ACME 540 ???

I never once had a bow dive (or chine lock or whatever you call it) in the 81 with either Amce prop (540 or 430)but those are both different animals than the 208. I had it happen a couple of times both with an OJ 13x13 at just above 50mph and that is a scary feeling. The OJ always pushed the nose down so it skied pretty good but the faster it went the less I trusted the boat in anything but glass water. Seems both Acmes were trying to lift the bow (or sink the stern), either way there was night and day between the styles of prop.

Will be interesting to see what that motor will do in the MQ although I expect it to be propped for pulling a bunch of footers most of the time. Hopefully it gets run this summer or you should make sure it's been fogged.

That's funny, the one and only time I thought I might die in a ski boat had Tim also at the helm. Hmpf.

I don't think anyone witnessed our GL speed run out to the main body in Tim's BFN.

4 of us Iowa guys were tail weight when Tim punched the throttle over a set of rollers left from a 20' cruiser.   I remember seeing the cruiser trolling along followed by the bow of the boat in the air and landing rather abruptly.   That's probably the only time I thought seat belts would be useful in boats.

Fun ride, but I'm surprised his rear seat vinyl isn't stained brown.

HW, nothing wrong with that position, but neither is wanting to go fast just because you can. Im not tired of it- at least not yet! Dont you have a 380hp 351w ready to go in your MQ though?

Some people may think that building a 50+mph (or 60+mph) ski boat is silly... thats ok, its not for everyone. I think its silly to suggest that a (new and expensive) prop will be just fine- "oh but dont try and go fast with it". At least if that was one of the reasons they bought it in the first place! But thats just me.

TRBenj wrote: CC didnt put speed limiters on them to keep them below 36mph.

Actually they all have speed limiters, your hand.

Ive seen 2nd gens run 50 out of the box (actually 30+ years old and all stock!), so theyre no joke. CC didnt put speed limiters on them to keep them below 36mph. While they *might*not be far enough up the performance scale to do weird things due to a pancake, its not a totally outlandish possibility. At best, the boat will probably underperform slightly as compared to the proven 540- at least thats what my experince with the pancakes would lead me to believe. If paying new prop prices(even if nicely discounted), spend a little more to go with the proven prop- that was my point.

If the 208 is yours and un-returnable, then give it a try. Having a known quantity along for a comparo would be nice too (like a 540) to be able to better qualify the difference in performance.

good one HW!



FOR SALE: One New, Never Used, Still in Box, Very Very Pretty, Bright and Shiney, prop

Hotter than any orange boat!

I am really curious to see what the 208 does so I can have better data for future potential customers. The 208's are cheap as I have had those on the shelf for a while. I just cant sell the props with Delta in the mix. If that 208 turns out good that might be an option for the 86 Chris' friends up in Iowa just purchased.

Steve, not that I dont believe you, but those Airguides are only as accurate as theyre adjusted. Get a GPS on that boat! If its a slower running hull (some 2nd gen SN's run nose-lower and are only good for 44-45mph) then you may not lose much performance with the 208.

Ive been somewhat disappointed with Acme's tech advice since Bill left (he was their lead applications engineer). No one else seems to have the same experience with the props- at least not the ones specific to Correct Crafts. Ive seen some interesting recommendations come out of them. Remember, Acme simply cant trial every prop on every potential application- they rely on customer feedback for their database. Along with all of the good data they get, I would imagine a lot of it comes from "Average Joes" who may not be as careful to collect good consistent data (accurate RPM and speed data, holding all variables constant when assessing differences between props, etc). I think the best advice youre going to get is going to come from folks passionate about props and these specific boats... ie, right here on CCFan.

Brian, the NWZ runs so nose-planted that Ive found that the prop style has much less effect on running attitude (and thus, top end) than the nose-high hulls. The pancake 1868 returned "in-family" performance numbers based on its diameter/pitch on my '90, versus the "normal" Acmes. I wouldnt be surprised if you were to pick up 1mph with a 540 though, based on the lower pitch, 3-blade vs. 4, etc though. I suspect Steve would see a bigger difference on his older hull.

Bruce, yes 540 = RH 3-blade, 13x12, .080 cup

Zach, Bill Weeks used to provide me with test props to try... I havent reached out much to Acme since he retired. I would gladly cash a check if they sent one though!

Tim's boats are just so fast they pick out all the problems with Props ;). Acme should employ you for R and D huh?

62 wood wrote: cphase wrote: Dang nice prop Steve!!! Both are PRETTY NICE!!!!!!

But they may run pretty different!

If I were you Steve, I'd hold out for a 540 unless you got a good enough deal on it that its worth taking the chance on (and you can recoup the $$ if you were to sell it used). The pancakes perform very differently than the traditional Acmes, and not in a good way, IMHO. Pancake vs. conventional Acme (similar pitch/diam) turned our BFN into a 55-56mph boat vs. 61-62mph. The nose dive was hard and borderline violent on a hull that is otherwise pretty docile. While its doubtful you'd see such an extreme difference, Id still be nervous about running it on a boat that runs naturally bow high, even with a stock powerplant. The faster (stock) 2nd gens can flirt with 50mph and I wouldnt be surprised if your bowtie powered '73 is amongst them. Thats not a speed where you want something dangerous to happen!

Just a word of caution. Im sure it would be worlds better than that ancient Federal in terms of holeshot and smoothness... and if you never plan to push the throttle down further than 45mph then you'll probably be fine. But if it were me, Id spend the extra to get a 540. Just saying!

Dang nice prop Steve!!!

Here is my new prop. As you can see from the second picture the leading edges hold the hub up just a bit.