Going with a new set of props and have decided between Hydromotive or Hearing. Hearing is considerably more but I have been told they will perform better for my particular boat and set-up. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

2004 Fountain Lightning, 35', 525's, XR's w/ 1.5 gears. Current prop, Merc 4 blade 32 pitch (not lab finished) hitting 5250 RPM @ WOT, 90MPH.

Fountains like Hydromotive props

pointed or round ear?

this is a quote from Julie at throttleup;
The Hydromotive 6B propeller will induce a greater amount of stern lift. It is because of the 2 factors:

1) Each time you add a blade you will induce more stern lift.
2) Cleaver design propellers induce stern lift and round ear blade designs induce bow lift.

So the 6B will have a much greater amount of stern lift than the 5B.

Great Question!

Julie

I'm sure each boat is particular in its app, and this is a guideline...Rob

I would buy a set of hydro from Throttle up and have Matt work his magic on them and use the thousands of $ saved for fuel

Thanks Mike.

The thing to keep in mind is when a boat is dialed in around a particular propeller another propeller may not perform as well. If we dial a boat in around a 6 blade propeller with a 15" diameter with a certain cup profile it really isn't fair to take a 6 blade propeller from another manufacturer with a 15.5" diameter, bolt it on the boat, and then say it didn't perform as well as the first prop. For the same reason if the boat is dialed in around the 15.5" propeller the 15" propeller may not perform as well as the 15.5" without changing drive height or moving weight around.

Most of the high performance propellers with the same number of blades will perform very close to each other, typically within a couple mph when the boat is dialed in to that particular propeller.

It takes a lot of work to get the most out your boat, it's like anything else, the more time you put into it the better the results.

All the high performance propeller manufacturers, Hering, Hydromotive and Mercury make a precision product. With the proper application and tuning these propellers can really make a difference in the performance of the boat. The most important thing is to find someone you fell comfortable working with and will work with you to try and meet your goals.

Matt

Thanks for the response. I'll give you a call Matt and we can get started.

I have heard on several occasions and seen personnaly 1 time (on all stock, unmodified) on a buddys Fountain that the blades or sections of the blades on the Hydros have been known to leave the rest of the prop. Anyone else have any input? I've had 3 unmodified and 2 labbed with no problems yet, but did have another that was cracked that sold to me as brand new.

It is possible that what you may be seeing is left over metal from the foundry/finihsing process. I have seen props that have this "finishing", if you will. They aren't cracks but can be impressions left behind from the from the investment casting.

Julie