Tiger Cat Propellor Selection

[BobGreen]

My 1997 Tigercat is ready for some new propellors. She appears to have the original painted Yamaha props when new. She is powered by Yamaha Salt Water Series 150 carburated engines turning arount 5100 rpm at wot. Seems a bit low. Probably turn a little higher with more trim but we seldom open her up. They are 13 3/4 x 17. What are other Tigercat owners using? BTW, absolutely love the boat.

 

[teaklejr]

If I can remember to look in the morning I will see what ours are although we hade 200 HPDI engines. I think they might be a little big since we only get 5k rpms but I never run that except for a few times a year just to open her up. We also love our 1997 TIGERCAT next year will be 13 years and still walk away from dock and peek back and say “ man I love that boat” Keep thinking about getting a bigger Grady but just have never been able to pull the trigger.

 

[DennisG01]

My 1997 Tigercat is ready for some new propellors. She appears to have the original painted Yamaha props when new. She is powered by Yamaha Salt Water Series 150 carburated engines turning arount 5100 rpm at wot. Seems a bit low. Probably turn a little higher with more trim but we seldom open her up. They are 13 3/4 x 17. What are other Tigercat owners using? BTW, absolutely love the boat.

I don't own a Tigercat, but for the most part, propping a boat is propping a boat is propping a boat. The first thing you need to do is get data. You NEED to go full out on a relatively calm day and trim it out best you can. That will give you the true Max RPM. Do this with your normal load. You can't get reliable information/suggestions without doing that.

What is the Max RPM range for your engines? Need to know that, too.

 

[BobGreen]

Agreed. We are going take her out this weekend, burn the rest of the ethanol gas out of her, put in 100 gallons of ethanol free and get some true base numbers to see what we really have.

 

[BobGreen]

Agreed. We are going take her out this weekend, burn the rest of the ethanol gas out of her, put in 100 gallons of ethanol free and get some true base numbers to see what we really have.

So we did a little testing and this is what we found.
2 people, 130 gallons of fuel and two runs, up and back, on the river.
5200 RPMs , full trim WOT.
Thinking I'll drop down to 15in. pitch while adding 1/4in. to the diameter.
WOT range is 4500 - 5500.

 

[DennisG01]

Sounds like a plan. Once you have a bigger load in the boat, it will be beneficial that you propped it to be near the top end of the range with a light to medium load. Manufacturer's always test boats/engines with very light loads and prop them based on that. But I've always thought it's better to prop it with a relatively "average" load. For those times when you're running really light, you can always control RPM's with your right hand.

 

[Islander268GW]

I just upgraded the props on my Islander 268 (twin evinrude 150s). I went with Solas Rubex HR4 15" 4 blade props based upon the prop fitter they have on their website. The prior props were 3 blade 17" pitch and the difference is incredible. The 15" pitch has me in the correct RPM range and has much more "bite" and stability.