High five or Quicksilver

[Marco1]

I am after a new prop for my 180. Has anyone had experience with the Quicksilver 5 blade? The "Propgods" tell me that it is the same prop then the high five only without the vents. Are those vent in the High Five any good?
Do you get higher fuel use with the 5 blade prop?

 

[Mark RSA2AU]

Hey Marco1

I also have the 180. I find the little 135hp on the weak side and it cannot pull me out the water on a standard prop. I now have an older 17 pitch Hi5 prop which we eventualy drilled vent holes into as the new ones have the holes as standard. The vent holes allow exhaust gas to escape into the blades allowing the prop to spin up quicker, almost like slipping the clutch in a car. It works well for us and we can now use the boat for waterskiing which it could not do otherwise. if the vents are too big there will be excessive cavitation but you should have plugs to make the holes smaller or close them up as needed.

As it is a 17 pitch I loose top end and fuel consumption is up but at least it is now usable for big guys like me. This last easter break we spent it with a mate who has a Yamaha 130hp and we used about half the fuel he used and his boat is almost 30% lighter. So for me it is a no brainer, get the vented Hi 5. it is worth the money if you do a lot of watersports, and the small increase in fuel is not improtant in the greater context.

hope this helps

cheers

 

[Nehalennia]

The High Five is a great prop for the 180. I had a '91 180BR (my first boat) and I had a High Five behind a 4.3. I loved that boat and the High Five made it a tremendous performer. Quicksilver(Merc) makes the High Five and the vents have optional plugs to insert. I left mine plugged. Great Prop and I highly recommend it for a boat that size up to a 20'er.

 

[SFGiantsFan]

I have the High Five on my '91 200 Bowrider with the 5.7L and she is a go-er! I bought the boat with the prop so I don't know the difference between the High Five and others but it sure works well. I believe it is a 19.
Not to threadjack, but as I am new to boating can some of you guys elaborate on the "vents" and "plugs" a little more?

 

[dutchman]

elaborate on the "vents" and "plugs"

The idea of the vent is to allow exhaust gas flow around the prop blades. With the air bubbles around the blades, the prop will grab less, and let the engine spin up in rpm a lot faster. Sort of the same idea of starting your car in 1st or second gear. Or spinning the tires on the car a bit to get the rpms up. You can experiment, no vent, 1 vent, 2, 3 etc. (You're not going to hurt anything). If you vent too much, you'll notice that there's no bite.
The effect will go away once you're moving. So on some boats it may help on the holeshot, cause it will get the engine in the power band faster.
It's one of those old tricks that have been around for years, except in the old days you had to drill the holes. But with newer props, they have installed the little plugs for easy access.

 

[Nehalennia]

elaborate on the "vents" and "plugs"

The idea of the vent is to allow exhaust gas flow around the prop blades. With the air bubbles around the blades, the prop will grab less, and let the engine spin up in rpm a lot faster. Sort of the same idea of starting your car in 1st or second gear. Or spinning the tires on the car a bit to get the rpms up. You can experiment, no vent, 1 vent, 2, 3 etc. (You're not going to hurt anything). If you vent too much, you'll notice that there's no bite.
The effect will go away once you're moving. So on some boats it may help on the holeshot, cause it will get the engine in the power band faster.
It's one of those old tricks that have been around for years, except in the old days you had to drill the holes. But with newer props, they have installed the little plugs for easy access.

Yes, this is correct. I never like having the vents open because in any seas that you would find yourself in it can cavitate while cruising and become a pain

 

[Lazy Daze]

An inexpensive (but still excellent) alternative to the High Five (it is a bit heavy for a 4cyl to turn), is a 4-blade aluminum. My '00 180 came with a 23" 3-blade aluminum standard. I dropped to a 4-blade 18" with fantastic results - popped me up on one ski super fast. I experimented with 3-blade SS's (of varying pitches) and found them to less effective than the aluminum since the SS is so much heavier. At the time, I didn't have access to a Hi-5 to try, so I can't comment on the comparison there. But, I can't imagine the Hi-5 would be any better (at least not noticeably) than the 4-blade... especially when you consider the cost difference. I'm not knocking the Hi-5 - I used that on my 210BR (V-8) and it was great. It's just that the 4cyl doesn't have the torque to really take advantage of the SS benefits.

 

[Mark RSA2AU]

I also have a 3 blade 19 pitch and a 4 blade 18 pitch. The 3 blade is as good as tits on a bull... useless, the 4 blade is ok but struggles to pull a 3 man tube onto the plane so it is now the spare. I can dry start from the shore with the 4 blade if I allow a few coils of rope to give the boat a head start.
Where as the 17 pitch hi 5 with vents open works very well across the board. If I want to barefoot we can get it up to 60 km/h (37mph) but that is it at 5500 rpm so we dont do it too often ( thats my excuse but realy I am not getting younger or fitter.)

In hind sight I should have bought the 4.3 v6.....

Cheers

 

[Marco1]

Thank you for all your answers. I thought about a 4 blade and I am sure it would be an improvement on my 3 blade.
However the little 4 cyl needs all the help it can get, so I think I am going for the 5 blades, yet not sure if to buy Quicksilver with no vents or HF with the vents. The difference is not much, $100.
THis is the answer I got from the propshop

The High Five has the PVS vent holes. You can adjust how much you want to vent the prop.
The QST5 does not have the holes.

Other then that, its the exact same prop.

Opening the vent holes makes the prop slip while getting on plane. Helpful in some cases, not helpful in others.

If your using this prop for skiing or wakeboarding, I'd just run the QST5 because I don't think your going to like the vents.
But with the Mercury, you have the option either way.

Mark, your 17 pitch seems to be way under. Have you ever tried 19"?

Smart tabs is next of course.

 

[Mark RSA2AU]

Hey Mate I tried the 19 and I sat in the water while the boat shook and made a loud noise but could not get me up. I am 6 foot 3 and 125kg so I also need all the help I can get. yeh yeh I should loose 10kg but why when a 17 pitch works...

 

[Lazy Daze]

That's interesting, Mark, that you weren't happy with the 4-Blade. I was really impressed with the performance and have even recommended it to some customers and they've all been happy. In fact, I even pulled two skiers (both on two skiis) out with no problems. Oh well. Were you pulling off the tower? I wonder if that accounts for the difference we're seeing.

Marco, definitely get the one with the holes. You can experiment with what hole size (3 different plugs) works best. Worst case, you put the solid plugs in. It's a different application, but on my 210BR, I found the medium sized holes the best.

 

[Marco1]

It's interesting how on matters of speed and revs, power etc, even on identical boats there are wide discrepancies between users. Some of course can be attributed to personal perception variation in engine wear, weight load even altitude but for one boat not to pull a skier out of the water with a high five 19 and the other to pull anything at all, is strange.
Still, I'll go with the high five 19, we are all rather skinny and the kids are, well kids. Anything will be better than my current 3 blade 23 that keeps me at 4100

 

[Lazy Daze]

True.

Wait a minute, though, are you saying the max RPM's you can get is 4100? That's not right. First, I think (but not positive) that a 21" should of been standard on your model 180 (you have a different model than Mark and myself). Even accounting for that, your rev's are still not correct. You really should be able to get them into the upper end of the range with that boat.

 

[Marco1]

OK, clearly there is no easy answer, so will have to do some experimenting.
I got myself a second hand 14 1/2 19 pitch 3 blade aluminium and a new mercury 4 blade 14 1/2 18P.
Now I need a prop wrench and some grease.
Then just add water.

Will let you know in a F/N
Next weekend is mother's day so no chance to play.

Hooroo
Marc