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Rookie prop question


rookievlxowner

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I'm a rookie owner and new site member. Enjoying all of the various topics. My 2009 vlx hat I purchased has a 537 prop. Was this the original prop and if I arm surfing mostly what prop would be best?

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Brad, my LSV came stock with the 537 also. Good boarding prop but I went with the 1235 because I mostly surf with an 1100 in the corner. Been pretty happy with it, it boards well also, just at a higher RPM. With full fuel, no ballast, associated boat gear and 2 people I am running @3000 rpm at 25mph. There are other ACME/OJ props out there, you probably need to call each for your specific application and pricing. IIRC the 1235 is going in the upper 500 range now. Bill

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I'm a rookie owner and new site member. Enjoying all of the various topics. My 2009 vlx hat I purchased has a 537 prop. Was this the original prop and if I arm surfing mostly what prop would be best?

Do you have to cruise to your ride location and what elevation are you at.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Do you have to cruise to your ride location and what elevation are you at.

I'm not sure I understand your "cruise to ride location" but I do have the cruise on the 09 with the MaliView controls. Elevation is almost sea level in Houston, Texas. Thanks for the reply in advance!
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Don't replace it unless you feel you are lacking performance. If you need more hole shot consider a 1273; about the same out of the hole as the 1235 without as much higher speed sacrifice. If you are happy with your current hole shot but want a spare, score a 1939 and make your 537 the spare...again similar hole shot but better upper rpm performance on the 1939.

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I'm not sure I understand your "cruise to ride location" but I do have the cruise on the 09 with the MaliView controls. Elevation is almost sea level in Houston, Texas. Thanks for the reply in advance!

Do you travel from the launch ramp to your ride location or like to cruise around?

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Do you travel from the launch ramp to your ride location or like to cruise around?

I have young kids who still like to tube (my daughter and son got up this past weekend on the surf board!) so I could fall into the cruising around category given how much tubing my kids do.
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If you load up your boat with weight for surfing / boarding then go with the ACME 1235 or similar pitch OJ prop. You will really enjoy the holeshot improvement over the 537 and you can still ski with it, but it will increase your rev's and drop your top speed a few mph.

If you are going to spend over $400 dollars to improve performance, I would consider avoiding compromise props like the 1939. When surfing, the larger diamater props (14.5 and 15 inch) work much better at holding lower speeds and will actually drop your RPM when surfing since they slip less.

I also suggest giving ACME a call and disucss your needs with them. Often, if you purchase a prop directly from ACME, you can return it and try different models until you find what fits your needs. I tried 3 different props before finding what worked best for my set-up. I have never called OJ, but am sure they will be helpfull as well. Both ACME and OJ have a bunch of new props out that are not listed on their web pages.

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I have young kids who still like to tube (my daughter and son got up this past weekend on the surf board!) so I could fall into the cruising around category given how much tubing my kids do.

What is the altitude at the lake/river you frequent?

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If you load up your boat with weight for surfing / boarding then go with the ACME 1235 or similar pitch OJ prop. You will really enjoy the holeshot improvement over the 537 and you can still ski with it, but it will increase your rev's and drop your top speed a few mph.

If you are going to spend over $400 dollars to improve performance, I would consider avoiding compromise props like the 1939. When surfing, the larger diamater props (14.5 and 15 inch) work much better at holding lower speeds and will actually drop your RPM when surfing since they slip less.

Every prop is a compromise. Please explain how the 1939 is a compromise and avoidable compared to the 537, which is a fair prop to compare it to. The 1235 of course will pull harder, and be a big compromise is increased fuel consumption, rpm, and lower cruise speeds. Other than extreme weighting or high altitude running, why would you pick a 1235 over the 1273?

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Real world nitrous have you tried the 1235 and 1273? In my experience more cup (1273) will keep revs off of the limiter but that won't translate to more top end. Might keep high rpm fuel consumption down somewhat.

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Real world nitrous have you tried the 1235 and 1273? In my experience more cup (1273) will keep revs off of the limiter but that won't translate to more top end. Might keep high rpm fuel consumption down somewhat.

Depends on where the cup is at on each of the 3 or 4 blades. AT hole shot the part of each blade that is actually propelling the boat forward is a differnent location than when say at WOT. The "bite" at hole shot is closer to the center of the prop, and progresses outward until at WOT.

You can cup your prop ie adjust the rpm by 200-400 by cupping the prop at whatever rpm you want to maximize or minimize rpms.

But to do the above, you need to find someone who really knows how to cup/adjust props.

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Nitrous, I am basing my opinion from actually running these different props on my boat. The difference between the 1235 and the 1273 is barely noticable. The 1939 that came with my boat felt very similar to the 537. However, the 1235 really made a seat of the pants difference in how the boat performed for it's intended purpose which is towing and pulling.

I never noticed or charted any difference in fuel economy (I fill it up when it goes empty) and I don't care that my boat goes 41mph instead of 44mph when I had the 1939.

Perhaps on your boat the 1939 will perform different since your hull is much lighter and narrower than the newer VLX hulls. That is why I suggested that the Op try different props to find what he likes. To me, the 1939 is a prop that attempts to appeal to top end speed and low speed pulling and was created to keep up with the larger boats now produced. Perhaps I used the word compromise incorrectly. A better way to put it is that the 1939 provides no value to me. It is not a good choice for crusing and it is not a good choice for a heavy weighted boat.

Edited by Tims
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Good discussion and opinions in this topic...much appreciated! I have a new (to me) '05 VLX and I'm considering a prop upgrade from my 537 to help the hole shot for wakeboarding. Currently I'm just running stick ballast and wedge but I may add some 400 or 750 sacs in the lockers in the next year or two.

I end up just cruising and wakeboarding about 50/50 right now, but I'd like to try surfing next year but not give up too much top end speed to try and learn to barefoot sometime perhaps.

Can anyone chime in on the OJ 475 perhaps? I was looking at that or maybe the Acme 1273. Also considering the Acme 1235 but it seems like I might not need that much low-end pull and I may be unnecessarily trading off sone gas 'mileage.'

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...I also meant to mention that the OJ 475 seems to run about $75 cheaper than the Acmes and I've read that the blades are a little thicker than the Acmes which may help me avoid bending them if I hit another stump like I did this past weekend.

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I can offer my first hand experience from my 2006 VLX. No surfing here, we just wakeboard 80% of the time, and remaining 20% is for getting from launch ramp to riding spot so I went with the Acme 1235. We run stock ballast (no wedge) plus 500 lbs lead in the bow plus 2x750's in the rear lockers on top of stock tanks. I suppose that is about 3,000 lbs. Our riding crew is typically 4 people and we ride in a short course where we need to get up to speed very quickly which is why I went with the 1235. I couldn't be happier with the 1235 on our local lake for riding as it gets out of the hole very quickly and up to speed in a no time. However, I recently took a couple trips to the River and wish I had something better for the once a day cruises from dam to dam which can be 30 minute rides. During those cruises, I mostly keep it under 30 mph and the 1235 seemed ok, but anything above that the RPMs are climbing high.

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