I beleive the Solas is made by the same company who make Hustler. I don't know about the Solas line except to say that they seem to be priced to move, however I did have a Hustler for a while and was never really impressed with it. The style of hub they use was easily mis-aligned. It would still work but was difficult to get on straight so there was always a little wobble.

Seabuddy gave you some good advise with the statement about some props being designed for outboards, to take advantage of specific torque curves. Most companies have specific outboard props even though they can be fitted to most drives.

I seem to remember that Volvo makes a great 4 blade aluminum prop that is pretty cheap and boasts impressive numbers. Faster 0-30 time, less bow rise and still within 1 MPH of top speed. I know you are not interested in top speed but it means you won't lose any cruising speed. Might be worth a shot for $150.00 or so. I personally don't think you would notice much difference between aluminum and stainless until you get a big block anyway but SS sure looks nice. Man am I gonna get flamed for that statement.

Let the flames begin. Preemptive strike

I had a Solas on my pontoon boat that I used to replace the worthless 5-bladed Merc High-5 that was originally installed on it.

The Solas was OK, but not nearly as good as the Mirage Plus that I replaced it with.

BTW deepv, check around and see, but I don't think too many boats under 20 ft long benefit much by adding trim tabs. The exception is Smart Tabs, which seem to do what the owners want at a much lower cost and no other plumbing required.

There are some HUGE thread about Smart Tabs on other boards, just google it.

And lest I offend anyone (again), the High-5 was quick, just the wrong prop for a pontoon boat. It had almost NO reverse when I needed it, and would not keep my bow up, which a high-speed pontoon boat needs.

I currently run a Solas 4-blade SS, i think it is the Titan4. 14.25x19 is the pitch. I like it, but wouldn't sell my mother for one, it is better than the AL prop I had on the boat. Only reason I have it, I was looking for a new prop and picked this one up on ebay, brand new, $135, off season.
If I ever get a different boat with a Bravo I like i want, I will get a higher end 4 blade for it. But for now, the Sloass is doing fine.

If cost is an issue, and you want more hole shot, try drilling some holes at the base of each blade of what you have. Have a good prop shop do it if you have done it before sucessfully.

The holes should be sized and located such that the prop "slips" more up to a mph, then the exhaust volume and forward water speed effectively "close" them for normal slip.

Say your 5.0 makes about 100 Hp at 2,000 rpm and 150 Hp at 3,000 rpm, having the prop slip more gets your boat to the 150 Hp power level faster.

Yes, too big of holes would take away too much such that the slip will spin the prop wildly without forward motion.

That's the reason the Merc offers three sizes of plugs for their PVS props. All boats are alittle different as are owner wants and needs.

So those holes are sort of like those nuetral drops I used to do in my dad's 1973 Dodge Polara?

Shhh. Don't tell.

So do that to the existing prop?

What size holes?

One between each blade?

Where on the hub?

Are they angled aft or 90* to the axis of the prop?

This thread? It was posted in my other post by athiker, I remember it from last year but I haven't re-read it all yet

So now it's back to the trim / smart tab discussion? Just funnin' ya!

Apollo

Some of these have vent holes in SS, some do not. It depends on the size and # of blades you go with for your application.
No plugs for the vent holes available, as these run better without plugs.

Thanks. So since I'm going to 4-blade, maybe I only need to drop the pitch to 18" instead of 17" as they don't show a 4-blade 17" pitch?

That's what I would do.

This is from last year's very long post on the effect of smart tabs on wakeboarding. I got to read through some really interesting stuff to get to this on nearly the last page. I am thinking that they are out of consideration, but maybe trim tabs still are after making prop changes first.

And my only post in that thread.