drilling holes in props

[tinbanger]

Anyone heard of having holes drilled in a prop to increase holeshot while maintaining top end ?

Tinbanger

[ady]

Never heard of this. Drilling holes in the prop will increase cavitation, not normally a good idea.... If you need to increase hole shot try a different prop. Thinking of this myself for water toys, my 4s is not that quick to plane.

[bass ackwards]

If your problem is having the bow going up, try gettng some Smart Tabs sure helps with the hole shot and some other problems, and at around $200.00 cheaper than the new prop your are going to need after you drill the holes.

[Lunker Larry]

Try one of the plastic fins that bolt on to the cavitation plate. They are excellent for the hole shot and also improve stability in smaller boats (like not needing a brick in the front of a 12 footer)

[ady]

Try one of the plastic fins that bolt on to the cavitation plate. They are excellent for the hole shot and also improve stability in smaller boats (like not needing a brick in the front of a 12 footer)

I tried these on my old boat, they are the flat kind you lose top end on as the fins sit on the water on plane, also these kind dig in on the turn so you have to beware at high speed. They taught how to trim properly but I took them off. If you are going to try these, go for the ones that angle upwards at about 45 degrees.

[Graembo]

Google the "Mercury PVS system". Should answer your q's.

G

[mikemicropterus]

Yes I have heard of drilling holes in your prop to increase hole shot. In fact I still have a service bulletin on it as the process is called ventilating the prop. It will take to long to describe the process and the results call me and I will explain it I have also done it to a number of stainless props, in fact for the edification of the cavitation group(wrong term) my Raker prop comes stock with ventilation holes and there is no cavitation at 80 ask anyone whose flown with me

[tinbanger]

Well I chickened out and ordered a 17 prop . Curently running a 19 . dealer was pretty confident it will help.

Just for the record the 19 works perfectly , fast on plane , good top end.
The 17 should help out when playing with the 'toys'.

I'll let you know how things go.

[mikemicropterus]

So many times it is neccesary to change your final gearing to acheive your task. If getting out of the hole is the aim a 4 blade may work as well as going down in pitch but the way to tell if your prop is right is if it hits max rpm with the load you carry the majority of the time. My raker is great or topend but when the livewells are full it takes a few more seconds to come onto plane. So I loose a bit of hole shot inorder to keep my topend. Pulling a tube I would go down 1 size at least maybe 2 depending on the load. You made a good choice as now you have a spare prop and that is one thing everyone should have just in case.

[ady]

Well I chickened out and ordered a 17 prop . Curently running a 19 . dealer was pretty confident it will help.

Just for the record the 19 works perfectly , fast on plane , good top end.
The 17 should help out when playing with the 'toys'.

I'll let you know how things go.

Thinking of doing the same, a recent trip with a wake board everyone had to sit up front to keep the boat down, and the 4s is not great on the holeshot. Just wondering how much props are?? Merc 115 4s ?