Posted by on Oct 3, 2012 in Aluminum Propellers, Stainless Steel Boat Propellers | 1 comment

Most boaters have a three blade prop on their motor. They are the most common props for a few reasons. Their performance is all around good. Good take off from a standing start, hold well enough in turns and in most cases you get the fastest speed out of your boat. They cost less than the four and five blade props and they cost less to repair if you need that done. So they are a good choice to put on your boat.

Four blade boat propellers are made for boaters who do not care that much for top speed but want a little bit better take off to pull tubes, towables, wake boarders, knee boarders and skiers. They are also put on bigger and/or heavier boats that have trouble getting up on plane because they might be under powered or just plain heavy. They put a lot of fiberglass in the boats made back in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The fourth blade means there is less slippage through the water and with that they push the boat a little better. They are not normally as fast as a three blade prop. They cost more to buy and to fix.

Five blade boat props go a little further than four blade props do for better bite on the water although the four blade props do a good job for power. The five blade props are primarily made of stainless steel and that means they are not cheap either to buy or repair. They do have good top end speed and they are the best power prop you can put on your boat. If you can afford one.

I should mention that you can get a six blade prop but they are mostly made from a composite material and in our opinion they are not close enough to an aluminum or stainless steel prop in performance and durability to use as your main propeller. They can be used as a spare prop.