TIMWOLF
06-21-2021, 09:28 AM
Hey guys,
Just thought I would drop a thread about the Mercury X7 prop as I would assume there may be a few people with the 75-115HP outboards on their units that may be looking into an upgrade.
I purchased a Lund 1775 Impact XS/Mercury 115 Pro XS in Jan 2020 and ran the stock Spitfire four blade aluminum prop last year. I have no complaints about anything with the boat/motor other than I was having prop blowout issues under cornering that I would call not overly aggressive. I looked into the issue on the web and found that a few people have had the similar issues of blowout under cornering even with the motor trimmed appropriately. Quite a few of the threads mentioned Mercury's X7 prop and how it was specifically designed for the 75-115 class of engines and I looked around enough to pull the trigger on purchasing one.
Yesterday morning I was out on Sturgeon Lake with my wife and daughter (45 Walleye :sHa_shakeshout:) and ran it through some different scenarios after we were done our morning fish.
A few observations :
1- Blowout issues were gone. Even with the trim up and attempting some harder cornering the prop held fast in the water. I made a point of safely running parallel and crossing wakes left by other boaters to see if I could find any issues when the boat hit swells but I did not observe anything that led me to believe I would have an issue. Problem solved.
2- Handling of the boat. Considering I was able to get the hull further out of the water the overall handling of the boat was more responsive. I could see the wash along the port and starboard was less than before so I knew the boat was contacting the water on the hull closer to the stern which gave the boat that smooth floating feel.
3- Higher Speed. Gained 2 MPH. It was the same 13 X 17" pitch prop but top speed went from 41 to 43MPH with my family of three on board and half a tank of fuel. This was the only aspect that I did not observe the gains that others seemed to according to the web threads. Some were claiming 3-5MPH increase but under nearly identical boat load and water conditions I only saw 2 MPH. Its likely nothing other than having less drag on the hull due to it getting higher out of the water so take that for what its worth. I'm thinking these 3-5mph claims were guys that may race cars, have stretchable tape measures when fishing, or take speed readings by themselves with an unloaded boat. Just my observation :test:
4- Holeshot. Marked improvement on the holeshot without a doubt. I never took a stopwatch out but felt quite a significant decrease in time to get the boat on plane and could feel the immediate "bite" of the prop was better than the stock aluminum.
Even though I was happy with the stock boat setup the new prop purchase was definitely value for the money as I feel the noticeable performance gains. I would assume that similar results would be achieved from going to many of the other stainless/alloy props but I do not have the experience with other brands on other boat combinations so I will reserve comment. I know a lot of guys run similar setups on our lakes so I just wanted to give some first hand info to whomever may be looking. Stay safe on the water and for those of you who may not know a friendly reminder to get your boat ready at a staging area and not at the boat launch.
Just thought I would drop a thread about the Mercury X7 prop as I would assume there may be a few people with the 75-115HP outboards on their units that may be looking into an upgrade.
I purchased a Lund 1775 Impact XS/Mercury 115 Pro XS in Jan 2020 and ran the stock Spitfire four blade aluminum prop last year. I have no complaints about anything with the boat/motor other than I was having prop blowout issues under cornering that I would call not overly aggressive. I looked into the issue on the web and found that a few people have had the similar issues of blowout under cornering even with the motor trimmed appropriately. Quite a few of the threads mentioned Mercury's X7 prop and how it was specifically designed for the 75-115 class of engines and I looked around enough to pull the trigger on purchasing one.
Yesterday morning I was out on Sturgeon Lake with my wife and daughter (45 Walleye :sHa_shakeshout:) and ran it through some different scenarios after we were done our morning fish.
A few observations :
1- Blowout issues were gone. Even with the trim up and attempting some harder cornering the prop held fast in the water. I made a point of safely running parallel and crossing wakes left by other boaters to see if I could find any issues when the boat hit swells but I did not observe anything that led me to believe I would have an issue. Problem solved.
2- Handling of the boat. Considering I was able to get the hull further out of the water the overall handling of the boat was more responsive. I could see the wash along the port and starboard was less than before so I knew the boat was contacting the water on the hull closer to the stern which gave the boat that smooth floating feel.
3- Higher Speed. Gained 2 MPH. It was the same 13 X 17" pitch prop but top speed went from 41 to 43MPH with my family of three on board and half a tank of fuel. This was the only aspect that I did not observe the gains that others seemed to according to the web threads. Some were claiming 3-5MPH increase but under nearly identical boat load and water conditions I only saw 2 MPH. Its likely nothing other than having less drag on the hull due to it getting higher out of the water so take that for what its worth. I'm thinking these 3-5mph claims were guys that may race cars, have stretchable tape measures when fishing, or take speed readings by themselves with an unloaded boat. Just my observation :test:
4- Holeshot. Marked improvement on the holeshot without a doubt. I never took a stopwatch out but felt quite a significant decrease in time to get the boat on plane and could feel the immediate "bite" of the prop was better than the stock aluminum.
Even though I was happy with the stock boat setup the new prop purchase was definitely value for the money as I feel the noticeable performance gains. I would assume that similar results would be achieved from going to many of the other stainless/alloy props but I do not have the experience with other brands on other boat combinations so I will reserve comment. I know a lot of guys run similar setups on our lakes so I just wanted to give some first hand info to whomever may be looking. Stay safe on the water and for those of you who may not know a friendly reminder to get your boat ready at a staging area and not at the boat launch.