1979 Mustang 17 Propeller

I just purchased a 1979 Mustang 17 and I would like a 4 blade pitch & diameter prop. suggestion. The original 3 blade is currently on the boat and it has a repaired ding. The prop runs out fine and has no significant vibration.

I'm not new to this as I sold a 19' Stars and Stripes Master Craft I'd had since 1978 2 years ago. The notorius stringer and floor rot problem swayed me to let it go. I had a 13 x 13 4 blade stainless on the M/C but I believe the original Mustang prop. on this new / old boat is slightly smaller than a 13 x 13.

The Mustang has 680 hours on a Commander 302 motor, the interior is original and in great shape and every aspect of her is solid. I'm going to be skiing behind it @ 215 lbs on a 65" Jobe and pulling kids on tubes and knee boards. Most cruising will be in the 30 - 35 knot range.       

No issue on the grammer; I'm working, it's late and someone was talking as I typed.

Sorry for the delayed response to the whole string. Like I said earlier I work 12 hour nights. It takes a minute to get going once I wake up.

I've got two kids I'm working on. One is three and the other, which is not mine is 11 and has never been on skies. No wake boarding at this point I'm a skier. I just hope to gain a little more out of the hole. Not sure what you mean by WOT. The prop is original. I have not looked at the casting impressions to see exactly what I have. I can just see the 1/4" x 3/4" repair on the tip of it. I could tell the difference on my old M/C when I went from 3 to 4 and thought the same may occur here. From what I've seen the ACME props are overpriced so I like the OJ suggestion. I'm just not sure of the optimum pitch. I will stay with the stock size as I do not want to get into prop wash issues.    

Your stock prop would most likely have been a 12x14 Federal. You do not want to purchase a new 12x14 prop, as prop sizes vary somewhat between manufacturers. The new CNC props (Acme and OJ XMP) are really nice, smooth props- and usually have a holeshot advantage due to their larger blade surface area.

I believe that running a 13" diameter prop on that hull is just fine- so I would say your best choices would be a 13x13 OJ (either 3-blade or 4), a 12x13 OJ (3-blade), Acme 540 (13x12 3-blade) or Acme 542 (13x11.5 3-blade).

Generally speaking, in my experience, the Acme's outperform their hand finished counterparts both on holeshot and top end speed. My best guess at picking a prop blindly would be an Acme 540... but to make a good recommendation we would really need to know your WOT RPM's and top speed (GPS verified) with your current prop (and please ID that if possible) to make sure we're in the ballpark.

With the Delta Propeller discount available on this site, I think you will find all props to be pretty close in price- ~$300-350.

I would not personally opt for a 4-blade for the aforementioned reasons- I didnt think a 12x13 OJ 4-blade was availabe anyways... at least Ive never seen or heard of one. Their classic 12x13 is a 3-blade.

If sticking with the smaller diameter props for hull clearance reasons, you have the Acme 1210 (12.5x12 3-blade, basically a cut down 540) and the 1604 (12.5 x 11.5 3-blade, basically a cut down 542) to choose from as well. I run the 1210 on my 302 powered 16' Skier and love it.