Hi, i would appreciate any advice regarding prop selection for a formula 233 with 525efi and teague xr sportmaster drive.

Currently doing a full rebuild and wish to keep an eye out in the swap shop for props that may suit my application.

Boat is for cruising and fishing. Fully loaded on water weight with fuel, ice & crew will be around 3 tonne (6600 pounds).

Have 1.5 sportsmaster gearing on teague platinum xr drive.

Haven’t fitted drive yet or cut hole in transom.

Thanks in advance.

My guesstimate would probably be something around a 30" Bravo prop. I would prob cut the hole for a 17" X Dimension.

Great, thanks Griff.

Off topic, but what would you recommend for trim tabs and external steering?

I expect WOT should be around 60mph for my 233.

With a 525EFI, I would expect more like 70+ mph. My 30" prop guess is prob on the high side and most likely a 28" would be better.
For tabs, I'd prob go with 280 Kplanes or maybe a shorter version like 150's.
For Hyd steering, I'd see how much room you have left on the transom and figure out what brand will make for easiest mounting. The Zieger systems have a pretty small footprint compared to most others.

Griff, thanks for all your generous advice.

Being my first fibreglass boat and starting from scratch with a bare hull and full rebuild, the advice from other members as well including offshoreonly has been very helpful.

In regard to your previous advice about a 17” X dimension, i have read in one of your other prop related posts that the prop shaft will then be about 5 inches from the bottom of the hull for my single vee. Is that correct?

What is the max rpm for a 525? 5400ish? If that's the case and you think the boat will run 60ish I would bet a 24 Bravo prop would be more in line.

Just for comparison i run a 30p Bravo 1 on my 22 Donzi Classic with 525. Speed is low 80s to mid 80s in ideal conditions and bumping the rev warning horn at 5,400 rpm. I'm thinking the Formula is a bit bigger and heavier. I like Griff's estimate a 28p and I also run the Zieger steering.

Thanks guys for chiming in with your thoughts. I’ll take that on board.

Thirdchildhood, with your 22 donzi experience, where’s your propshaft in relation to the bottom of the hull?

I had a 233 with a 454 mag. If I recall I was running a 21p mirage+ (3 blade). It ran 55-58ish. A 28p would probably be a good start. I had smaller trim tabs (not sure how long they were, 12-15" maybe) and they were plenty. I don't think 280s are needed and you will most likely lose some fine tuning with that big of a tab.

I'll look back to see if I can find my x dimension that I was setup with. It has been a couple years now...

Thanks for the info Deanrw3.