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Old 03-25-2012 | 09:18 AM
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Default Labbed Prop

What is the true meaning of a Labbed Prop?
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Old 03-25-2012 | 09:35 AM
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fragile, expensive, little performance gain. There are no hard and fast rules you can have a prop blueprinted to make sure all blades are equal and the pitch is what you want, you can have the blades thinned and the leading edges like razors, cut off diffuser rings, add cup remove cup. I think the consensus would be thinned as much as possible and sharpened edges. I have never seen any performance gain on any lab props I have tried, the give more RPM but only because they slip more. I think you are better off with blueprinting and tweaks based on some test numbers with your existing setup.
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Old 03-25-2012 | 10:13 AM
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Originally Posted by pstorti
fragile, expensive, little performance gain. There are no hard and fast rules you can have a prop blueprinted to make sure all blades are equal and the pitch is what you want, you can have the blades thinned and the leading edges like razors, cut off diffuser rings, add cup remove cup. I think the consensus would be thinned as much as possible and sharpened edges. I have never seen any performance gain on any lab props I have tried, the give more RPM but only because they slip more. I think you are better off with blueprinting and tweaks based on some test numbers with your existing setup.
Not that Im going to spend alot on my prop, just wondered what it was. I have a good prop guy by my house that does my prop. I have one at the shop now getting built for a spare, and its going up one pitch. hopefully it dials me in.
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Old 03-25-2012 | 11:27 AM
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Originally Posted by bigbird241
Not that Im going to spend alot on my prop, just wondered what it was. I have a good prop guy by my house that does my prop. I have one at the shop now getting built for a spare, and its going up one pitch. hopefully it dials me in.
....Go to Cutting Edge Propellers.com and bblades for some insight on labbing . I have seen good gains in speed and efficiency with labbed props !!
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Old 03-25-2012 | 12:51 PM
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+1
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Old 03-25-2012 | 09:30 PM
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I can't believe someone would even say it's not worth it or you only have "marginal gains".

Per dollar spent, it's the cheapest & easiest speed increase you will ever see in a performance boat.

It does require the owner or driver to know how to provide the correct, accurate numbers to the prop guy.

Results are very much relative to the boat, power and expectations of the guy paying.

I've had 4 labbed props now; all gave up at least 3 mph and one of them gave up almost 6. It's kinda expensive but still cheaper than engine upgrades that actually net something.

www.bblades.com
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Old 03-25-2012 | 09:32 PM
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Originally Posted by bigbird241
Not that Im going to spend alot on my prop, just wondered what it was. I have a good prop guy by my house that does my prop. I have one at the shop now getting built for a spare, and its going up one pitch. hopefully it dials me in.
Hope it works well for you. My experience so far has been that going down from a larger one worked better than trying to make a smaller one bigger. Boats are all different.
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Old 03-26-2012 | 06:07 AM
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Originally Posted by SDFever
Hope it works well for you. My experience so far has been that going down from a larger one worked better than trying to make a smaller one bigger. Boats are all different.
Great advice, Im slowly buying engine parts here and there for a buildup, so I dont want to spend too much on my prop til I get my engine done. But what I did get done to my prop so far, I picked up 4 MPH on GPS, biggest gain was the added cup. That helped get the front of my tank out of the water.
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