I have a stock 3 blade alluminum prop on my 115hp Fourstroke Mercury. Boat is a Tracker V-175 Combo. I’ve been thinking of getting a 4 blade prop and the spitfire caught my eye and seems reasonably priced.
Anyone have any experience with this prop? Good, bad, etc…
Love my spitfire. I have the 17p on a 125 opti, I had a 19p black max 3 blade. Hole shot is way better, handling is better, and I get about the same top end, within .1-.2 mph. My buddy running a 90 4 stroke has the 19p, and it works perfect for him, so that might be a good option for you too. The 19p over-revs on my 125 opti, but the opti can only go up to 5750, and your 4 stroke should be good for 6000.
Just a question because I am confused by this. You went from a 3 blade 19P to a 17p 4 blade. I understand that the hole shot is better, but what I don’t get is the 19p over revs your motor, but the 17p is fine. Is the diameter of the 4 blade much larger so there is less slip and therefore doesn’t over rev vs the 19p?
Love my spitfire. I have the 17p on a 125 opti, I had a 19p black max 3 blade. Hole shot is way better, handling is better, and I get about the same top end, within .1-.2 mph. My buddy running a 90 4 stroke has the 19p, and it works perfect for him, so that might be a good option for you too. The 19p over-revs on my 125 opti, but the opti can only go up to 5750, and your 4 stroke should be good for 6000.
The 19p is a 12.5″ diameter, which is smaller than the 17. I think that’s the biggest factor. So, dropping pitch but having that 4th blade kind of balanced out. The 19 black max had me blowing out around corners easily, so it was right at the rev limit as well.
Honestly, an 18p would be perfect for me, but nobody makes it in aluminum, and the stainless props I’ve tried haven’t performed much better than the spitfire, so it just wasn’t worth the investment for me.
Okay that makes sense. 12.5″ seems really small. I don’t know how much diameter comes into play in the scheme of things.
Well I ended up getting the Spitfire 4-blade prop in 17×13. I was able to get out last week finally and I was happy with the results. Much better hole shot and only lost 1.5mph top end speed. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking at a 4-blade prop that doesn’t want to drop a lot of money on a stainless steel.
How were your RPMs?
The other thing I noticed since putting mine on is better handling. I feel like I have much more control over the boat at full speed, and it doesn’t blow out around corners like my 3 blade did. I actually didn’t lose any top end, but it was because I was able to trim up more due to the better grip of this prop, and get some extra rpms out of it.
Love my spitfire. I have the 17p on a 125 opti, I had a 19p black max 3 blade. Hole shot is way better, handling is better, and I get about the same top end, within .1-.2 mph. My buddy running a 90 4 stroke has the 19p, and it works perfect for him, so that might be a good option for you too. The 19p over-revs on my 125 opti, but the opti can only go up to 5750, and your 4 stroke should be good for 6000.
Are you saying the 19 pitch spitfire over-revs but the 17 doesn’t?
I know one of the selling points of the spitfire was that you should be able to use the same pitch as your black max.
It does, because the 19 is a smaller diameter than the 17. The 17 is a 13″ diameter and the 19 is a 12.5″ diameter. I think this was done to get RPMs for the 75-90hp class motors.
It sucks because I would love to get most of my rpms out of a 19, because I would pick up speed. An 18 would be perfect, but that’s not an actual prop they sell in the spitfire.
It does, because the 19 is a smaller diameter than the 17. The 17 is a 13″ diameter and the 19 is a 12.5″ diameter. I think this was done to get RPMs for the 75-90hp class motors.
It sucks because I would love to get most of my rpms out of a 19, because I would pick up speed. An 18 would be perfect, but that’s not an actual prop they sell in the spitfire.
That’s still bizarre to me. The 19 pitch would reduce RPM by roughly 400 and the 1/2 decrease in diameter should only gain you 200 RPM at most which should result in the 19 running at least 200 RPM less than the 17.
Im gonna call mercury and see what they have to say. I was looking at a spitfire x7 stainless prop in 19 pitch and refuse to go 17 My max RPM is 5500. My hope with the stainless spitfire was to gain some top end
I have the 17p spitfire and it was night and day from the 19p black max (got the 17 because it was what a friend had and wanted to get rid of). Makes that pro sport just about jump out of the water as the hole shot was such an improvement. I’ve got a 90 hp merc. 4stroke, sounds like maybe the 19 spitfire would fit me better though.
No loss of speed with the 17 from the 3 blade 19, but still not getting much past 5200-5300 rpms WOT, picked up a used 3 blade 17 to see if I could pick up any rpm, but not really. Guy I bought it from had a 19p spitfire too and didn’t buy that one thinking it would be worse, dang now I wish I’d just bought it too.
How were your RPMs?
Sorry for the late reply WW but I haven’t been out on the water for a couple of months until this past weekend. I was getting about 5400-5500 RPMs on WOT.
It sucks that it can be difficult to find the perfect spitfire to get max RPMs, but better holeshot and handling with only losing 1.5 mph is pretty good. I also found that I can trim up farther with the spitfire over the black max. Might be worth a try. I also noticed I can trim the 19 up higher than the 17, which is probably part of why it blows out on me. All in all, it sounds like you got the best prop for the money, without making the jump to stainless. Glad you’re happy with the results.
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