Most boat hull designs perform well enough with an average aluminum propeller but a lot of hull designs work best with either a three or four blade boat prop with stern lifting or bow lifting capabilities made from aluminum or stainless steel.
For boats with an outboard motor or a sterndrive sometimes using a bow lifting boat prop tends to make the front of the boat bounce up and down, that is known as porpoising. You can put more gear in the bow area or have a passenger or two sit up in the front. That can get rid of the bouncing or you need a three bladed stern lifting propeller which is offered mostly in a stainless steel boat prop. Four bladed aluminum or stainless steel propellers reduce bouncing also because most of these are stern lifting props. Installing trim tabs will can control the porpoising they cost considerably more than propellers do.
For high speed bass boats you have to go with performance designed stainless steel props to achieve the highest speeds and the best takeoffs. If your bass boat bounces from side to side at high speeds that is called chine walking and that can be a scary ride and even dangerous. Usually three bladed boat propellers cause chine walking but using a four bladed propeller will greatly lessen that effect.
Inboard ski boats use three or four bladed props and have a fixed drive system with no trim adjustments that can be made so they are designed to perform the best for all operating conditions just the way they come from the manufacturer.
We have most types of boat propellers at great discounted prices that you can order online on DansDiscountProps.com or by phone by calling us at 1-800-573-5533.
Hi Dan
I hope you can help. I have a 1997 maxim 3000 scr with two 200 hp diesels on alpha one gen two legs they are geared at 1.81 for the original 4.3 petrol mercs. I believe I need to change both the gearing and props. I was informed correctly or not that I should fit 1.47 gear kits and this should have a plaining cruise of approx 32/35 knots I’m hoping to have a cruise rpm of 3100/3300 rpm and a wot of approx 4000 the boat weight is 11500 llbs. I have no idea of what props I need 4 blade 3 blade ? I have had the boat flat out on the original 1.81 drives with the original 14.5 19 P props but it was reving very high and did not quite make it onto the plain. Any ideas