300lbs fat sacs and high five prop

[s1jor]

hi, two things,

first, have an 18ft mariah with 4.3 volvo sx, am thinking of putting 300lbs of fat sacs in the front of the boat, will this make a significant differnce????

and secondly currentlly have a stainless ballistic 3 blade prop, am looking at a high five, again will thismake a bid difference, and what pitch do i go for, ballistics is 21 pitch

thaanks

simon

[pilot_ryder]

I have the same engine as you and added a high five prop. I noticed very little change in performance of the hole shot or upper-end. Was really disappointed considering prop cost. I also don't think 300lbs. will make much difference.

[s1jor]

anyone else, realistically how much weight am i gonna need to add to make much of the difference???? and i hear from alot that the high five props make a huge difference, is this not the case????

[5280HighButter]

I have a 20 ft 95 Mariah with a 5.8L mercruiser, so somewhat similar boat, I guess. The 5 blade will probably help but depending on where you live you should probably look into lowering your pitch to something in the 17 - 19 area. Test props from your local dealer, they should be able to tell you what your WOT RPM's should be. Once you know that, load your boat up with a normal wight load and see what prop hits that RPM range. 300 lbs in the bow is a start but you will need more weight to really make a difference. I have 250 in the bow and a 600 on the ski locker area and I am adding much more this year.

[Vampyre]

I have a 19 ft Bayliner with 4.3L Merc.
I usually add 600 lbs in the bow walkway, 200-300 lbs in the ski locker and maybe another 75 on each side of the engine.
I usually ride with one or two others, plus the driver (my wife).

My prop is a 3 blade SS 21 pitch (ouch). I have been reading up, and will most likely buy a 4 blade SS 17 inch pitch.

[Vampyre]

pilot_ryder, what type (material and pitch) did you have before? Were you running the same amount of weight as you are now?

I looked at the HiFive, but I am not spending $500 or whatever on a prop for a Bayliner. Hopefully getting my Moomba this fall.. but I digress.

My hole shot now is not terrible, but I can swallow up to $300 on a new prop, if it will make a significant differnce.

I will be heading up to the local prop shop here when it warms up, and try it out if possible.

[bmartin]

Back in the days I was running 4.3L 18' I/O, I put about 1000lbs of balast (2 x 350 sacs +rubermade tubs on the side of the engine) and used a 17 pitch AL prop, which was a noticeable improvement over the 19 pitch. That boat threw a nice wake, better than some modern Ddrives with that set up but nothing compared to wake specific boats. I have no experience with the high fives other than it was too expensive for my boat.

I am afraid 300lbs will not make much of a difference.

[silvtongdvl]

I used a 4 blade alum prop - 17 pitch. Buy from a local dealer. Have them add extra cupping to the blades ( test prop first so you can tell how many rpms you are off) Test by - Find out what your engine top rpms are (dealer,book,internet)
Present prop size & type = ?rpms Wide open throttle - note throttle postion during test.
Install new prop - loaded the way you ride (300 lbs aint much) find two 200lb friends. Do not let rpms exceed max rpms recommended by manufacture.
How much throttle is left - give this info back to a good prop guy and he will fix it so you can't over RPM
Mine held speed so good - best 150 bucks I spent

[s1jor]

there are normaly 2 others in the boat, so it will be 300lbs offat sacs and two people as well, but that nearly puts me at the max boat weight????? anybody tried the 4 or blade props from hill marine.com????

[joedirt00]

I have a 17 pitch Merc High Five that I'm thinking of selling. Probably $250 shipped. I was going to put it on ebay but it sound like someone here might want it.

PM me for any details.

[phantom268]

Right now in my 98 Air Nautique we have the stock 400lbs ballast in the back locker. Doesn't make much of a significant difference. BUT most of the time we take quite a few people out with us to easily have 800-1000+ lbs of people and that's fairly noticeable. I ultimately want to add another 400-600lb sac to the in-floor ski locker I don't use, and maybe some weight up under the bow as well to try to get up to having about 1000 pounds of ballast weight. that plus a few people should kick out a nice wake i think. from MOST pics I've seen or read about, sounds like you need about 1000+ to really start noticing a difference. For me, the wake is just fine for now cause I'm still learning. And I don't wanna sink the thing

[s1jor]

joedirt, 250 dollars shipped to where, i'm in the uk???????

[JohnM_ttu]

I have Chaparral 190 LE with the 4.3L Merc.

Weight:
800-1000lbs in the front
375lbs in the locker
400lbs under the seats
100lbs on either side of the engine
max 4 people

I added this weight gradually over the years as I progressed. Started out with a little in the front and began to add all over the boat. I have experimented endlessly with weight distribution and discovered with an I/O you need a lot of weight forward and not much in the rear.

Accesories:
foil on the lower unit
3 blade stainless prop not sure what pitch probably to high

If you want to throw a lot of weight in your boat go with the lowest pitch 3 blade prop you can get. This will help your hole shot and help you maintain speed. You should lose quite a bit of top end speed. Think about your needs and find the right balance of torque and speed.

[watsoc]

Check out this link because it explains what 450 lbs. did to my 18 ft I/O when positioned in the front of the boat only. I think it made a pretty big difference and I have the exact same engine with a 3 blade 19 pitch prop.

http://forums.wakeboarder.com/viewtopic.php?t=52541&highlight=