310 Sundancer - Anyone switched to a 4-blade prop?

[blorincz]

I have owned my 2002 310 Sundancer since April. The family loves the boat. We have been doing more cruising with this boat than anticipated.

I have been researching the pro's and con's of switching to a 4-blade prop. For the most part, the biggest negative I can find is loss of top end speed. Not something I am overly concerned about as most of the time I am running at about 23mph.

My understanding is by switching to a 4-blade prop, I can increase my cruising speed without increasing my RPM's. As well as decrease my time to plane, better handling around the dock, etc.

Is there anyone out there with a 1998-2002 model 310 that has switched to a 4-blade prop?

Current props are:
17 x 20 x 1.5 3-blade Nibral

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Southpaw II]

IMO, the benefits would be small compared to thre cost....it would be nice if we knew if your boat was v-drive or I/O. That's what the signature is for. Thanks.

 

[blorincz]

IMO, the benefits would be small compared to thre cost....it would be nice if we knew if your boat was v-drive or I/O. That's what the signature is for. Thanks.

Thanks for the reminder. Just added that info.

 

[Alegria]

Well I have a different boat so I can't give you apple to apple comparison. But on ours at ~3200 RPM we cruise at a solid 24K around 28 mph. Top end RPMs are lower so yes top end speed is lost. I don't know about fuel economy as I still cruise at the same RPM range just get there a bit faster. But again that depends on conditions. Getting on plane I can't really speak to as I only sea trialed the boat with the 3 blade props and don't have much comparison. She jumps up on plane in about 8-9 secs. Around the dock I can attest to. As we had to so some significant manuvering on the sea trial and there is no comparison there. Put her in gear and she moves instantly, also moves out in idle quickly. Makes docking a much nicer experience for me...

They are expensive - ~$2K for the pair.