Quick Turbo or Mirage ?

[G - FORCE 88]

I know Mirage's only come in odd pitches, but I am trying to buy a 14.25 26p turbo? Is this a good prop? What would this prop do for me? Some guys here swear by their Turbo's?? Let me lnow what you guys think
Jon eek! :D

[Rootsy]

first of all what prop do you use right now... what motor / sterndrive combination do you run at the moment and what is your gear ratio??? you seem to be wanting to really go big on the pitch...

[G - FORCE 88]

97 Mercruiser 454 mag with a Bravo 1 drive. mild built 454 with big port heads and intake no crazy stuff. 1.5 gear ratio spining a 25p Mirage(not a plus).

[Rootsy]

at what rpm @ WOT w/ mirage?

[G - FORCE 88]

4650-4700 rpm @ 64 knots(73.4 something mph)

[BigGrizzly]

Last time you said you ran a25 marage , if that is all the rpms you turn don't wast your time going larger. You don't have the power to pull it.

Randy

[Sam]

For what it is worth I tried Mirages and got what I thought was decent performance. I then tried a a Turbo and found it to be better all the way around. Going to a smaller DIA was the trick that did it for me. I also found that the Turbo has less slip than the Mirages.

Sam

[riverrat]

what's a Turbo prop? who makes it? in all the testing that hp-500 did for Donzi I don't recall him talking about them. not to say it's not a good prop. I've got a mirage plus on my boat & find it to be a good one. As I have posted before I have a "23 that has been chaged I also have a "25 lab
Mirage & it works goo :D d too but I like the "23 that we re-pitched to a "25 better. It's got more blade surface and works better for me.

The rat, :D

[GeneD]

I'm beginnning to love prop questions now!
Losing .25 inches on the diameter will give you about 150-200 more RPM's, in theory.
What exactly are you looking to do? Go faster?
Have you tried a 25 Mirage Plus? The Plus has a more aggressive cup than the regular Mirage. It might be what you are looking for.
If you are looking for handling, the Bravo is an excellent choice also.
Any four blade prop is going to give you less slip than a three blade, by it's design.
A four blade is going to respond better in turns than a three blade, that much is certain.
If you want to go faster with your Mirage, get it labbed. You will be very happy with the results. You are just about at the top of your power band.
On another note, any of you guys notice your boat going slower and slower every year? This is because the SST props bend over time. It is really good common sense to have your prop checked by a prop shop that has a modern QC inspection tool like the MRI. Throttle-Up Propellers has the state of the art MRI, and all Labbed props come with a spec and inspection sheet to tell you how it came in, and what it measured when it left.
I have been shown brand new Mercury props, right out of the box, whose blades were off 2 inches of pitch. It really is amazing, and disturbing.
And on another note, Throttle-Up was selected, in lieu of Mercury Racing, to lab finish the props for the upcoming Donzi F2 Kilo Speed Record Run being held in Savannah next week. They WILL break the record using our props, watch and see.
As for changing out your propeller, it all depends on what you want to do.
Let me know, and we'll set you up.

[Rootsy]

Now that is some GOOD information...........

[Tomahawk]

Tan Man - you are already getting excellent performance for what you have. Chances of improving performance, in your case, with a prop change are slim at best. I second the input from Sam, Poodle and Grizz and may add:
The reason so many use Mercury props is that the boat companies buy the power package from Mercury and Mercury, naturally, recommends and supplies Mercury props. That's OK because Mercury makes very good props, plus they work with the boat company to choose the best (Mercury) prop to optimize performance.
Your rpm is a little low now so going to a Mirage Plus 25 would lower rpm a little more. That's because the Plus has a bit more cup in the blade tips. A Mirage Plus 25 at 5000 rpm is about a 75mph combination but that geneally takes the power of a 502 Mag to pull that prop at that rpm in a 22 Classic. Having your Mirage 25 "labbed" may allow an increase in prop speed but I haven't personally tried that so can't say for sure.
Like Poodle said about the Bravo prop and the 18, it does the same thing with a 22 Classic. Goes slower and chine walks. Works better on a 22 ZX, and bigger boats, but not so good on a 22 Classic.
My 454 Mag will not pull a Mirage Plus 25 but it will pull a Turbo 25 at about 4900rpm and 72 mph GPS, and is pretty stable doing it. Different blade shape and less diameter than the Mirage. Sounds like your motor is a bit stronger than mine so you should be able to spin the Turbo 25 at 5000 or more and go 73. If your rpm exceeds 5000, you need to bring it back down. In that case, the Turbo 26 would do that and result in higher top speed. BTW, the Turbo prop is a product of Precision Propeller Company in Indianapolis.
You can consider all of this and may come to a conclusion but, honestly, the only sure way to be sure is to try different props on your own boat. Unfortunately, as has been pointed out, stock props, from most companies, lack consistency from prop to prop or even blade to blade on the same prop. That is one of the reasons you just have to try them on your set up and see what works for you.
All of this and we are really talking about one, maybe two, mph if anything in your case. You are not going to go significantly faster unless you add more power, and then reprop from that point. Like I said up front, you are doing pretty darn well already.
These comments come from my experience which is fairly extensive in this particular area. Follow Mad Poodle to the Lake Eufaula event, if you can, and try some of this. Good luck to you either way.
Next up we have ......

[G - FORCE 88]

thanks for all the help and all the input i am gonna go out this weekend and get some good #'s and see how it goes. Turbo or Mirage Plus we will see! But thanks a million :D :D