Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Prop sizing

New to the forum and trying to figure out a prop size for 20HP Yamaha on a 7 X 14 tripple tube pontoon. Looking for suggestions.

Rettey Pontoon

Thanks, Hayden

Hayden, what are you trying to accomplish with the Yamaha? More speed or a faster take off (more pulling power)? The factory prop can be adjusted down in number for more pull or up in number for more speed. example would be if it came with an 18 pitch prop, then going to a 17 would give more pulling power. Going up would give more speed but a slower take off, and one must be careful not to spin the prop @ high rpm when taking off from a dead stop.

Tracy

Hayden,
We had 2 24 foot pontoons used for family fun, but we wanted a little more speed than the typical pontoon ride. We had I think a 16 or 17 pitch on an old mercury tower of power 100hp strapped on the back. When we loaded the pontoon up with people the 16 or 17 was unable to rev up and the motor was lugging. We had used the prop that was matched to a smaller fiberglass boat and was pitched for speed (the prior application of the motor was for speed in a small 2 person boat) We moved down to a 13 pitch and we obtained the power to get the pontoon up and moving on plane and then once on plane the motor could finally get eventually to the more ideal high end rpms which slowly got us up to cruising speeds even with pontoon loaded.

Used prop shops that refurbish and rebuild often let you try out a few and take back what you didn't like making it pretty hassle free.

I can't stress enough that a stainless steel prop is worth its weight in gold. If there is few rocks where you are it is worth the money. They will let you run a few to get the one that works best.

The key is you want to hit the torque number out the hole then climb to the max HP number of the motor with what weight you will run 90% of the time in the boat.

The stainless props can give you both hole shot RPM for torque numbers then run up to max HP number. Lifting the motor so the top of the prop is level with the bottom of the boat helps nicely too.

You will not be able to pull the stainless prop out of the water at full throttle with your trim. The prop is so strong it will tie the boat down to the water. No more hard bounces or prop walk.

Cheers Don.