what prop for mercury blueband??

[Adamy]

Hi Guys... (and girls),

Does anyone know what sort of prop I should be chasing for a 80hp Mercury blueband outboard?? i think it may be a 79 model - but cant be sure. The prop I have currently is a 17pitch (whatever that means) but what kind of spline should I be getting or are they all the same? is 11 3/4 sound like the right size?? how do I find out?

Thanks

Adam

[Owen]

G'day Adamy,
The 17" pitch means that theoretically it will move through 17" of water per revolution. It's a little more complicated than that in practice, but you get the gist.
You need to match the pitch with the weight of the boat and the power of the motor.
There is no hard and fast rule, because every hull is different and what works even on the same hull type for one guy might not be quite right for another that carries more/less weight.
As for the spline, they are not all the same, so beware buying props of ebay where they say stuff like "fits most 70HP".
So if your boat is over revving, you go up in pitch and if you can't achieve maximum revs you go down.

Solas has a fair bit of info on their website and if you go to
http://www.solas.com.au/adviceform.asp
and fill in all the details they'll email you their recommendations.
Of coarse you don't have to buy it off them if you don't want to, but it will give you a starting point.

cheers,
Owen

[Darryl]

Adam i have a 17 inch prop from my old 80 blueband merc sitting here .
Markings on my prop are as follows ( 48 77344 a40 17p.) >>>>>>17 being the pitch.

Darryl.

[Adamy]

Thanks Owen excellent advice - as soon as I work out what it all means I''l be able to get the right prop. Hey Darryl.... what would that prop be worth?? As a guide what should I be paying for a used prop?

[Darryl]

Mate i bought a 19 inch pitch prop secondhand From yatala outboard wreckers for 250.

The one i have here may get you out of trouble if you need a replacement while your looking for one. It has a few nics out of her,had them when i bought the boat and i never worried about repairing them. Sing out if it's of any use to you.

[Adamy]

Tah mate.... if cant find one before the next trip - I'll sing out maybe come n pick it up from the island - i'm there quite regularly got a house in laurel street.

Thanks,

Adam

p.s how does the 19pitch affect the performance - do you notice the difference? why a 19 instead of a 17? sorry for the questions - I'm new to all this!

[Darryl]

Yeah no worries Adam, come and grab it when you want it. The reason i went to a 19 inch prop was that my boat came out with the 80 blueband on her, She's a 18.7 caribbean half cab and built well, real heavy and that made the 80 struggle a bit to shoot me out of the hole(get on the plane). Spoke to a prop mob and they told me to go to a 19 inch pitch prop to get me on the plane quicker, i needed this especially for bar crossings.

Anyways in saying that in the end i just threw a 175 on the back of it. Now it's the fastest family half cab in the bay. ;D

Laruel street hey, yeah mate i know it well, there seems to be a few members of AF that have houses over here. Im down in Yacht street with the yuppies, im the only unshaven rogue one in the area, the new Gold Coasty breed of Islanders love me ::) ;D

Sing out next time your over or if ya need the prop mate.

Darryl.

[finga64]

Are they the same props as 90hp 6 cylinder tower of power Mercs??
If so I have a 17", a couple of 19" and a 21" (somewhere under the house #:-[) you can try to see which suits better.
Cheers Scott

[Adamy]

Hey Scott.. have no idea what power mercs are... but I may take you up on that offer - happy to pay whatever they are worth - if I can find one that fits. (cept i dont have the money for a new one - hence 2nd hand).

Thanks!! :D

[Darryl]

You could probably find ELVIS in Finga's workshop if ya looked hard enough.

Sorry Scott, had to be said mate. ;D ;D

[Adamy]

;D ;D must be related to me :P

[finga64]

You could probably find ELVIS in Finga's workshop if ya looked hard enough.

Sorry Scott, had to be said mate. ;D ;D

Yeah, yeah. Forget Elvis, look for Santa instead. He has a bag of presents and I haven't seen him in years :)
The cook's always up me to clean the place out until something brokes down and I walk downstairs and get the parts to fix it #;)
If you think this workshop is full of cr-p, you should see my other one out at Warwick.

Adamy, the tower of power refers to the Merc that were an inline 6 cylinder. Not many around now but gees they were torquey in their time.
Were you happy with the 17" prop?? If so it'll be worth trying to get Darryl's old prop of him and getting it repaired and reset/cupped at the same time.
The offer of the props is to get the right pitch without the expense of getting 3 props like I did if you weren't happy with the performance of the 17".

Cheers Scott

[Darryl]

Dunno Scott, you could probably pass for Santa mate, i mean every time i go to your place i recieve gifts. ;D ;D

[Argle]

I also have a 17" pitch of a 150hp blue band merc, worked a treat for out of the hole performance, but fuel consumption was :o :o :o :o :o
Yours if you want it.....seems no-one wants em anymore ;D ;D ;D ;D

Cheers and Beers
Scott

[Adamy]

Geez guys Thanks!!! ;D appreciate your advice and also overwhelming generosity - I have a broken one - but Darryls looks like its in much better shape than mine - thats what I get for trying to take the relos on the doughnut-ing (or whatever you call towing that tyre tube thingy) around thompsons beach on a falling tide... ripped the poop outa the prop... :-/ anyway keen to try one of the 17's... does it make any difference that yours was off a 150 Scott? - with mine being a 80? is that prop therefore bigger than mine? Oh yeh Darryl... is your thick enough to weld? - or too thin... mines way too thin to fix.

I'll have to grab 1 by about Thurs as want to go for a fish on Saturday.... Thanks again!

[Argle]

Hmm dunno weather the shaft size is the same or not between the 80 and 150 to be honest :-/ Maybe one of the more switched on type guys out there can tell.

Cheers and Beers
Scott