Upgrade Prop

[Cerneyj]

Has anyone upgraded their prop? Nothing wrong with it, just trying to get on plane faster. If you’ve done this, wondering if it’s made a noticeable difference and what you went with. Thanks!

[MTRBTR]

It will make a difference. You may sacrifice top end speed and have higher cruising rpms but it’s all it what you want. If you call ACME or Delta props, let them know what you want to do, the model of your current prop and what your rpms and speed is at WOT, they will make recommendations. If you tell us what engine you have and what your current prop model is many will chime in here as well. I’m guessing you have the 330 or the ZR6. Is your prop rotation right or left handed?

[Cerneyj]

That is what engine we have. The prop said 265Z 380 13.5x17.5 V R. The prop rotates counter clockwise. We rarely use top speed, mainly surfing and wake boarding. When the internal ballasts are full and we have quite a few people on there I’m wasting too much time on the straight aways. Depending on capacity I can play with the wake plate to speed it up, but once we hit a certain number of people in our boat it just doesn’t cut it. We’ve played around with extra fat sack weight to balance the bow, but just looking for more consistency. Our marina is finding some options for us, but the original marina we bought it from didn’t seem to keen on the idea. I have 100% trust in our local marina as they are also a Nautique dealer. Just wanted to hear some opinions on it and the best option. I’ve also heard it helps speed control coming out of turns. Is this true? Perfect pass tries to over compensate for that- which it may just need recalibrated? Haven’t messed with that yet. GPS upgrade is next year lol

[Evening Shade]

If you surf and wakeboard mostly you could benefit tremendously from a different prop. With a 17.5 pitch you have a ski boat prop. You would benefit from something with about a 14.25-14.5 pitch. You will lose some top speed though.

[Cerneyj]

Thanks! That’s interesting. Think maybe previous owners replaced it then? Can’t see why that would come stock

[MTRBTR]

They usually come stock with more top end. Usually I’d you are into surfing and boarding you have to re prop

[MTRBTR]

Your prop if it is a 380 would be right hand rotation. Even numbers are right hand and odd numbers are left with the ACME brand. An ACME 1234 or 1578 would be popular props for surfing on that boat.

[Cerneyj]

Thank you! You’re right. I was thinking of how it reverses not just looking at it lol

[philb]

ACME 1235 prop will be perfect. I had one on my 2009, 220 but it was LH rotation.
Check your rotation asI think 2006 was RH. I think the RH of the 1235 is 1236. Check it though

[Cerneyj]

It is right hand. Our marina and acme recommended the 1630. Is anything different from the 1235 other than surface area? And what would the reasoning be? Trying to learn the logistics of all this. We usually run with internal ballasts full plus fat sacks. With an upgraded prop do you have a recommended weight configuration? Less time I have to screw around dialing it in the better. Itching to get on the water. I know it’s super touchy. With the current 380 prop we were filling 400 in the bow, 400 in each back corner and a 750 in the ski locker that probably only gets filled about 400ish on top of internal.

[Evening Shade]

Measure the clearance between your current 13.5" diameter prop and the bottom of your hull to determine how big a prop you can go up to. If you have 1.5" clearance you can go up to a 14.25" diameter prop. If you have 1.75-2" clearance you can go up to 14.5". You want a minimum of 3/4" clearance between the bottom of the hull and the prop blades to avoid prop burn on the gel coat.

The 1578 and 1630 are 13.5" diameter and will work fine as both have a 14.25 pitch, but if you have the clearance I would go with the 14.5" diameter 1234. You have the ZR6 so it should have the power to turn the larger prop. If you had the EX343 or 330 engine I would say stick with a 13.5" prop.

Now between the 1578 (.105 cup) and the 1630 (.150 cup), I'm not sure which would be best because I not sure how the cup of the prop would affect performance. Maybe someone will explain.

[Evening Shade]

Your prop if it is a 380 would be right hand rotation. Even numbers are right hand and odd numbers are left with the ACME brand. An ACME 1234 or 1578 would be popular props for surfing on that boat.

Great info. I didn't know this about the even and odd numbers with Acme nomenclature. Thanks for sharing.

[Evening Shade]

They usually come stock with more top end. Usually I’d you are into surfing and boarding you have to re prop

Yes this is true. A lower pitched prop became an option from the factory somewhere around the early 2000s for most manufacturers.

[37tr3n5k]

Bumping this old thread. I am wondering how the smaller pitch prop turned out. I have the 644 and its terrible.

[Cerneyj]

Perfect. We went with the 1630. Huge improvement. We can load the ****
out of it with no issues.