How do you adjust the prop on your boat?

Choosing the right prop is important and can save a lot of time, aggravation, and money. The easiest way to find a prop is to look at the one you already have, if you haven’t lost it or banged it up to bad. The prop itself will have two sets of numbers located on the outside of the main body, in-between the blades. One set of numbers will be the diameter and pitch (i.e. 11.75 x 17). You can simply find the second set of numbers by rotating the prop in your hand and looking in-between another set of blades to find the Serial Number for the prop. Most dealerships can then look up that prop by the serial number and let you know weather or not they have it in stock. These are the two best ways to find out what prop you have and what information you need to go get another one.

Here is how your propeller works, it converts the turning power of a marine engine at the shaft (the torque), to power that is used to move the boat in a forward direction, or thrust. Props literally suck water from the front of them, accelerate it, and discharge it out the back. It is very comparable to a pump which produces thrust to push the boat in a forward direction.

Choosing the right prop for your bass boat can be just a little bit tricky. You want the best performance out of your bass boat under tournament conditions or the conditions you typically boat in. The first thing you will need to do is consult your engine manual and see what is the suggested and max rpm for your motor. Once you have that, you can begin the tuning process.

Next you will need to load up your boat like you were in a tournament and run it wide open until you see what rpm your boat is running wide open and trimmed up for max speed. If your max rpm is 6000, and you are running 6000 – don’t do anything (except make sure you don’t go over the max rpm and cause damage to your engine). If your boat is running at 5000 rpm, than there is some room for tuning. Let’s say the pitch of your motor is 24. Drop it down, either by buying a new one, which can be expensive, or contacting a local propeller machine shop. Typically they may have one in stock, or can make the appropriate adjustments to yours (changing the cup angle/configuration). You will want to DROP the pitch down to a 23 pitch for better performance and max speed at the recommended rpm from your manufacturer. Be sure to let the propeller machinist know what you are doing. You may want to have the boat specs handy (make, model, weight, and length).

Keep your boat fully tournament rigged when you test it again, or the measurements will not be accurate. The best time to test your boat is in cooler weather conditions. In the middle of summer when the air is hot and the water is warm will adversely effect your performance, so test it when it is cool.

Hope this helps – LunkerUSA.com Team