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1973 13' Pitching Up
Joe Kriz	#21  Posted on 07/26/12 - 6:22 PM
Site Owner Personal Page Personal Album Photo Albums Project Albums Posts: 11447 Comments: 452 Joined: 03/18/05	No, I don't have you confused. You didn't show that at all. All that shows is props come in many diameters. They do. However we don't have a choice. You didn't show us what engine those were for. They certainly all weren't for your motor. If anyone can show me they have a choice in diameter from the same brand/model prop for your particular engine, then show it. I have showed many times that you cannot change the diameter or have a choice of diameter in any One brand/model of prop for your particular motor. I will argue this with everyone until I am dead. We cannot go into a prop shop and order a 14" diameter prop unless we make a lucky guess. And then who knows what pitch that will be? We have no control of the Rake, Cup, or Diameter of a certain brand/model prop we choose. The engineers figure that out for our particular motor/gear case. We choose a brand/model prop and then we choose the pitch we want. What brand, year and size of motor do you have? Let's try and find a prop for it and see.
azrider26	#22  Posted on 07/26/12 - 9:08 PM
Member Posts: 14 Comments: 0 Joined: 07/15/12	I think I'm going to order up the 15" Star prop. Would be nice to get first hand info of it's use on these boats, but hey what do you do. I'll check back in when I get it going for the curious and nautically obsessed. I will say I've learned a fair amount about props lately. On a side note, I used to live in KW and would hang out at the Offshore Worlds Championships. Those boats had some props.
azrider26	#23  Posted on 07/31/12 - 10:32 AM
Member Posts: 14 Comments: 0 Joined: 07/15/12	Stiletto Star ordered. $200 shipped with hub kit. Not too shabby.
Joe Kriz	#24  Posted on 07/31/12 - 10:57 AM
Site Owner Personal Page Personal Album Photo Albums Project Albums Posts: 11447 Comments: 452 Joined: 03/18/05	Let us know how the new 15" pitch prop works out for you. Edited by Joe Kriz on 07/31/12 - 10:58 AM
azrider26	#25  Posted on 08/01/12 - 4:44 PM
Member Posts: 14 Comments: 0 Joined: 07/15/12	Will do for sure. Should be here Monday.
azrider26	#26  Posted on 08/11/12 - 12:10 AM
Member Posts: 14 Comments: 0 Joined: 07/15/12	OK, got the 15" Star installed and test drove today. Getting about 4mph more at given rpm, but WOT is now only 5100. Enough vibration at low and mid rpms that I'm not going to run it for fear of engine damage. Installed w/ Stiletto Guardian hub. It was silky smooth with the stock prop. Anyone?
Tom W Clark	#27  Posted on 08/11/12 - 8:06 AM
Member Personal Page Posts: 4280 Comments: 7 Joined: 09/30/05	What was your average top speed at 5100 RPM, as measured with a GPS and a two-way test run? You probably should have chosen the 14" Star to gain some engine speed at WOT. Exchange the 15" for a 14" and try it again. That will rule out (or confirm) the propeller being the cause of the vibration. How was the bow behaving?
azrider26	#28  Posted on 08/11/12 - 11:28 AM
Member Posts: 14 Comments: 0 Joined: 07/15/12	No returns on used props @ iboats.com. Seems like it would be nice if the hub had some rubber and not just delrin or what ever, especially for an ss prop. Also has a much harder thunk when going into gear. Top speed @ 5100 was 33 mph. That should go back up a few mph when I lower the motor back down a hole. Maybe a little less bow movement but not enough to matter as it wasn't bad with the stock prop, does plane at lower speed though. If it wasn't for the vibration I'd be happy enough. Annoyed though that this prop changes rpm almost 400 per inch of pitch though. How is anyone supposed to buy the right one? Thinking about calling Stilleto on Monday on that. In the mean time will reinstall to try to get the vibes out. What rpm should I run it at so I don't overload this thing?
Tom W Clark	#29  Posted on 08/11/12 - 1:18 PM
Member Personal Page Posts: 4280 Comments: 7 Joined: 09/30/05	Oh, you bought a used prop from iboats.com. That explains the low price. It might also explain the vibration if it has been bent. How much the engine speed changes with a pitch change depends on the gear ratio of the motor, and to a lesser degree, how much pitch you start with. It doesn't have anything to do with the brand of propeller, it's just simple arithmetic. A DF40 has a 2.27:1 gear ratio and in the low pitches your boat might make use of, one inch is a relatively large percentage change. One inch is going to inversely relate to 350-400 RPM for you. There is no question but that stainless steel propellers, which weigh more, have more shift clunk. That is why Mercury, who pioneered the field replaceable hub kits with their Delrin inserts, also offer clunk dampening hub kits like the Flo-Torq III and Flo-Torq IV. Other hub kits also soften shift clunk like Solas's Rubex hub kits. Unfortunately, I am unaware of any small gearcase sized hub kits that offer shift clunk dampening apart from Mercury's Flo-Torq Reflex which do not fit the Stiletto. The recommended WOT operating range of the Suzuki DF40 is 5200-5800 RPM. I would try to prop your motor to hit the upper half of that range, ideally.
azrider26	#30  Posted on 08/11/12 - 6:17 PM
Member Posts: 14 Comments: 0 Joined: 07/15/12	New prop, sealed in box as far as I could tell. Went to reinstall and noticed a few things. First with the prop nut not torqued the Star has about an 1/8" of play at front or rear when moved side to side or up and down, some of which is in the prop/hub interface and some the hub/shaft. My stock prop has basically none. Even the machining of the hub/shaft faces are off a fair amount. Lightly torqued the Star still has some play as you can't torque the plastic "prop nut spacer" enough to get it to "button up". The stock prop came with a quality bronze spacer and was torqued to what felt like about 50lbs. You would destroy the cheesy plastic one doing that. And when I went to take it off from the test run it was much looser than i had tightened it, indicating that when running the plastic compresses loosening the whole thing. This system seems flawed to me. Next problem, after running it in fresh water Lake Mead for 3 hours the thing has a fair amount of surface rust and what even looks like the first signs of pitting. Having lived on boats for years in FL and the Caribbean I'm familiar with the qualities of ss. This thing wouldn't last a season in FL without having to buff it out and wax it every use. Bottom line, this thing is a dud in too many ways. Going for the return then ordering me up a Suzuki aluminum prop. I will say I'm not a big fan of ordering stuff like this online, but the iboats guys are local enough(for me), and had great service so far. I'm two hours from the closest prop shop so. We'll see what they say Monday. Edited by azrider26 on 08/11/12 - 6:27 PM
azrider26	#31  Posted on 08/14/12 - 10:01 AM
Member Posts: 14 Comments: 0 Joined: 07/15/12	Apologies if this post is getting a little stale but I thought I'd follow up a bit. Told iboats about the issue and they politely offered up a return with full credit. I'll order through these guys again when needed for sure, the service is great and they're very friendly. As far as the prop goes I'm just going with an aluminum for the built in rubber and light weight, not to mention the price. I liked the performance on the Star prop and maybe I just got a bad one with the rust issue, and maybe the hub for Suzuki/Johnson just needs a little tweaking so it fits tighter.
Tom W Clark	#32  Posted on 08/14/12 - 5:12 PM
Member Personal Page Posts: 4280 Comments: 7 Joined: 09/30/05	Good on iBoats for taking back the prop that did not work for you. The discoloration you describe is normal and affects all brands of stainless steel propellers, though not all of the time. It depends on the chemical composition of the water the prop is used in and is not rust (oxidation). It is not a sign of low quality in any way. The propeller also could not have any pitting. Pitting is caused stray current corrosion in exceptionally "hot" marinas and even in severe cases takes several days or weeks to begin. The difficulty you had in installing the hub kit was probably because you did not fully seat the hub insert in the propeller before installing on the motor. The instructions that come with the small Guardian SQ-Lok hub kits are very poor, in my opinion. They do not make this point clear and I have seen some that call for 55 foot/pounds of torque on the propeller nut. There is no reason on Earth for a small propeller to have that much torque on the nut, it will just crush the spacer. I put the prop on a firm surface and drop the insert into the propeller then tap the insert down until it is FULLY SEATED. Then I slide the prop on the propeller shaft. This way, you are not relying on the propeller nut to tighten and compress everything together. Older Stiletto Stars used a press-in rubber hub. Perhaps you can find one on Ebay. The next size down is 13" pitch; there is no 14" and that might be the perfect size. After all you gained 4 MPH when you switched to the Stiletto Star.