Looking at a new 35 Fountain LS... but it is equipped with 5 blade Merc Max. 5 blades vs. the 6 blade Herrings that normally come.
...dealer says the performance is the same....
... My "Skep-tometer" went off the charts,.. I doubt if the performance is comparable, but looking for any tests that may refute or back the claims up?? Anybody? Brett?
Carder

This should be informative, I've been looking into the Herring deal myself. Just can't seem to get a real handle on the pro/con of them. According to Herring Fountain has been ordering a lot of them for the staggered 35s, mostly the six blades.

Talked to a team racing this past weekend at the Shootout. Went throught a couple sets of Herrings as they were throwing blades. I've heard this is a rather common occurence, but still would like to try them.

Ttt ??

Get the performance report and see what was on it when tested. Then compare it to what it will run now. Yes Fountain tests the boat with little fuel, it will say on the performance report how much, so you would not get the same results with full fuel tanks. Their is a reason Fountain runs their props, because they are faster. Mercury doesnt have a 6 blade bravo style prop. Only the 5 blade Maximus. Because of the X deminsion on some boats they needed 6 blades to reduce the slip. Water test the boat and see how it performs. I suspect it will be slower, and harder to get on plane. Their have been some issues with the Bravo style 6 blade Herrings loosing blades. I run Herring 6 blades but on #6 drives on a 38 Fountain different prop altogether.

Had a chance to buy herrings for my six,, more than 1 person told me the blades are thinner and break. The mercury props are stronger and maybe 3 mph slower why throw money away. if your herring throws a blade how long would it take to get another? where do you spend your time runnin? wfo or at 4-5k rpm?

The Herings can be faster than the competitive propellers when compared to the competition in stock or standard Lab configurations. We can create identical or similar thickness curves with non Hering propellers and achieve equal or better speeds. In short.....thin to win. We have known and done this for years. When I was first starting out with Dennis C. at Merc Racing, I would ask why we don't make all our #6 props at a KILO thinkness for our race teams. Dennis would say "It is better to finish the race than to fly a blade." We can make diposable props out of the Maximus and and they will haul a$$. We have done it on different P class boats and they have won many races. A balance between speed and longevity is often the best route.

Fountain is and has always been about speed. In fact, they can even be found to have exagerated on the performance reports. I'm sure nobody has experienced that before. HAHA. Staggered engine set ups used to be done to get the props deeper and engines deeper for off shore racing (bet alot of folks didn't know that) now they put the drives up so high you HAVE to use 6 blade props just to get on plane and control slip and driveability. When will the boys come back to earth (or at least the water surface) and realize 4-5 blade props can be as fast or faster with a little water around them?

Brett,
Great information!!
So, do you think the boat will perform as well with Maximus 5b
vs. the 6 Herrings, given its current X dimension and set up, or are you thinking they were out of Herrings?
Carder

So,
Are the 2 kinds of props equivalent, performance-wise, or are there just compromises kicking in now that Reggie is in the dog house with the AMX?

I got the performance report from Shogren today.
the boat was 101 but tested with Herrings...not the Maxiumus.

Evidently Reg. swapped the props for some broken ones since they have a 1 to 2 month waiting list due to thrown props.
This makes the performance report worth zero.