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Can Mercury Enertia prop slip?

C

cozmos

New member
I have a 09 Bryant 210 with a 4.3 and alpha 1 outdrive it has 244 hrs on it. Today going about 25 mph it laid down in the water my first thought was I just lost my prop but the rpm's didn't spike real high. There where no funny noises didn't feel like it poped out of gear. It has the Mercury Enertia prop is there anything there that could slip? After it did this we drove back across the lake slowly 15-20 mph no problems. any ideas? sorry if it takes me a minute to get back thanks.
 
outdrive 2.JPGI check the hub it has a little play I don't think it's enough to slip I cant seem to get a pic to upload sorry, prop is pretty clean as far as nicks in it. there we go
 
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From what I can see in your pic.... There are a lot of dings in the leading edge and looks like burn marks on the blade at the 6 o'clock position.

Are all the plugs solid on the prop or do they have vent holes?
 
Docksidemarineservices said:
From what I can see in your pic.... There are a lot of dings in the leading edge and looks like burn marks on the blade at the 6 o'clock position.

Are all the plugs solid on the prop or do they have vent holes?
Click to expand...

Blow up the picture and you can see that they are still ported...seems to be the largest opening of the rubber plugs.
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On the basic problem, if you are underway you have the engine loaded and at 25 mph you are on plane meaning you have a significant enough load on the engine and if the prop hub started slipping to the point that the boat settled in the water you would have an engine racing........without engine RPMs increasing, you don't have a prop problem!

Look elsewhere.
 
I just learned about the PVS plugs not sure why but it has two large hole ones and a closed one lol it came that way. But never had any trouble till the last time out . not sure why we made it all the way back with no trouble.
 
You should have solid plugs in the prop... The vents are not needed for your application. I think your issue is cavitation. Doubt you spun the hub with a 4.3 Alpha....

When a prop cavitates it breaks loose from the water. All the small dings in your prop will cause cavitation.
 
Docksidemarineservices said:
You should have solid plugs in the prop... The vents are not needed for your application. I think your issue is cavitation. Doubt you spun the hub with a 4.3 Alpha....

When a prop cavitates it breaks loose from the water. All the small dings in your prop will cause cavitation.
Click to expand...




I purchased some solid plugs today. Is it common for people to use different plugs wouldn't you want the same plug in all holes? well going to block all of them and run it.
 
cozmos said:
I purchased some solid plugs today. Is it common for people to use different plugs wouldn't you want the same plug in all holes? well going to block all of them and run it.
Click to expand...

At lower speeds when activated, could lead to vibrations that disappeared at higher speeds. Since one is odd, possibly one of the 3 ported plugs was damaged/lost and the only one the PO had were the solids and one of those was installed. ??????
 
cozmos said:
here is a close up the nicks are pretty smallView attachment 27861
Click to expand...

I would have commented on nicks had I been able to see any in your original picture. In short I don't see them as a problem. The other thing is that cavitation consists of air bubbles created by the vacuum created on the back side of the blades as the prop blade pushes against water. The thrust is via the front side of the blade. Unlike Ventilation whereby air is sucked in from the surface of the water (aka reason for the Anti Ventilation plate just above the prop) and reduces the density of the water into which the front side of the propeller thrusts itself, thus decreasing its effectiveness. Cavitation to me is no big deal, especially on what I see in your pictures and I have seen some pretty chewed up props working well enough to be ignored. But I have limited experience with the subject, unlike someone certified and working in the area on a daily basis.
 
I took the boat out no issues today and the solid plugs helped a lot. Thanks everyone for the info it was very helpful.
 
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