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Hi everyone, this is my first post here, and I'd really appreciate some help with the following.
I have a 1997 13 foot Dauntless with a 1997 40 HP Honda that I purchased about 6 years ago. I love the boat, but I'd like to replace the aluminum propeller that came with it. I'm having trouble identifying it. It has no size marking but has a difficult to read number which I would guess is 035892445 (the 03 and 2445 are clear, but the 589 is questionable). I measured the prop and it appears to be a 11 x 13. It has a straight trailing edge on the blades, no noticeable cupping, and some positive rake.
The boat will hit 31 MPH (GPS) at 5800 RPM with 1 person and no gear. With 3 people, fishing gear, and 8 gallons of fuel, it drops to 25 MPH at 5300 RPM.
Honda states 5000–6000 RPM max. Gear ratio is 2.08:1 and the motor is mounted 2 holes up. The boat comes up on plane and rides well with this setup.
I'm leaning towards a SS prop for durability and maybe a little better top end.
Any suggestions on a good prop would be greatly appreciated.
The straight trailing edge of your propeller are the giveaway of what it is. Honda used to offer these aluminum propellers, though they no longer do. They are made by a Japanese manufacturer and Yamaha still offers them.
At any rate, I recommend a 12" x 11" Stiletto Star 3.5 with a C-012 hub kit for your Honda BF40. It will especially help with heavier loads.
Hi, I've got the same boat with a 50hp Honda, had a 25hp which was a dog unless just putting around in the harbor not on a plane.
the 50 really made a big difference.
my two bits is put a dolphin on it.
will make a huge postive difference in getting up to plane quicker.
Get as big a dolphin as you can.
Thanks for your valued advice Tom. I'll be ordering the 12" x 11" Stiletto Star 3.5 that you recommended. I'll post the results when I get the boat back in the water in early May.
In response to eric80,
When I got the boat, the motor was mounted all the way down. It was sluggish to get on plane and I never felt that the boat handled well (too much bow rise and pounding). About a year ago, I put a SE Sport 200 hydrofoil on. It did get the boat on plane a little faster, but the improvement wasn't as great as I expected. After reading some of the posts here and getting some advice from a friend, I realized I needed to raise the motor. As you probably know, the Honda has four mounting positions. I moved it up two holes and it was like a different boat. It was on plane in half the time, gained 5 - 6 mph at WOT, and rode much smoother. I couldn't believe the difference. The only negative was that the hydrofoil was now throwing up such a large rooster tail that it was actually getting me wet. I removed the hydrofoil but haven't run the boat since.
My plan now is to install the new prop and see how the boat runs. I'm hoping the boat will get on plane even sooner and stay there at a lower RPM. I may experiment with raising the motor another hole (highest position) and maybe reinstalling the hydrofoil.
I don't know if it's appropriate to ask this here, but the best price I could find on the Stiletto Prop was at Boat Owners World and am wondering if anyone has experience with them.
Having just followed the same path with my 15 Dauntless/60hp Merc 2 stroke, I'll offer the following...
I installed the very same Stilleto 12X11 Star and found an immediate decrease in time to plane and a decrease in the speed needed to hold plane. I removed my Dole Fins and the positive effects were mitigated to some degree. Then I moved the motor up a notch and I got most of the good stuff back. My bottom line is that the change in prop, combined with the raise in engine height was a huge improvement.
On the dealer for the prop, I sent a PM to Tom Clark and he steered me in the right direction.
If "shift clunk" is a real concern, consider the 10-1/2" x 11" Stiletto Triad instead.
The only problem with the 3.5" propellers is that there are no universal Flo-Torq III-style hub kits for them to help alleviate "shift clunk" and "prop rattle".
The Star, with its large diameter and greater blade area is a shift clunker.
