Help, Captiva 232 owners

lilcaptain

I recently picked up a 2002 captiva 232 with a 5.0 2 barrel carb, which seems to be a bit under powered, the prop it has now is a 14x19 p three blade aluminum. The boat will do 42 mph at 4600 rpm(max rpm) with just me,10 gallons of fuel, and a six pack in it. With kids and friends tubing, wakeboarding, and skiing I am shopping for a new prop to cruise and do water sports. There are a lot of choices out there for props, but I was hoping to gain some knowledge from other 232 owners and save the time /money trying to select the perfect prop. What prop do you run? I don't mind paying for the right prop I just don't wanna buy two or three guessing. Thank you in advance

PartsMan

alpha drive? 19p seems fine to me ... up grade to a Stainless Steel blade

lilcaptain

Partsman thanks for the suggestion. Yes it's a alpha 162:1 and the boat runs great until I try to pull a tube and have 600 lbs or more of passengers. I am looking for a prop to get up on plane a little quicker and stay on plane at a lower speed if possible? I am not sure that a stainless of the same size would be enough improvement on hole shot. The top end speed is not that important but I would like to stay within my rpm range.

mvn

Do you have trims tabs?

Mark

nhsd

Try a slightly smaller 4 blade. I have a 212 Captiva with the same engine and run a 20 pitch Alpha 4 aluminum prop. With a bigger boat I would suspect an 18 pitch would be great. The 4 blade is helpful for staying on plane at a slower speed and is better for water sports.

lilcaptain

Thanks NHSD I would like to try a 4 blade turning point hustler which comes in 17 or 19 pitch. I believe I'll go with the 17 since I will be adding a blade, but their website suggests to stay with the same pitch. Aluminum may be a better choice for me since we are in the allegheny resevoir. What are you top end speeds with your two props?

lilcaptain

Update: I decided to go with the turning point hustler 4 blade 17 pitch although I was a little skeptical of the claims. The prop was purchased here from iboats with the hub kit for 151.00 (shipping was a slow, but got it) installing the prop took 5 minutes and went for a ride. Turning point claims faster plane and better handling so I put them to the test. With a full tank of fuel 70 gallons and 8 people (approx 1300 lbs) I pushed it to the firewall, 15 seconds to plane out, just what this boat needed. Now I was worried about the rpms when empty. Here is my comparison: 14.5x19 3 blade merc prop: 14.5x17 4 blade TP: Top speed 42 at 4600 rpm empty : TP 34 at 4700 rpm full load; Plane time 15 sec empty.. 60 sec loaded.: Tp 5 sec empty..15 sec loaded: Water sports blowout on tight turns.: TP Can't make it blowout with 2 person tube: Couldn't get over 4600 rpm.: TP Have to watch rpms when empty(4800 plus): This prop is perfect for a second prop to use for water sports, it does use more fuel and you loose some top speed but ya cant have it all. If you are looking for a all purpose prop I think NHSD is 100% correct an 18 pitch 4 blade would be a good compromise.