The right prop for 29 Fountain?
 

Bought a 05 29 Fountain with 575sci and Bravo 1 xr. With a Bravo 30p prop I am getting 74mph at 5200. It gets on plan ok with tabs down, also have to run my left tab on 4 to keep it flat. There must be a better set up?
Rick

you got slip issues and putting that tab down slows things down too. I have a 525 and I have run 77.6 on a 26" B1 at 5350rpm. Are you LH or RH rotation? It sounds like you're a RH having to put down that port tab. I use LH rotation. Very easy to switch. Just buy a LH prop and switch the shifter cables.

On an 2005 you have a pretty X I would imagine. I would think you might do well in a Hydro P5 or possibly a P5-X. Call Hydromotive and talk to them about it.

They will be able to give you soe good advise.

Julie

Hey Julie, while were both "here", I did run that P5 on the Sat of Mem day over to Egmont. It still seemed to push a little down, but the boat was VERY heavy. I ended up switching to the 26 for the rest of the weekend. I just haven't had too much time to devote to prop testing. It's getting better, but it's still not there yet. I'll call when I get some more numbers. My 26 did 77.6 at 5350rpm Mem day morning........not bad for a stock wheel.

NWPC, LH rotation is important. A conservative Lab of your 28 just may be the ticket, However, slip is a issue. Try a 1" or 1.5" spacer if you can.

A 5 blade is a option if low and mid range speeds are your desire. The 5 blade will amplify the torque if you remain rh rotation.

Left hand

no spacer

and a real labbing

less blades = more speed usually

there are 2 good prop shops here on the board

Do you know what I mean by conservative Labbing? With 23% slip, aggressive Labbing will make the boat fall on its face. Conservative still means blueprinting the propeller, it just means you need to adjust for the situation.

A conversation with the owner to determine the goals is important.

My best boating bud has a 1997 29' Fountain, 525SC Merc making a little more than stock, Bravo 1 out-drive.
Left Hand 26p Bravo 1 prop bent for a little extra pitch.
The boat tops out at 75mph, 5100rpm...
You likely need a Lefty 28p B1 for best top speed. BBlades knows his chit...:D

I have been told that Fountain changed to a RH prop in 05, and my performance report was done with a 30P RH merc. Why would they go to the RH?

If you are dragged your port tab with an even load in the boat, you should try a lefty.
Those performance reports are done with one person and 10gal of gas. That is not real world.
If a 28p puts your engine on the limiter, then 30p.

ooooohhh

We ran the 26p LH bravo this weekend, boat was much better with no tabs needed to keep it flat. Ran 76mph @ 5200rpm. It hit the limiter easly with trim at 2. Where to from here? Thinking 30p Lapped LH Bravo?
Rick

Trim at 2??? That's below neutral, you should be around 4 on the drive and 2 on the tabs. Take it up one notch to a 28" Bravo. With a 575, you should be able to run a 30", but it's best to take it up one notch at a time. Also, start up a collection of props. I have a 26" B1 on my 29 and it's run 77.6 so far, I also have a 28" that's ran 80 before I dinged it (it's now a spare) and I've been working with throttle up on a Hydro P5. I test and send back and they tweek. So far I hit 77.9 and set off the rev limiter alarm with that one and the boat was still misbehaving! The moral of the story is that you're going to be playing around before you find what works. It's cool to have a labbed top speed prop and come winter I will test for the same, but remember that labbing takes away a lot of a prop's strength and if you hit something with a labbed wheel, it's pretty much done. I know where you boat and I remember hitting a sandbar in the middle of the river near I 90 in an outboard, so be very sure of the water when running that labbed wheel. Setup the labbed wheel for light loads and stuff and try to find a prop that works well when the boat is heavy.

Update
 

I am now running a 30p LH lapped Bravo prop with a Teaque Platinum XR drive (I guess you can't run a 26p prop on a Bravo XR with 575hp.? I learned that the expensive way). I am getting 80mph at 5200 and am still hitting the rev limiter at 5400 quite easly. That calcs to 19% slip, Why so high? I tried a 32p LH Bravo but the boat slowed to 75 at 5000rpm WOT. Any Ideas from here? Thanks Bret for getting me the 30 so quickly.

19% is high. My non-labbed 26" is around 8 or 9% as was my 28" before it met my swim ladder that I forgot about leaving down. Try a non-labbed 30" and maybe look at Hydromotive props. They are very fast. Because a Hydro's advertised pitch is a lot truer than a Bravo's go 1" lower. So a Hydro QIV 29" LH should be a good place to start. Try testing on a Lake if you can like FDR above the dam. That river just moves too fast.

I would suggest a 5B with slip that high. Maybe it will net something on top.

Julie

How does a 5B compare to a lapped 30 Bravo

A labbed 28P Hydro 5B or a stock 27P Hydro 5B.

Julie

I am looking for what will work best for my boat. I would guess the lapped prop.
Rick

NWPC, if you are not trimming the boat, with the drive level with the bottom with the bottom of the boat your slip numbers will be high and not accurate for what you prop application should be. If you are dragging tabs that even complicates everything. You should be able to run witht he drive at 3 and tabs at 3 after you get on plane and work up from their in SMALL steps with the drive going up to 3.5, 4, ect. If you have a copy of the performance report it will give you that information. If not call Fountain with the serial # off the back of the boat, and they will fax you one. Good luck:D