Ha anyne repropped a Tracker 175?

[Brudd]

Is repropped even a word? . If got a Tracker Pro Team 175 with a 60 EFI 4-stroke and the standard 14p aluminum prop. I'm considering installing a new prop with a higher pitch to see if I can gain some to speed. I'm not worried about losing hole shot much because it comes up well now. A little less hole shot for more top speed is ok.

Considering how many of these boats have been sold I'm surprised I don't see more info about his online. Has anyone here done it? I'm not sure if a 15p AL is the best option or if I ponied up for stainless would I be able to run a 16 p. Or would a 15p SS be a substantial improvement.

If anyone has had any experience with his I'd like to hear your results.

[bassboogieman]

With a 60 HP outboard a "substantial improvement" isn't in the cards. Tracker is notorious for under powering their boats - the basic package keeps the price down but it's in no way geared to get the maximum performance from the hull. With the 60 HP you may actually loose a little speed because that motor may not be able to turn a larger pitched prop at the same RPM, that will put more load on the motor, especially with another angler and gear in the boat. If "performance" was a consideration, I would have at least a 90 HP on the back and that would be the only solution to get a "substantial improvement". If the 60 HP could turn a 15P prop efficiently it would probably been included as Mercury usually includes the prop that allows their motors to ooperate most efficiently and get on plane in a reasonalbe amount of time. Assuming the motor can properly turn a 15P you'd likely get 1 possibly 2 MPH imporvement - worth the expense?

[Brudd]

I guess that's about what I expected. Considering, I'd like to have a spare prop anyway and the current one has a bit of wear I think it's worth what an AL prop would cost.

[skeeter1804]

You would get more benefits by going to a stainless steel prop. Increasing noticable top speed on that setup isn't going to happen.

[bassboogieman]

S/S does not flex like alum as a prop material. IMO the benifit vs expense may not be worth the upgrade. The benifit of s/s is most appreciable on outboards of 90 HP and above, but you can certainly install one on the smaller motors. The negative of a s/s on a small outboard would be a more likelyhood of damage to the lower unit should you hit something, although damage to the lower unit can also happen with an alum blade. Alum will bend or shear a blade much easier than s/s and the smaller outboards don't have as beefy components in the lower unit like the bigger motors. The other issue would be the cost of repair to a damaged s/s prop will probably equal (possibly exceed) the cost of a new alum prop (should you hit something).

[Brudd]

I'm looking at the Mercury Trophy Sport SS prop. Mercury recommends it for my application in a 15p. I may not notice much if any top end gains but some have claimed that on similar rigs and also noted better overall performance with less cavitation.

[flfireman]

I went to a 13 1/2 -22P on my Pro Team 190 w/ 90 HP(original Alum was 13-19P). Gained 6 MPH, better hole shot and better response. However after talking to some old time boat guys they noticed when I was running at WOT I was plowing water. Check the height of your engine, mine was installed on the lowest setting and when I trimmed up the motor my RPM's would be good, but my speed dropped. Trimmed down to 5400 RPM and my speed increased. Moved the entire motor up 2 holes and appears to have solved most of this. Taking it out in the morning, hopefully have some calm, less windy conditions to see if this fixed everything. Might be something to look at on yours.

[Brudd]

Interesting. I doubt I am plowing water though. When I trim up I can tell by the spray of the hull I'm running on the back half of the hull, if not a bit farther back.

What are the effects of running the motor higher, assuming of course it is currently to low?

Which SS prop did you put on your 90?

[flfireman]

See if I can explain better. As I trimmed up motor, the RPM's would increase(5700-5800), but my speed dropped. As I lowered the motor RPM's would go down to 5400 and speed increased. With motor trimmed up, it was actually pointing the prop downwards towards the water vs straight out the back. My motor was pushing the back of my boat downwards instead of pushing it forwards, thus the loss in speed. By raising the motor on it's mounting holes, the motor is/should be level when trimmed up, thus causing more forward propulsion instead of downward propulsion. Does this explain it better?

[lilmule]

Actually its called prop slip,and or slip factor when using a prop calculator,its more for alum boats than fiberglass and for different hull shapes.Going from an alum to a ss prop will or may get some speed gain of say 1 mph or 2 thats about it,may run better at neutral trim then as bites tad better.The rest is built in 60 hp and hull.To which they all have their pros and cons.