FYI, I'm in the middle of pulling my carpet. It looks bad and this was the first run without it and I was a little worried the livewell would fly open so I taped it down.
Prop Test: 32 Max 5 ST vs. 32 Bravo vs. 32 Promax vs. 32 P4 BCAllison XB21 Prosport Mercury Racing 300R and 1.75 gears running 13.5" of setback.
Temp was low 70's and 100% humidity.
The props were each run back to back in the same conditions, so its a fair test between the 4 props.
The test was run on a lake with no current and minimal wind. I actually ran into the wind to get some lift.
3 Tests
-5mph start first to finish line (1-mile)
-15mph start first to finish line (1-mile)
-Top speed (3 hit top speed in less than a mile from idle start. 1 needed a few more feet)
Props
32 Max 5 ST (Stock) 5 open PVS holes Thanks Tim Powell and Fastbass Marine
32 Bravo (Worked - 14.75" diameter, sharpened blades, 8 open PVS holes, and the standard workup from Josh) Thanks Josh at Steve's Custom Props
32 Promax (Stock) - 4 open PVS holes
32 P4 BC - (Worked)
5 mph to 1 mile
-The bravo was the clear winner and it felt that way from the drivers seat. I knew before looking at the data it would be close with the Promax, but the holeshot held the Promax back. The Promax had a lot of bow rise and just didn't get spooled up as quick. The Promax needed 2-4 more open PVS holes. Holeshot is everything in this test. It would take miles for the much faster P4 to chase the Bravo down. More than likely you would have to get off the gas for wake or a turn long before that (unless you drive like Tim Powell). The Max 5 got out the best. It had very little nose rise and pulled out level. After that it was dead. It really runs like a 34. The added diameter and extra blade pulled the RPM down I think. The only thing that saved it was the very low slip numbers. I'm a huge fan of the Max 5, but this one was just too big for the motor.
15 mph to 1 mile
-The Bravo and Promax are close, but the Promax just pulls too well in the mid's to have anyone stay with it. Even the slightly faster top speed of the Bravo would take a mile or two for it to close the gap. I like this comparison as it's more real word rally running when you pull up to someone and say hit it from a slow speed. You can see the rest of the pack is much closer now without the holeshot. The P4 will overtake the Promax in less than 1 mile based on its closing speed.
Top Speed
The P4 took this one and it probably would have taken it by more if I wanted to play with it. I ran it out of water pressure at the mile mark on the rolling start. Of the 3 it was the only prop I didn't max out. I have a manual plate and I didn't feel like messing with it. I know what it can do, so since this was really a different shootout (1 mile runs) I let it be. Plus, its honestly difficult to start from 5mph and bring a prop up into the low 100's quick. It takes some driving to get it to all happen in one seamless pass to show acceleration data. 5-95/96 is much more forgiving. This prop went 102 with a stock 300XS and 103 with a DBR 300XS. The only thing holding it back on the R is the limiter.
I also repeated the same tests with the batteries (140lbs) in the nose of the boat. It didn't go well on top. While the 5-70/80 times were awesome and much faster than above the top end was down 2-3mph. For that reason I didn't post results. I probably could get a little more out of the props in this configuration, but I would have to lower the plate. It seemed pointless to test more so I let it be.