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Hello group, new Monterey owner and new to boats with outdrives. I know there has been a lot of discussion on props, what size is right for me, what happens if I go up or down in pitch, how can I get a better hole shot etc. But I have not seen my question posted anywhere so I am going to throw it out there...

 

I recently took my front F5 prop in to get serviced/tuned for blemish repairs. while speaking with the technician, I told him that my hole shot was terrible once I got the boat out on the water with my family, full tank of gas, gear and full ice chests. he had a clean F3 Front prop in his shop and told me to take it, try it out while he worked on my F5 Front prop. He told me that I should see a much better whole shot and increased RPMs.

 

My question is this - is there anything I need to be concerned with by running an F3 front prop, and and F5 rear prop? Can you mix the F series props without any issues or potential damage on the outdrive? This may sound like a very stupid question to the group so I apologize in advance for my ignorance on the subject. However, I am about to install them and thought I would run it by the group before taking it out.

 

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide!

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I have never mixed the F series props. And, I would suggest that you do not either. You should change the complete set.

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Ok guys, I didn’t get any responses ( in time ) so I went ahead and tried it out this last weekend and wanted to share my results… I installed an F3 Front, with an F5 Rear, and was very pleased with the improved hole shot and acceleration up to top speed.. It really came alive at the hole shot with the F3 Front prop, jumping up to 3000 RPM quickly compared to the slow roll I had with the F5’s. I am going to post videos of both hole shots so you can see the difference in how fast the RPMs come up running the F3 Front props vs. running both F5 props. Both test were similar in boat fuel level, 6 passengers and gear. This is just video from my cell phone so it’s a bit shaky.

 

This was just a test, I am still interested in feedback from anybody with knowledge on whether mixing the prop sizes has any negative impact on the outdrive unit… I didn’t notice anything but better hole shot and quicker acceleration up to full speed with only a 1 MPH drop in top speed which is fine for me since I am trying to solve for pulling water skiers out of the water easier.

 

F5 Front / F5 Rear Acceleration Video

WOT Top Speed 45 MPH

WOT Max RPM 4000

Horrible Hole Shot and a struggle to pull up a skier

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/raj5hn274cbu2xa/F5%20Rear_F5%20Front.mov?dl=0

 

F3 Front / F5 Rear Acceleration Video

WOT Top Speed 44

WOT Max RPM 4400

Much improved Hole Shot and quicker acceleration to top speed – easier to pull up a skier

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kw927cexdn7szpq/F3%20front_F5%20rear.mov?dl=0

 

 

I am only reaching 4400 max RPM with the F3 /F5 combination. I am now a bit curious to see what would happen if I went to F3 rear with the F3 front prop. That would most likely put me up into my max RPM range ( 4600 to 5000 ) with more improvement on the hole shot hopefully without sacrificing the top end too much.

 

If I stumble across an F3 front prop, I will let y’all know…most likely where I will end up... F3 Front / F3 Rear props.

 

The boat;

2007 220 Explorer

21.6 feet

Dry Weight 4200 lbs

Volvo Penta DuoProp 5.7Gi

Max RPM Range 4600 – 5000

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Volvo Penta does NOT recommend mixing prop sets. It will cause damage to the outdrive over time.

What you need is a set of F4 props, that will be best for RPM, holeshot and life of your outdrive.

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Hi Randy

 

I worked in Volvo a long time ago, i can tell you that normally no one change the props why?

 

Simple answer, Are going to compete? do you have a race boat? do you have race engines? NO

 

So what you are doing is to have a top speed with some good rpm´s, but .... when you turn the boat will not do the same curves, will not have the good drag etc..., do you know what happens when you loose drag? on a pwc you make a spin, on a boat you can harme yourself and everyone on the boat.

 

That is why every boat is tested by the manufacture to have the best sets for the best engines that the boat can have.

 

Why your boat dont have 3 engines out boards with 250 hp each??? you can do that also, i encourage you to think a litle about what you are doing, and think why the manufacture didn´t use the F3/F3 or F3/F5, if your boat was tested by monterey with that set and they can garantee that is ok, you should do that if you don´t have monterey graphics with that set, that means your boat with that engine was never tested by them.

 

Remember that your boat have a design under water, when you take the engine to a top speed that is not tested on a tide turn on top speed it can colapse. (top speed, if you only have top rpm the engine will go away on a 2 or 3 years top )

 

But hey, this is just me, i never changed a single set in any boat i have, except on a pwc, there is where i play with diferent set of propellers, change the admission, change the plates etc... and try to have the best top speed, but not the best to turn, on a turn i need to take gas off or the pwc will not make the curve.

 

Rip5 is corect.

 

Hope you will not regret this

 

Best Regards

 

( Sory for my english im portuguese )

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