the edge in the 70's. the Hydro with the off center hub doesn't vibrate, at least not any noticable amount. but YES out of the hole it is a dog, catches about 3 - 3500 and is off like a rocket. It bugs me to the point that yes you spend a lot of dough for em so they should be correct.

i do have a straight quad IV (non OT) to test on the little 16 hull so we'll see how that goes, it is a welded hub. the OT is a rubber hub. i hope that the added diameter aids in slip reduction and gains me a bit more lift over the OT which has very little...

again thank you for the replies.

TeamSonic42

If you put the diffuser ring on the Hydro's, that will stop the blow out, but you will loose top end speed, and that supposedly is the purpose of having them (Hydro's)....top end speed. I would rather have a prop that came with one, than welding one on. I would definately leave that to a professional. Hydro told me adding a diffuser ring would solve my blow out issue, but top end would suffer.

As I am not into racing, and no matter what I did to my boat, someone will always be faster. Since I "cruise" most of the time anyway, the Bravo's provide a much better holeshot, and a higher mph cruise speed over the Hydro. With the Hydro's... full fuel, and passengers, real tough to get on plane.Have to play with the throttles big time. Takes an easy hand.

With the Bravo's, the hole shot is improved dramatically. The Hydro's seem to accelerate better though once on plane.

The Hydro's work well on Fountains, and maybe some others, but not on Sonics or most boats without a diffuser ring.

Good Luck.