The Tique and the Acme 540.

Pete, while I'm not glad to hear your 540 results, it did mirror my experience exactly but I had even less clearance. Not sure if you've tried one, but my 302 Mustang runs the very best with the 12x13 OJ as opposed to the OJ 12x14. Just a tad more speed on my boat but more crisp throttle response and still w/i the rpm range and that's with a modified engine.   The 12x13 OJ is more apples to apples to the original 12x14 Fed because of the extreme positive rake. BoatDr is getting the best numbers from his strong 331 c.i. with the 12x14 OJ but he's got the torque to turn it. If you have any interest in trying a new 12x13, I've got one still in the box that's going on a boat before long, but you can surely try it if you like in the meantime, unless you're completely satisfied with the 12x14. Just let me know.       

your right about the stainless together Pete, even steel with steel, i always coat with nickel never sieze

Reid, My metals knoledge lacks as far as knowing exactly why stainless will gal and lock up on itself. I did engineer in the stainless food processing equipment business for some time so I do know that even with the premium nickle anti seez it still can be a problem. Stick with the brass nuts on the prop shaft and if you are using stainless fasteners always use the anti seez.

Thanks for the prop offer but I will keep the 12 x 14 on it for now as with the kids driving, I don't want the higher WOT rpm even if it is only a couple hundred more and within max spec. They have already been not too carefull with the Tique!! I guess I'm going to have to wait for the day that they start finding out how expensive it can be to purchase and maintain boats!

Pete,

Today was my first run with the OJ 12 x 13 I bought when I was afraid to run the 540 due to clearance issues on the 78 Ski Tique. For the price of a prop, I feel like I have a new boat! She is quicker out of the hole, planes more quickly and stops in less distance.

0 to 40 mph was about 8 seconds. I say about because I used the "one-one thousand" method of marking time. The speed was measured by gps. Seems quick to me - anyone have any stats I can compare to?

Thanks,
Mike

Pete, sorry to hear that I may have pointed you in the wrong direction. Ive heard many people run the 540/542 on that hull, and this is the first time Ive heard there being a problem with clearance.

Id call Bill Weeks and see if he can trim it down for you. He specifically recommended the 540 to me for that hull, so it might be news to him that it may not work well.

TRBenj wrote: Id call Bill Weeks and see if he can trim it down for you. He specifically recommended the 540 to me for that hull, so it might be news to him that it may not work well.

Tim/Pete, I went thru this issue some time back and discussed it here also, as Mr Weeks did cut down a 540 for me. I'm not about to take Acme or Bill to task for it as it's water under the bridge and I should have known better, as you're not going to cut down the dia of a prop w/o raising the rpm's unless you add pitch to compensate. So it's not a viable alternative from my personal experience. My stock 540 was too large for a 12" replacement in my particular case with a prop held close to the strut which resulted in the prop being +/- 1/4" from hull. Bill convinced me trimming the dia wouldn't raise the r's to speak of, but it did, approx 200rpm and slowed the boat even more, but fortunately it worked really well for Marshall's small 273 V8. A year later Marshall has a larger 340 V8 and now Paul Waters has the that unique 12"D 540 for his Classic. IMO Acme needs to make a 12x13.5 or thereabouts to directly replace a 12x14 Fed, since there are quite a few out there, and not recommend a cut down 13x12.5, (i.e. 12x12.5). There are a number of boats out there like Marshall's previous combo and possibly Paul's that can use this "cut-down" size, but those are boats that would typically best turn a 12x13 Fed and not a 12x14 or 12x15. Make any sense?

Note: Boatdr; Forget about MY blue boat, as Marshall's resurrected (thanks for your help) and stout 340 Mopar is now turning a 12x14 OJ (just like yours) 5100rpm. You'd better hope IT doesn't make it back to GL. But you'll still own him outta da hole.       

reidp wrote: you're not going to cut down the dia of a prop w/o raising the rpm's unless you add pitch to compensate. So it's not a viable alternative from my personal experience.

Thats true- but Pete has a stock 302 and is only turning the 540 4300RPM, so adding 200RPM would be a good thing. Cutting it down by 1/2" would be plenty, as he has 5/8" clearance on the 16'5" hull vs. the 1/4" on the 16'1" hull.