I have a 60' Destination Yachts houseboat at Bullfrog. When we had 50hp Mercury Big Foot motors, we used 14 x 9 props and found that they were just right. We switched to 115hp Mercury motors this year and had to jump to 14 x 11 props. They are just right with the bigger motors. Aramark uses 14 X 9 on their 60hp big foot mercs and 14 x 11 on their 115 hp mercs.
If you can get a 14" diameter prop between your shaft and the bottom of your anti-cavitation plate, a 14 x 9 will serve you well. If you have to go down in diameter, you will want to go up in pitch.
Many of us with outboards at Powell are switching to Propco props. They have a reverse hook cup that comes close to doubling your reverse thrust without having any noticeable effect on forward performance. A friend of mine didn't believe their claims, so he replaced his props and went out and tested with a GPS. On his boat, he didn't get the 200% increase they claimed. He got something like a 197% increase. That was close enough for his purposes and mine. You can learn more about Propco propellers at
propcopropellers.com. I have no tie to Propco other than having them on my boat.
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09/09/2011 12:18:17 PM
