5 Blade Prop on Supra??

Trashed my prop today. Thinking about replacing with the 5 blade prop. Anyone tried it out on a Supra. I currently have, well had, an Acme 14.25 X 14.50 (not sure of the model) and don't, we'll didn't, have any complaints about plane time or pulls, but was wondering if anything was a better option. We run around 2500-3000 lbs of ballast at times.

How trashed is it? Ship it to ACME....they do a great job on repairs and the $ is reasonable.

I hear the 5 blade is sweet!

check out wakeprops.com

ive gone far to long without a backup prop. im gonna be buying one of these 5 blade OJs very soon and upgrading to my numero uno

Pretty trashed!!

Originally Posted by Bumpass1

Pretty trashed!!

Oh baby! May cost a bit more because they will need to add some material, but i don't think that it is beyond repair....but don't take my word for it. Shoot them an email and see! Even if you get the 5 blade, Never hurts to have a back up! no point in having a smashed $500 prop just hang in around when you can have it fixed for like ~$150

Thats what I was thinking too. If you look close where the strut attaches to the hull you will see a crack around the base. The insurance company has already been called. Waiting on the adjuster to get in contact with us. If it is replaced I think I would go witht he 5 blade deal. Like I said, I don't have any issues witht he preformance of the prop that is on the boat, but if there is something better now is the time to replace it.

Originally Posted by Bumpass1

Thats what I was thinking too. If you look close where the strut attaches to the hull you will see a crack around the base. The insurance company has already been called. Waiting on the adjuster to get in contact with us. If it is replaced I think I would go witht he 5 blade deal. Like I said, I don't have any issues witht he preformance of the prop that is on the boat, but if there is something better now is the time to replace it.

Oh man. If you cracked your strut you definitely need to make sure your shaft is true...otherwise you will have some fatigue failures and your 5 blade, along with the end of your shaft, will fall off.....no joke, someone posted a thread with that happening the other day, ill see if I can dig it up. Fatigue is a naughty thing....

I think I saw it. That is part of the reason I filed an insurance claim. I just hope everything is fixed before August when I go on vaction.

I bought a new prop (bigger and better obviously) and OJ came out with the 5 blade a month after and I thought I just wasted a bunch of money as I run 3k lbs in my old style 210 nautique. Found out from a few people in the industry that the 5 blade is mainly key for just the x stars (pickle fork era).

Take it for what it is, thats just what I was told by a very reputable source
Aka I would've been dumb to get a 5 blade

I have a Supra 242 now fitted with the OJ 5 blade. Huge improvements in several areas with the only negative being a loss of 3mph top speed. Time to plane half that of the stock prop, hole shot now has instant bite. Noise in cabin about half that of the 4 blade. We used Diacom engine test rig to monitor and record engine data during prop tests with the stock 4 blade and the OJ 5 throughout all loading conditions and ride speeds. What we saw in the recorded data is that the 4 blade had more slip, initially and even at tow speeds and would actually rev above the final rpm and then back off as the boat reached set speed. The 5 blade does none of this and seems hooked up from idle to full throttle. 5 blade rpms were recorded as lower than those of the 4 blade which is why the fuel economy is better with the 5 blade. I burn less gas cruising, at wakeboard speeds, or surfing than my buddy does with his Moomba Outback V.

Jamie,
Did you dod that up Wakeboard Alley? I know a few rocks up that way!!! That stinks!

Matt,
Yep. Just south of the broken shallow marker on the left. Sitting in 6' of water, went to pull up a rider and wham. End of my day.

Originally Posted by Bumpass1

Matt,
Yep. Just south of the broken shallow marker on the left. Sitting in 6' of water, went to pull up a rider and wham. End of my day.

Sorry about your prop and other damage but hats off to you guys that have to ride in shallow water. That would kill my nerves as I rarely ride in less than 30 feet of water.

We normally ride in 12-20 feet. My rider crashed around a corner and I had to take evasive action to protect him from on coming boats around the corner. Once I was sure that he was safe we had drifted into 6' depth. Went to pull him back up and WHAM. The sound a boat owner ever wants to hear. I know I will taking up a collection to place a marker there so no one else has the same problem.

I just completed performance testing 4 and 5 blade props on my 2008 X2 with the RPT-1 motor. I had full factory ballast, full Fly High bags, me (240), and 200 lbs of weights from my weight set for trim. I don't know how to post the chart here, but unless you are running a lot more weight than my test (about 2,250 lbs ballast), you won't see a positive difference in a 5-blade. Both brands were slower out of the hole and did not feel right. There is not enough weight to create the drag that 5-blade designs will overcome.

The best performance was with a 15" diameter prop. It swings close to the hull, but is great out of the hole and is over 38 mph on the top end. It lowered surf rpm about 200 and the wake shape is very good.

So, go as big in diameter as you can, stay 4-blade unless over 4,000 lbs ballast, and save the cash.

For the boat designers - if they would re-tool for an 18" prop, with 2:1 gear reduction, the boat performance would be fantastic. Prior testing with a 2:1 boat, swinging a large prop with a 20" pitch, performed like a freight train for speed holding, got up to speed in just over 100 feet, and still hit over 45 mph. The reduction in drag and cavitation made a huge difference. The downside is the running gear is deeper in the water. But, being deeper in the water gives better performance - along with spinning slower (just like a commercial tugboat).

If you want the chart, e-mail me.

with all this talk of changing up the props, What is the min. for clearance for the prop to hull. i know that i hear of some people getting some blistering on the hull, is there a safe number to stay under. i would hate to buy a new prop and find that it is too close. any advice

Right now, I am at 5/8" and have not seen negative effects, so far. Most of the time, over 3/4" and you are OK. Less than 1/2" and you will see some erosion fairly quickly. Since I surf most of the time, I don't see the heating of the water that a barefooter would.

Acme and OJ measure diameters a bit differently. Your particular boat will also vary from other models. A test fit is the only way to be precise, since it appears that 1/8" can make a difference.

Just looking at picking up a spare prop off a buddy. Stock on my boat is an OJ 13x17.5. Was looking at the acme 13.5x17.5. I will have to measure my prop to hull clearance tomorrow.

rain all day, no measurement, any thoughts on how close the prop can be

Ordered my 5 blade, hope it gets here soon!

Called Acme today and was told by them that the 5 blade props really don't show much benefit until you are putting 4000+lbs in the boat. They also said that the wake for surfing is not as crisp. I don't really surf much because the surf wake behind my boat sucks, but thought I would pass along the info. They said that the 1235 would be the best prop for my application. Pretty much the same dimensions as the scrap medal that is in the picture I posted.