2008 - 282 Sailfish prop pitch / bow steer

H

HarborHound

Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2018
Messages
14
Reaction score
1
Points
3
I have a 2008 282 Sailfish and am wondering if I should change up my props. I have the 3.3 liter F250's, equipped with Saltwater Series II , 15 1/4 diameter 19 Pitch.

I cruise at 4300 - 4500 rpm, with the engines trimmed up about halfway (in flat conditions). Or 1 block under halfway.

I know the boat is bow heavy, but I seem to have a hard time keeping the bow out of the water without the props starting to lose bite. Which results in quite a bit of bow steer in 2-3' slop, especially in a beam sea. I'm sure some of this is to be expected, but I'm curious if anyone has had better performance with a lower pitch prop, or other setup.

Thank you.
 
When I had F225 3.3 engines on my SF it had the same props as you 15 1/4 x 19 ansd I would get 5000RPMs. When I put new 4.2 L f250 on it we stayed with 15/1/4 x 19 bc Yamaha had a back order on props. We were only getting around 5000 RPMs. Eventually change props to 15 1/2 x 17 and we popped up to 5800 RPMs. All around we got better performance with 15/1/2 x17.
 
Legend said:
When I had F225 3.3 engines on my SF it had the same props as you 15 1/4 x 19 ansd I would get 5000RPMs. When I put new 4.2 L f250 on it we stayed with 15/1/4 x 19 bc Yamaha had a back order on props. We were only getting around 5000 RPMs. Eventually change props to 15 1/2 x 17 and we popped up to 5800 RPMs. All around we got better performance with 15/1/2 x17.Than
Click to expand...

Thanks Legend - I was seeing a few threads on here and THT that guys were running 17 pitch on the Sailfish. Oddly, I am still getting up to 6000RPM at WOT with 19 pitch. The problem is that the bow stays very low at cruise speed.
 
Not the same hull (i have a 265 express) but the mercury mirage plus props made a huge improvement over the saltwater series props. I have 3.3 225s so the 19s were to much pitch for me i was able to get 5600rpm i had to go to 17s.. to get 6000rpm 19s should be good with 250s I would think. I believe if you do some research you will find that most people like the Mercury props over the sws props. for the lift among other things.
 
DennisG01 said:
Have you physically verified that the trim tabs are fully retracted and operate normally?
Click to expand...
Yes they do, thanks. Its not really a problem unless I'm in wind over current situation, or sometimes a following sea. The boat runs great in a head sea. It may just be the way it is since the bow is heavy.
 
PukeNreel said:
Not the same hull (i have a 265 express) but the mercury mirage plus props made a huge improvement over the saltwater series props. I have 3.3 225s so the 19s were to much pitch for me i was able to get 5600rpm i had to go to 17s.. to get 6000rpm 19s should be good with 250s I would think. I believe if you do some research you will find that most people like the Mercury props over the sws props. for the lift among other things.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I will check them out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.