Stainless Steel Prop Help 3X14X19

[Crappie Rage]

Last year I purchased a 2004 Alumacraft Tournament Pro 18 feet long with a 2004 Johnson 140HP 4 stroke. The boat has poor hole shot and takes forever for the nose to come down. These are my main concerns. I am not worried about speed or mileage.

I am not versed on which prop I need. Can someone advise on Pitch, 4 blade, 5 blade and whatever else I should need.

Thank you

[waterfowler10]

I'm not sure if Johnson has this but on the mercury HSOforum they have a program where you can enter your info and how you'd like your boat to perform. It worked good for me

[marine_man]

Stainless steel may help (especially if that's what your after, and not just better performance), but an aluminum prop should be able to get you out of the hole better than what you're describing.

Do you know what you're turning for RPM's at WOT, trimmed out? Also, what pitch prop are you running right now?

marine_man

[PerchJerker]

Lower pitch = more hole shot, higher rpms, less top-end speed. Higher pitch = slower hole shot, lower rpms, more top-end speed.

More blades (5 or 4 instead of 3) = better hole shot, less top-end speed, and probably more transom lift, and less bite in reverse. Fewer blades (like 3) = less hole shot, more top end speed, possibly a higher-riding bow, and much better bite and control in reverse.

Stainless is much stronger than aluminum, which allows prop builders to do more with the stainless. This gives you more of the characteristics that you want, and probably an all-around better performing prop. A lot more expensive too.

Lots of other factors like pitch, cup, diameter, rake, motor height, etc. all come into play, so the only way to really know the best prop for YOUR boat is to test them to see. But to get you started, call Alumacraft and tell them what boat and motor you have, and they can probably tell you the right prop to try first.

[Musky_Madness]

One other thing to add that can be overlooked is that aluminum is more forgiving so if you hit something you break the prop and not your nice engine. When you strike something with a stainless prop, you carry the impact through the motor potentially causing catastrophic damage. I run a stainless on a 150 Opti and love the added performance but am always keeping a watchful eye on the bottom and on my depthfinder when running.

[flyboy10]

I have a suzuki 140. (same as your johnson 140) I did a lot of research about props on this site and others and from what most people were saying the Suzuki 14 by 22 pitch was the best of both worlds. (hole shot and top end) Now keep in mind your Johnson 140 is only 128 HP and the Tourny Pro 18 footer is a heavy boat. If you step up to the stainless you should see a improvment.

Also make you your insurance covers lower end damage. The stainless will not forgive.

[tomfromblaine]

As long as the previous owner didn't mess with original set up you should be able to do everything pretty good. I hate to ask this but is your motor trimmed all the way down when you take off?

I got my stainless from Jay Soderbloom on this site, I just told him my model of boat and motor and he sent me a Turbo 3 blade that I've been extremely happy with, and a good price also. Like the others have said stainless is unforgiving.

Tom

[PerchJerker]

I'm not too familiar with props for your Johnsons and Suzukis, but Merc props have a hard plastic hub inside them. The idea is if you whack something with your prop the hub breaks free before any damage can happen to the gears. I've bumped into a few things with my stainless prop, nothing hard enough yet to break the hub or damage the gears, even though there's a bit of road rash on my prop.

[Crappie Rage]

Thanks Guys. Johnson does not have a site like Mercury. I emailed Alumacraft yesterday, they have not responded yet. I am the first owner of the boat and motor. I forgot to look at my prop yesterday to see what the pitch was. I tried all different trim levels trying to get on plane faster. How do I find that Jay guy on this site?

Also, I had a Pro V for 10 years. The skag was beat up but the stainless prop that boat had only had minor nicks in it. I would guess I was prettly lucky to never had hit anything dead on with that stainless.

[Crappie Rage]

Found Soderbloom.

[skyking]

I have the suzuki 140 as well on my 18' warrior. I have 3 different props: suzuki 3 blade alum 14x21, suzuki 3 blade ss 14x20, and a solas 4 blade alum 14x21. They all seem to give pretty much the same topend speed, but with the stainless prop I tend to get the rev limiter a lot easier. I decided to try the 4 blade prop and have left that one on my boat as it seemed to get me out of the hole better and maintained a better bite when out on rougher water like Mille Lacs.

[marine_man]

Jay should be able to get your squared away; but will likely want to know (and if I were you I'd want to know as well) what the RPM's are prop pitch are...

marine_man

[Northlander]

Ya I would try Jay Soderbloom. Jay really knows his props. Just do a search for Soderbloom.

[Crappie Rage]

OK the prop has these numbers on it. 3X14X19

Jay said there would not be any difference between 3 or 4 blade.

[spudhauler]

Last fall I purchased the exact same boat and motor combo you have with the 25" transom and long shaft motor. My boat is also a 2004 and it has the suzuki 14x22" ss prop. I used it 3 times last fall and the performance was pretty good in my opinion. However, my WOT rpms were only about 5600. My holeshot was decent and my WOT speed was 43. Max RPMS for this motor is 6200, so I am getting a 14x20 suzuki ss prop this spring and am expecting a little better overall performance out of my rig.

I have done quite a bit of research on this engine and boat combo and it seems to me the most recommended prop is the suzuki 14x20 ss prop. I am a little surprised you are having trouble planing with your 19 pitch aluminum.

If I read your post correctly, how did you find a 2004 new carryover model?

[delcecchi]

That motor is really a Suzuki. It has an unusual gear ratio. Check the Suzuki Outboard web site and see what, if anything, it has to say. Also look at any boat or motor tests to see what prop they are running on that motor.

[delcecchi]

One other thing. I know this is probably a silly question to ask, but are you trimming the motor all the way down when taking off? If I leave the motor trimmed out a little by mistake it makes a huge difference.

Also some folks put wedges to add a little negative trim to the motor when it is trimmed in. That sometimes helps. And they are cheap.

[Crappie Rage]

Spud,

Nelson Marine somehow got the boat and I think the motor from a boat dealer who went out of business. They only had one boat but the had half dozen motors.

[marine_man]

Ok... good work on getting the prop info. The other piece of information that you'll want to have is what your RPM's are at Wide Open Throttle. With those two pieces of information we should be able to give you some ideas.

That said though, I'm surprised to hear you're having holeshot problems with a 19 pitch prop... the more typical issue with suzuki's is too high of RPM's (and there for no speed / hitting rev limiter) since suzuki's run a tall lower unit gear ratio compared to other manufacturers, typically driving one to a higher pitch prop.

I presume you trim the motor all the way down before getting on plane, right?

marine_man

[Crappie Rage]

Yep always trim it down. Going to be a little bit before I can get that RPM number. I was hoping to have a new prop for when the ice goes out. I will get back on here when I have that number.

[norma]

I recently sold my 03 alumacraft trophy 180 with a 115hp 4stk Johnson. I ran a 21" pitch prop (aluminum). The 19" you are using is way to shallow of a pitch. Most outboards have 2.00:1 ratio, the 90-140 hp have 2.92:1 ratio. Rum a deeper pitch and holeshot should improve.

[delcecchi]

OK, next dumb suggestion. There isn't a lot of extra weight in the back, is there? How high is the motor mounted?

[Crappie Rage]

Del, No extra weight in fact only one battery. The steering wheel is kind of far back.

I questioned the motor height to the dealer but he said it was as low as it could go and is fine. I will take a couple pictures, but I don't know how to post them.

[delcecchi]

It was just a guess. You could try the wedges that allow negative trim. They shouldn't be very expensive.

[Crappie Rage]

I have pictures of how high the motor is mounted if someone would post them.