Prop for my new to me '98 Response LX

[sunvalleylaw]

BTW, here is my current prop.  Hole shot is fine for our needs at both elevations.  Will also look into making sure the engine is up to snuff to make sure I am getting all the RPM's I should.  Motor seems strong and competent.  It is a Monsoon.  

 

 

Looks to me like it must be the stock 13x13 CVP that was on it when prior owner bought the boat from Bake's Marine in Issaquah, new.  

 

Edited August 21, 2016 by sunvalleylaw

[sunvalleylaw]

And the motor, and motor designation.  

 

[Dacon62]

On August 11, 2016 at 3:04 PM, edwin said:

Lots of good info in this thread.  I've spent a ton of time testing props over the years and have found that there's a ton of variables in play - Altitude as you've mentioned, weight in the boat, size and technique of the guy at the end of the rope, the kind of pull the skier wants, etc.  My gut tells me the 13x11.5 ACME is gonna be your prop 

Have a 2001 Response. Chose the Acme 515(13x12). Is the perfect prop for slightly above sea level. I would think the Acme 525(13x11.5) would be ideal at higher altitude. 

[Woodski]

@sunvalleylaw:  That would be the stock CVP for that era, you need to see what is stamped just after the 13 x 13 to know if it is a standard, M or MD as that kind of compares to the 525, 515 progression.  You then use that with your running data to pick a new prop.  I agree with @Dacon62 on prop selection from the information you have posted to date.  Air density at 5000' is 15% less than sea level.

[sunvalleylaw]

On 9/19/2016 at 10:22 AM, Woodski said:

@sunvalleylaw:  That would be the stock CVP for that era, you need to see what is stamped just after the 13 x 13 to know if it is a standard, M or MD as that kind of compares to the 525, 515 progression.  You then use that with your running data to pick a new prop.  I agree with @Dacon62 on prop selection from the information you have posted to date.  Air density at 5000' is 15% less than sea level.

Thanks for all the info guys.  The service manager over at Idaho Water Sports, the Malibu dealer in Nampa, near nationals last year, services boats up at Redfish (the higher of the two elevations I ski) and thinks the 515 is fine for up there for slalom, unless I was surfing a lot with ballast bags, etc.  Which we don't.  And particularly since we ski at Magic also, 1,300' lower.  I still would like to try both the 515 and 525, but not sure how I will pull that off with out paying for two props.  

[Michigan boarder]

On 8/20/2016 at 8:50 PM, sunvalleylaw said:

 

 

You have pitting on that bottom blade, which I think is a sign of cavitation.

My advice - buy the used 515 from Barefoot, and a new (or reconditioned) 525 locally or off Ebay.  One of them will end up being your primary prop, and the other will be your spare.  Then sell the prop in the picture.  Because either way, I don't think you want to keep that prop.  Just my two cents.

[sunvalleylaw]

On January 31, 2017 at 10:48 AM, Michigan boarder said:

You have pitting on that bottom blade, which I think is a sign of cavitation.

My advice - buy the used 515 from Barefoot, and a new (or reconditioned) 525 locally or off Ebay.  One of them will end up being your primary prop, and the other will be your spare.  Then sell the prop in the picture.  Because either way, I don't think you want to keep that prop.  Just my two cents.

I am going to do exactly this, and test from there.  Will take the current one off and see what is the standard, M, or MD to get an idea.  For some reason, I was being dense about what @Woodski was suggesting I do there.  Then will get rid of the steel one.  If I find that the 4,800 foot magic differs that much in performance than the 6500 foot redfish (actually, I find that 7,016 at Alturas will be the highest lake), then I may run the 515 early season and fall, when I am down at the reservoirs, and run the 525 up high during high season.  If I have both, may as well.  

Edited March 22, 2017 by sunvalleylaw

[sunvalleylaw]

Found an unused 525 and a used but good shape 515 from one seller, both shipped for $500 so that should work.  @Michigan boarder , the seller is in your part of the country, and is a skier, and a mechanic for a club that does show skiing in Wisconsin.  He soups up the motors and puts taller props on their boats all the time, for their show purposes.  So, seems legit. 

Edited March 22, 2017 by sunvalleylaw

[Michigan boarder]

10 hours ago, sunvalleylaw said:

Found an unused 525 and a used but good shape 515 from one seller, both shipped for $500 so that should work.  @Michigan boarder , the seller is in your part of the country, and is a skier, and a mechanic for a club that does show skiing in Wisconsin.  He soups up the motors and puts taller props on their boats all the time, for their show purposes.  So, seems legit. 

Sounds legit!  I've bought and sold stuff from and to show skiers (I'm one as well), and I am impressed with the comraderie among the groups.  It's an incredible dedication to the whole boating & towing lifestyle.  I was just thinking about our team on the way in to work this morning and I can't wait to get back at it again.

Our twin engine Hydrodyne is in Wisconsin right now getting outfitted with a slightly used set of 275's.

[sunvalleylaw]

I am buying with a card on Paypal for the Paypal protection anyway, to be safe.  But am confident.  He seems like a nice guy.

[sunvalleylaw]

19 minutes ago, Michigan boarder said:

Sounds legit!  I've bought and sold stuff from and to show skiers (I'm one as well), . . .

Cool. It will be nice to get the prop upgraded.  Here is the extent of my show skiing.  (LOL!)  Circa late July, 1980's sometime (85?), on a saturday afternoon at Hood Canal, WA, after the afternoon thermals were up.  Behind an old 1980 Glastron with a 115 Evinrude.  I am the kid on skier's right.   Tami, up on top, had a hell of an old school wake crossing position and pull.  Her Dad, typically skied on his old Maharaja.

 

Edited March 22, 2017 by sunvalleylaw

[footndale]

11 hours ago, sunvalleylaw said:

Found an unused 525 and a used but good shape 515 from one seller, both shipped for $500 so that should work.  @Michigan boarder , the seller is in your part of the country, and is a skier, and a mechanic for a club that does show skiing in Wisconsin.  He soups up the motors and puts taller props on their boats all the time, for their show purposes.  So, seems legit. 

Which club or person?

[sunvalleylaw]

I didn't ask which club, and would want to ask permission before I mentioned him on the Internet.

Edited March 22, 2017 by sunvalleylaw

[footndale]

Just now, sunvalleylaw said:

I didn't ask which club, and would want to ask permission before I mentioned him on the Internet.

No need, just my area. Most clubs use the 525 on Malibu responses. I suppose some could use a 4 blade if they didn't need top end speed.

[SkiPablo]

11 hours ago, sunvalleylaw said:

Found an unused 525 and a used but good shape 515 from one seller, both shipped for $500 so that should work.  @Michigan boarder , the seller is in your part of the country, and is a skier, and a mechanic for a club that does show skiing in Wisconsin.  He soups up the motors and puts taller props on their boats all the time, for their show purposes.  So, seems legit. 

it would be cool if you can update how these props differ when you test them out

[sunvalleylaw]

4 minutes ago, SkiPablo said:

it would be cool if you can update how these props differ when you test them out

Will do.  As I said before, I ski early season at about 4,800 feet (Magic Res), and plan to go back to Anderson Ranch Res, at 4,196 feet, then later in the year ski at about 6,500 feet (Redfish Lake) and 7016 feet (Alturas Lake).  Depending on how my boat responds, I may swap out props for the part of the season when I am up at the high lakes a lot, or just pick the best of the two overall, and keep the other as a spare.  

[sunvalleylaw]

2 hours ago, footndale said:

Which club or person?

The club is Rock Aqua Jays, and the seller is their mechanic.  Looks like a cool club!  I need to get out to the midwest sometime.  

 

http://www.rockaquajays.org/

[footndale]

12 minutes ago, sunvalleylaw said:

The club is Rock Aqua Jays, and the seller is their mechanic.  Looks like a cool club!  I need to get out to the midwest sometime.  

 

http://www.rockaquajays.org/

That would of been my guess. You will have no problem with them. They switched to Ski Nautiques a few years ago but still has one Malibu. They usually used the 525.

[sunvalleylaw]

Well, after a somewhat slow start to our season in terms of projects, I got the old CVP (No M, MD or anything I could see) swapped out and put on the 515.  Ran it for the first time yesterday at Magic.  The boat seemed to have no problem getting right up to 5000 rpms, and was topping out at around 44-45 with a crew of two and a lot of ski gear.  I would guess I would get a couple more MPH if it were just me, as it was when I tested the CVP.  Gas tank was about 1/2.  So, will see how it works at the higher lakes to see if I have any reason to run the 525.  But if it holds RPMs in this range, I think I am good with the 515. I did not really get to test top speed and WOT for too long, as Magic had a lot of wood in it, and I did not want to risk WOT for very long.  We did find a pretty clean side of the lake to ski, but still was like Puget sound after a big tide.  Fortunately, we came away unscathed.  Did catch one little stick at slow speed and heard a little crunch, but no apparent damage.

The rpms did change at the running and towing speeds as compared the the CVP.  rather than about 1 to 1, it seemed to be about 3500 rpms to hold 34, around 3300 rpms to hold 32, etc.  

Hole shot seemed great, boat seems smooth and strong with this prop so far.  

Edited July 4, 2017 by sunvalleylaw

[UWSkier]

sounds about right.  13x12 will give you almost exactly 100:1 RPM/Speed readout.  Maybe 95:1.  13x11 will be more like 105:1

[Gavin17]

I have a 13x12 for sale in the classifieds. 

 

Edit, mine is 13x 12.5.  

Edited July 5, 2017 by Gavin17

[Woodski]

@sunvalleylaw:  My 515 runs just under 100:1 RPM:Speed, so 36 mph is 3500 RPM, etc.  My CVP M was right on 100:1 so I would have guessed slightly lower RPM's but water temp / viscosity / sediments  do have an effect on prop slip.  You might want to compare your tach to PP tach reading, would not surprise me if off a bit.

[sunvalleylaw]

42 minutes ago, Woodski said:

@sunvalleylaw:  My 515 runs just under 100:1 RPM:Speed, so 36 mph is 3500 RPM, etc.  My CVP M was right on 100:1 so I would have guessed slightly lower RPM's but water temp / viscosity / sediments  do have an effect on prop slip.  You might want to compare your tach to PP tach reading, would not surprise me if off a bit.

I don't have Perfect Pass.  But I do have something called SL Cruise/BTS speed control, which is a tach based system and appears to be the beta max of speed control that existed back when Perfect Pass was first coming on line.  Apparently Gordon Rathbun used the system down in Acapulco back in the day.  It has a LCD display, and perhaps I can see what it reads.  I also thought about trying to verify some speeds with my Garmin GPS watch.  Not sure if that will work, but wanted to play with it anyway.  Hoping at some point to find a used Perfect Pass to put in or just bite the bullet and get one. Preferably with Stargazer and Z-box.  It looks a bit easier to use than this old BTS thing.

Edited July 6, 2017 by sunvalleylaw

[sunvalleylaw]

After thinking about it, I am going to go ahead and try the 525 anyway since I have it and see how I like that one.  But the 515 was a HUGE improvement over the old CVP.  

[TxDiveMaster]

On 7/6/2017 at 0:53 PM, sunvalleylaw said:

Hoping at some point to find a used Perfect Pass to put in or just bite the bullet and get one. Preferably with Stargazer and Z-box.  It looks a bit easier to use than this old BTS thing.

 

New to forum.  I bought a used Stargazer with Zbox from a neighbor on our lake and he had a 2003 Response.  Anyways, I own a 93 Mastercraft Prostar so the gauges did not match up and I had to buy a 3.5" for my boat.  I am looking to sell an almost brand new perfect condition Malibu Stargazer display (less than 1 yr old) to try and offset the cost of the MC display I had to buy to make it work for my boat.  Just LMK if interested.