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I just bought a 1967 13' Boston Whaler. It has a 10-1/4" x 14" propeller (48 73138-14) on a 1997 Seapro 40 hp Mercury 2 stroke outboard motor.
With one person and very little gas and no other weight in the boat, at high end the motor will rev. It feels like the propeller is slipping or not grabbing. I suspect this is because the boat may be too light.
I would normally would have two or three people (400 -600 lbs.), a full tank of gas and some fishing gear in the boat.
The above propeller is pretty old and beat up. The edges of the prop are worn and a bit pitted.
The folks at Mercury said it is one of the correct propellers for that motor, however if it ventilates it is because the prop is worn and visa versa.
To make matters worst, I have no tachometer on the boat.
What do you feel would be a good all around prop for this boat with this motor?
A damaged propeller can certainly cause the prop to ventilate. If the propeller is as you describe, the obvious simple solution would be to buy a new 10-1/4" x 14" aluminum three blade Mercury Black max #48 73138-14 prop.
Never operate an outboard motor with a damaged propeller!
If you are serious about improving your boat's performance and perhaps having a propeller that will not suffer damage as easily, consider a good stainless steel propeller. Three good choices are:
Mercury's 10-3/8" x 14" Vengeance, part #48 855860 A5
A beat up prop will DEFINATELY slip, and "Ventilate" (blow a hole of air around itself), prop's are funny, sometimes the can have a lot of damage and still run pretty well, sometimes a slight nick can cause real problem's grabbing the water, best to replace it, the prop on a boat act's like the tires on a car, worn down tires (even a high performance car) will make it perform poorly.
mw
That seems to be the right size prop for your setup. Its possible that the hub is slipping at speed, and the prop is not ventilating. Maybe time for a new prop, it`s not worth getting rebuilt.
That seems to be the right size prop for your setup. Its possible that the hub is slipping at speed, and the prop is not ventilating. Maybe time for a new prop, it`s not worth getting rebuilt.
