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26 TRS prop recommendations


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26 TRS, 300 HP Yamaha, hardtop, trolling motor, twin power poles, 4 batteries in the forward deck. Anyone running a similar set up. Looking for recommendations on best all around prop, not necessarily for best top end. Will also be doing a lot of cruising so a prop with good efficiency is a plus.Will use boat in variety of conditions from shallow water to near offshore. TIA for any replies.  

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Mercury  Bravo1 FS. My trs is much smaller so I could not guess as to pitch for your boat. The Bravo1 is a very good do it all 4 blade prop that will run as fast as some three blades. Three blade prop still mercury tempest plus. Both props would do you well. 
  What prop are you running now? How does it preform on your boat? 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just picked up my 2020 2600 HPS w/300 Yamaha and a half tower,  twin 10 ft Power Poles, trolling motor and 4 batteries under the helm station,  after first 2 hours of break-in I took it to WOT after some tweaking I hit 5900 RPM and 53 mph with best result with jackplate between 2 1/2 and 3,  motor trim at 4 bars. The boat had 75 gals of fuel, trolling motor and one other guy, live wells were empty, so I would say we were running a heavy load. The prop I used was Power Tech's new Brav4,  it was a 19 pitch, 4 blade. I know if I ran a light load 1/2 tank of fuel, no trolling motor and just me I would hit 55 mph easy. Hope this helps you, this is a faster prop than the OFX 4 blade. I'm also going to try my prop in a 20 pitch, it'll probably knock off around 200 rpms WOT to about 5700 rpms and increase speed to 54 or 55 mph and improve fuel economy.

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On 2/9/2020 at 10:37 AM, beachbuggy said:

26 TRS, 300 HP Yamaha, hardtop, trolling motor, twin power poles, 4 batteries in the forward deck. Anyone running a similar set up. Looking for recommendations on best all around prop, not necessarily for best top end. Will also be doing a lot of cruising so a prop with good efficiency is a plus.Will use boat in variety of conditions from shallow water to near offshore. TIA for any replies.  

I am currently running a OFX4 17P on my TRS; 300 Yamaha; no top; 1 Power Pole; 2 Batteries under helm seat.

Pros: great econ, which might work for you depending on how fast you like to cruise,  particularly in the lower rpm range (3200 rpm/ 26mph / 3.8mpg / 6.7gph one person, nearly full tank of fuel, full cooler; 4200 rpm /36MPH /3.1MPG /11.8 gph two people, 7/10ths fuel, full cooler).  Also great planing speed/time, which is useful in the keys. 

Cons: not enough top speed for my taste; not enough pitch (Approx 54 MPH /Approx 6250 RPM; didn't focus on fuel burn, one person, nearly full tank of fuel, full cooler).

I have also run a SWS 1 19P, and I personally don't like the way the boat performs with a 3 blade (I prefer the four blade because of the stern lift,  also IMO an overall smoother ride, a lot more grip, etc. )

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Thanks to all for your replies. I'm leaning towards starting with the 4 blade which I think will help to get the bow up especially since I'll be running with 4 group 31's in the forward deck along with the weight/drag of the hardtop. Miami2600TRS prop suggestion is showing pretty good efficiency numbers at a decent cruise speed which to me is more important than top end. This happens to be the setup Marcus recommended as a starting point. He said max RPM's would be around 5700 with the way I am set up, so after considering the way Miami2600 is set up this might explain the difference with his higher RPM upper limit he is seeing. 

Captaincowart, I'm guessing by now that you've put in a few more hours on the new Power Tech Bravo 4 with a 19 pitch. It appears that your top end RPM/speed numbers with  the OFX4 17P seem to correlate with the PT B4 19P that Miami 2600 is running considering the differences in your setups. How are your fuel numbers and what is your opinion on it's hole shot? 

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41 minutes ago, beachbuggy said:

Thanks to all for your replies. I'm leaning towards starting with the 4 blade which I think will help to get the bow up especially since I'll be running with 4 group 31's in the forward deck along with the weight/drag of the hardtop. Miami2600TRS prop suggestion is showing pretty good efficiency numbers at a decent cruise speed which to me is more important than top end. This happens to be the setup Marcus recommended as a starting point. He said max RPM's would be around 5700 with the way I am set up, so after considering the way Miami2600 is set up this might explain the difference with his higher RPM upper limit he is seeing. 

Captaincowart, I'm guessing by now that you've put in a few more hours on the new Power Tech Bravo 4 with a 19 pitch. It appears that your top end RPM/speed numbers with  the OFX4 17P seem to correlate with the PT B4 19P that Miami 2600 is running considering the differences in your setups. How are your fuel numbers and what is your opinion on it's hole shot? 

Hi Beachbuggy... just a quick note... in my experience the four blade will give you stern lift (and accordingly runs a bit "flatter")... if what you are looking for is more bow lift I would try out a three blade (feels more loose, like its running further back).

however, there are many factors that go into the running attitude including the design/style of the prop... the OFX4 by design, has more aggressive cupping than the Saltwater Series 1 I tested, so that may make a difference also.   Best thing you can do is take a few props with you one day and try them out (if you can get a couple of loaners) to see what you like best, and whats must appropriate for your needs and likes. Some dealers may loan you a couple props, with a deposit of course... 

good luck!

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2 hours ago, beachbuggy said:

Thanks to all for your replies. I'm leaning towards starting with the 4 blade which I think will help to get the bow up especially since I'll be running with 4 group 31's in the forward deck along with the weight/drag of the hardtop. Miami2600TRS prop suggestion is showing pretty good efficiency numbers at a decent cruise speed which to me is more important than top end. This happens to be the setup Marcus recommended as a starting point. He said max RPM's would be around 5700 with the way I am set up, so after considering the way Miami2600 is set up this might explain the difference with his higher RPM upper limit he is seeing. 

Captaincowart, I'm guessing by now that you've put in a few more hours on the new Power Tech Bravo 4 with a 19 pitch. It appears that your top end RPM/speed numbers with  the OFX4 17P seem to correlate with the PT B4 19P that Miami 2600 is running considering the differences in your setups. How are your fuel numbers and what is your opinion on it's hole shot? 

I haven't put anymore hours on it, my dealer ordered a 20 pitch and I don't want to scratch the 19 I have. Like Miami2600TRS said, try a couple of different props, if you're going Power Tech the Brav4 or OFX4 work for your boat. My cruise numbers with the 19 pitch were 4100 rpm at 35 mph and 3.1 mpg most of the time.

Keep in mind what HoneyB said about the Mercury Bravo 1 prop, the Power Tech Brav4 is a spinoff of that prop, it is a very impressive prop, fastest 4 blade I've tested.

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21 hours ago, Miami2600TRS said:

Hi Beachbuggy... just a quick note... in my experience the four blade will give you stern lift (and accordingly runs a bit "flatter")... if what you are looking for is more bow lift I would try out a three blade (feels more loose, like its running further back).

however, there are many factors that go into the running attitude including the design/style of the prop... the OFX4 by design, has more aggressive cupping than the Saltwater Series 1 I tested, so that may make a difference also.   Best thing you can do is take a few props with you one day and try them out (if you can get a couple of loaners) to see what you like best, and whats must appropriate for your needs and likes. Some dealers may loan you a couple props, with a deposit of course... 

good luck!

You are totally correct Miami, I had it bassackwards!!! lol. Thanks.

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Today I put the Powertech Brav4 20 pitch on the 2600 hps w/ half tower, two 10' power poles, no trolling motor, empty live wells and 75 gals of fuel. It was just me, motor trimmed to 4 bars and jackplate at 2 1/2.  At WOT I hit 5600 rpm and 55 mph, at 4000 rpm and 40 mph my fuel economy was 3.1 mpg and at 3700 rpm and 37 mph I was getting 3.3 mpg. At WOT with the motor trimmed all the way down I could only turn 5200 rpm, so I don't know if this is too much pitch. Any prop experts please feel free to comment. 

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I am far from an expert but I will share my thoughts. 
 
my understanding is that boat test for performance reports and such are done as light as possible . I am to understand that if you make max rpm lightly loaded that you are running  now efficiently in the mid range. In saying that if you had done your test on a 1/4 tank of fuel your rpm’s would have likely been at least 5800. Which I believe is in the recommended range. 

I would think that the prop running even in the midrange is a positive indicator that the prop might be a good fit.

How did the boat feel?  Did it ride high out of the water . Was it smooth did it bounce?

if you go back to three blades you may want to consider enertia eco. I see guys with big boats love the fuel burn numbers from that prop. 
 

i have a 19 pitch mercury enertia not the eco but if it is something you could get data off of I could probably let you run it. 

I think knowing how you think the boat felt with the prop you ran would be key to making the next selection for trial. 

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4 hours ago, HoneyB said:

I am far from an expert but I will share my thoughts. 
 
my understanding is that boat test for performance reports and such are done as light as possible . I am to understand that if you make max rpm lightly loaded that you are running  now efficiently in the mid range. In saying that if you had done your test on a 1/4 tank of fuel your rpm’s would have likely been at least 5800. Which I believe is in the recommended range. 

I would think that the prop running even in the midrange is a positive indicator that the prop might be a good fit.

How did the boat feel?  Did it ride high out of the water . Was it smooth did it bounce?

if you go back to three blades you may want to consider enertia eco. I see guys with big boats love the fuel burn numbers from that prop. 
 

i have a 19 pitch mercury enertia not the eco but if it is something you could get data off of I could probably let you run it. 

I think knowing how you think the boat felt with the prop you ran would be key to making the next selection for trial. 

Thanks for the response HoneyB, your thoughts are appreciated and make sense. I feel like both props could be the right choice. The 19 felt like a rocket, very responsive with no slippage, but with a heavy load of fuel and already at 5900 rpm, I thought the 20 pitch would be the way to go. I figured I would lose 200 rpm and was surprised when I lost 300 to 400, but did gain better top end speed and economy which I figured I would. I've decided to just run the 20 pitch for now and reevaluate things at the 20 hour service. I've run only PT OFX props on my 2200 TE and my two 2400 TRS and always felt like I wasn't getting max performance from them. This PT Brav4 is a different animal prop, but you would kind of figured it would be, being that it is designed like the Mercury Bravo which is a great prop.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I’m also in the same boat.. but it’s an hps. I have a Yamaha 13 1/2x21 3 blade and I run heavy most of the time. Hardly ever see 2.5mpg or over at cruise. Been looking into the pt brav4 but would almost rather go with the original mercury bravo 1fs but unsure on the pitch. Any advice is appreciated 

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1 hour ago, Bloch776 said:

I’m also in the same boat.. but it’s an hps. I have a Yamaha 13 1/2x21 3 blade and I run heavy most of the time. Hardly ever see 2.5mpg or over at cruise. Been looking into the pt brav4 but would almost rather go with the original mercury bravo 1fs but unsure on the pitch. Any advice is appreciated 

This whole thread is full of info and should answer your questions. I don't know why you feel like you would need to go to the original Mercury Bravo 1 when the PT Brav4 is getting the same results for less money and is a quality prop. As I mentioned above I have a 2020 2600 HPS w/a 300 yamaha, twin 10 ft Power Poles, 112 lb thrust Minn Kota, 4 group 27 batteries and a 1/2 tower. My PT Brav4 20 pitch is spot on 5600 rpm at 55 mph and 3900 rpm at 38 mph with a fuel burn of 3.1 mpg and this is with a heavy load. If I ran the boat like they performance test them, no trolling motor and less than 1/2 tank of fuel, I would hit 5700 rpm and 56 mph or maybe even better. It doesn't get any better than this, don't over think it. If you don't have a tower your numbers will be even better.

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2 hours ago, captaincowart said:

This whole thread is full of info and should answer your questions. I don't know why you feel like you would need to go to the original Mercury Bravo 1 when the PT Brav4 is getting the same results for less money and is a quality prop. As I mentioned above I have a 2020 2600 HPS w/a 300 yamaha, twin 10 ft Power Poles, 112 lb thrust Minn Kota, 4 group 27 batteries and a 1/2 tower. My PT Brav4 20 pitch is spot on 5600 rpm at 55 mph and 3900 rpm at 38 mph with a fuel burn of 3.1 mpg and this is with a heavy load. If I ran the boat like they performance test them, no trolling motor and less than 1/2 tank of fuel, I would hit 5700 rpm and 56 mph or maybe even better. It doesn't get any better than this, don't over think it. If you don't have a tower your numbers will be even better.

 I can understand why one would pony up for mercury props. For the same reason you could have bought a sea pro but you wanted a pathfinder. For the same reason you could have bought a zebco but opted for (inset favorite reel here). I know folks love to save a buck on the PT props but I thinks your being a bit condescending to others by berating there choice. 
 

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4 hours ago, Bloch776 said:

I’m also in the same boat.. but it’s an hps. I have a Yamaha 13 1/2x21 3 blade and I run heavy most of the time. Hardly ever see 2.5mpg or over at cruise. Been looking into the pt brav4 but would almost rather go with the original mercury bravo 1fs but unsure on the pitch. Any advice is appreciated 

The recommendation for the merc Bravo 1fs is to go up one inch pitch size from nicer 3 blade props which as tempest plus. You did not mention if your wot rpm were at max. If you are making good rpm’s I would guess start with the 22 bravo 1fs.
 

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18 hours ago, captaincowart said:

This whole thread is full of info and should answer your questions. I don't know why you feel like you would need to go to the original Mercury Bravo 1 when the PT Brav4 is getting the same results for less money and is a quality prop. As I mentioned above I have a 2020 2600 HPS w/a 300 yamaha, twin 10 ft Power Poles, 112 lb thrust Minn Kota, 4 group 27 batteries and a 1/2 tower. My PT Brav4 20 pitch is spot on 5600 rpm at 55 mph and 3900 rpm at 38 mph with a fuel burn of 3.1 mpg and this is with a heavy load. If I ran the boat like they performance test them, no trolling motor and less than 1/2 tank of fuel, I would hit 5700 rpm and 56 mph or maybe even better. It doesn't get any better than this, don't over think it. If you don't have a tower your numbers will be even better.

I completely agree with you and think you’ve got it figured out. I’ve got a hard top. I just got off the phone with power tech and the tech was recommending an ofx 4 in a 17 or 18 pitch and I kept asking about the brav4 and he wouldn’t really tell me much. I think I may just pull the trigger off your numbers and get a brav4 . I’d like to go with a 19 but I do run pretty heavy when we go offshore so maybe the 20 is better for economy judging off your numbers. Do you still have the 19 if so would you want to sell it?

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1 hour ago, Bloch776 said:

I completely agree with you and think you’ve got it figured out. I’ve got a hard top. I just got off the phone with power tech and the tech was recommending an ofx 4 in a 17 or 18 pitch and I kept asking about the brav4 and he wouldn’t really tell me much. I think I may just pull the trigger off your numbers and get a brav4 . I’d like to go with a 19 but I do run pretty heavy when we go offshore so maybe the 20 is better for economy judging off your numbers. Do you still have the 19 if so would you want to sell it?

The Brav4 is a new PT design, which may be why they recommend the OFX model. On my other 3 Pathfinders ( 2200 TE, two 2400 TRS ) I had the OFX4 prop and thought I never reached full potential on the motor. As soon as I ran my 2600 with the Brav4 19, I was blown away with the performance, but the 20 pitch was even better. If you do go with the Brav4, it'll probably be a 19 or 20. Good luck and post some numbers, I'm curious on your performance. Also the 2600 TRS or HPS doesn't need any trim tab, the boat doesn't want to porpoise at all. I got my best performance numbers with the motor trim on 4 or 5 and the jackplate at 2 1/2. No I don't have the 19 anymore, the dealer I use allows his customers to use different PT props until they figure it out, as long as they don't scratch the prop.

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I’ll keep you guys updated. I thought it was strange too. When I brought up the brav 4 he’s like yea it’s a new model I Don’t have much info on it and the. Said the ofx 4 would be better. I then called Ken at prop gods and he said the same thing. OFX 4 17 or 18 pitch.  I had my buddy run his boat today and he has a OFX4 17 pitch on a 2017 26hps half tower twin power poles trolling motor and had just filled up with fuel two people on the boat. At 4200rpm - 35mph - 2.7mpg     At 5000rpm - 43mph - 2.1 mpg and WOT 5800 rpm - 50 mph - 1.9mpg. So that pretty much solidified it for me that the brav 4 based off your numbers is the way to go.

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1 hour ago, HoneyB said:

Odd that they don’t want to talk about the new prop. Even after you asked about it. 

Not really, I've called PT in the past and spoke to their Pathfinder guy ( Marcus ) he almost always recommends the OFX prop on Pathfinders and he likes a smaller pitch, he would recommend a 18. They have performance numbers on the OFX series on Pathfinders and not a lot of data yet on the Brav4 props. I'm not sure what your issue is with the PT props, but it's obvious you have one. I spend over 100k on a Pathfinder 2600 HPS decked out and wasn't trying to save $ 300.00 on a PT prop over a Merc prop. The conversation I had with my dealer when my boat arrived from Pathfinder was, "what are you going to prop it with" and he said an ofx4 20 and I told him no, I wanted a Yamaha SWS prop and he told me PT was coming out with the brand new Brav4 and recommended I try it. I'm glad I did and I hope Bloch776 does, it's the right prop for his boat, I just went through all the testing. I've been on the water my whole life and guided over 20 years and have owned over 15 boats, I know how to run them.

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27 minutes ago, Bloch776 said:

I’ll keep you guys updated. I thought it was strange too. When I brought up the brav 4 he’s like yea it’s a new model I Don’t have much info on it and the. Said the ofx 4 would be better. I then called Ken at prop gods and he said the same thing. OFX 4 17 or 18 pitch.  I had my buddy run his boat today and he has a OFX4 17 pitch on a 2017 26hps half tower twin power poles trolling motor and had just filled up with fuel two people on the boat. At 4200rpm - 35mph - 2.7mpg     At 5000rpm - 43mph - 2.1 mpg and WOT 5800 rpm - 50 mph - 1.9mpg. So that pretty much solidified it for me that the brav 4 based off your numbers is the way to go.

Good call, trust me on it and run it like I did 2 1/2 or 3 on the jackplate and 4 or 5 on the motor trim and post the numbers, Brav4 20 pitch. I don't know if you ever owned a step hull, but you'll definitely notice the performance once you get on step, good luck! 

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53 minutes ago, captaincowart said:

Not really, I've called PT in the past and spoke to their Pathfinder guy ( Marcus ) he almost always recommends the OFX prop on Pathfinders and he likes a smaller pitch, he would recommend a 18. They have performance numbers on the OFX series on Pathfinders and not a lot of data yet on the Brav4 props. I'm not sure what you issue is with the PT props, but it's obvious you have one. I spend over 100k on a Pathfinder 2600 HPS decked out and wasn't trying to save $ 300.00 on a PT prop over a Merc prop. The conversation I had with my dealer when my boat arrived from Pathfinder was, "what are you going to prop it with" and he said an ofx4 20 and I told him no, I wanted a Yamaha SWS prop and he told me PT was coming out with the brand new Brav4 and recommended I try it. I'm glad I did and I hope Bloch776 does, it's the right prop for his boat, I just went through all the testing. I've been on the water my whole life and guided over 20 years and have owned over 15 boats, I know how to run them.

Edit to say: Never mind 

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Well, called Ken at prop gods and he was going to order me the Brav 4 20 pitch but it was 5 weeks out and then captaincowart messaged me and said try Fort Myers Marine so I called them yesterday morning and they had a 19 and a 20 in stock. Since I usually run heavy and was aiming for economy I went with the 20 and they shipped it as we got off the phone. It arrived at my door today and I convinced the wife to go snook fish this evening. The boat had 50 gallons of fuel, full tank of fresh water, yeti backpack cooler, couple rods, and trolling motor and my wife. The prop ran good was very responsive out of the hole. My cruise numbers and fuel burn: At 30mph 3200 rpm 3.9mpg/ 35mph 3700rpm 3.5 mpg/ 43mph 4500 rpm 3.0 mpg/ WOT 53 mph 5500 rpm 2.0 mpg. Needless to say I’m very happy with the numbers my main goal was to Increase the fuel economy for future Bahamas trips. Once again, thank you captaincowart for your advice, numbers, and recommending the marine center so I didn’t have to wait a month. 

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