Merc High 5 prop
 

I've been seeing some of these around at pretty low prices. The sellers claim that they are suitable for bravo applications. I'd thought they were outboard props. Anyone have any experience running one on a stern drive boat or any thoughts on it?

I used to have a high 5 on a 21' Hallett about 10 years ago - It worked really well for skiing, etc on that boat. I don't remember exactly, but I think it's a smaller diameter prop, and may not work too well on heavier boats.

Heavier boat... what are you trying to say! I like to think of my Pantera as "athletic"! :D Thanks for the input, I figured if they worked, they wouldn't be as cheap as they are!

Your right, they were originally built (if memory serves me) in the very early 90's. We kind of built them for the 200 EFI OB Merc we were mating to the then Sea Ray called Ski Ray. It was a nice OB ski boat. Of course they were marketed to all OB Merc ski applications. Great ability to get on plane quick with 5 blades with small blade area and a elongated outer exhaust tube. Because of the spline configuration and the OD, they will work on Alpha and Bravo drives. Agreed, heavy rigs won't like them much. Your Pantera if set up light, may run fine with it for its designated purpose, water sports. This prop is widely used by Walleye fishermen in the pro circuits because it gets a 20' something Walleye rig on plane quick in 3-4 foot Lake Erie chop.

Nah, she's a battleship! Thanks for the info.

I'm trying to explore some options to get some more speed out of the boat. I'm getting 73 with 750hp (single). I'm thinking of raising the x dimension (easy because I have a notch boat with a 3" spacer on my drive just to get back to the non-notch x dimension) and running a 5 blade to see if I can reduce drag but keep blow out managable.

If you pull a 3" spacer, forget the High 5. You'll need the Maximus 5 blade.

If there is a 3" spacer in place and the boat runs well or at least decent, it is there for a reason. Smaller reductions in depth may be a better option.

friend of mine runs this on a 24 outlaw / 454 mpi and simply loves it! He may trim up as much he wants it never catches any air. Even in sharp turns, still grabs. He would not run anything else...but in fact, he had that one on his 135 merc outboard...

I agree, the High 5 prop is not one to run with a high X, or to trim a lot. I ran a pair of 23" on my 26 Nova with twin 350 mags. The boat planed off like a rocket, but I had a lot of "slip" in my mid-range when I punched the throttle, and that sucked for dealing with Lake Michigan's best (waves). The other problem I found was when you trimmed the drives, even a little, I would loose some of the steering sensitivity (small diameter, small blades). All in all, just not a good prop for my application, the 4-blade bravo props have served me well on that hull. I also ran a 21" High 5 on my Powerplay 185, and that went better. I still wound up putting a Mirage on that, and sold all the High 5's.
I agree, these props work better on the OB's. Didn't Yamaha run 5 blades on there OB's for a while?

Thanks for the heads up! The boat runs well, gets on plane easily and has great mid-range with the current setup (spacer and touched up bravo 26 4 blade), but I feel like I'm way off on the top end speed. Past about 3/4 throttle, the stick becomes a prop-slip inducer rather than a speed control! :D (say 73mph at 5,500 rpms with a 1.5 bravo).

The drive just looks so deep! (That's what she said!) I attached a photo to illustrate. Sure makes it easy to throttle the boat though!

The last owner did the prop and the spacer with a 525SC. I figured once I jumped the power up (by about 200hp) I'd try some other options on the prop and drive height.

Nice Picture

I don't disagree on going higher with the drive. I feel that a 3" change is drastic. If you can try in between, I would.

BBLADES makes CNC'd spacer kits for the #6 drive. We make them in .25" increments because that small of a change can affect the performance. I usually like to test in .25"-.50" increments with OB's, Bravo. SS drives. I know it is easier said than done.

Thanks man! I've got a good buddy with a BIG camera!

I'm going to monkey with the spacer and try the 5 blade props to see where it goes. I figured I'd try something drastic just to see what I get. Griff (the former owner) initially ran a 2" spacer (original from Pantera I think) and said he had a lot of blow out, but I figured I'd try a 5 blade with the extra hp and see what I get.

I really appreciate the advice and input!

when i asked out local marina a couple years ago about buying one for our old boat, he said that it would give the boat a killer hole shot for skiing, but would hurt the top end pretty bad. is that true? if so, how much top end can you expect to lose?

cheers,
josh

My 26 Nova lost about 4mph on the top vs. 3 blade Stainless

ive wanted to try stainless props but ive messed up a couple aluminum ones over the past couple years. i figure id rather have to buy a new aluminum prop then replace all the sterndrive inners. right now im running a 4 blade aluminum 17x14 that tops out around 5000 rpm. the other prop is a 3 blade 21x15 that will only do about 4500rpm. question is how can i get the 3 blade to do another 500 or so rpm cus to me that seems like it would be good for a couple mph's. top speed with the 3 blade is 54.8mph and the 4 blade is 51mph both on gps btw.

I tried one on my, uh your Pantera 24 and it did not work well at all, Not enough diameter, poor trim control, poor speed, slippage and many other bad traits. I would personally not bother trying one on your 28 or anything over about 3000lbs with an elevated drive height. We ran it on Pismo's old, really old Century with an alpha 228 combo and it worked really well with a low drive height , Pulled like a tournament inboard for skiing and trimmed out nicely on top.

Thanks Chris. You mean Tim's 24. :D

I've abandon the high 5 and have a buddy that's offered to let me try one of his Herrings (yes Tom, I'm talking about you!), so hopefully that will be a better option.

I tried a high 5 on my 19' bass boat with a 150 merc and it cost me 5mph on top but it did jump out of the hole like a tournament ski boat. It seemed like trim made no difference with that prop either. I could never fly the bow to get top speed.