I got a new 36 HP PD last summer to run on a 16' GatorTrax with an added 20" hunt or sport deck. For the first half of duck season it was scooting. I would guess with me, my youngest son and a buddy of his (roughly 660 pounds before clothes, waders, guns, decoys, etc.), we were going in the high 20's at 3950 - 4050 rpm with my son in the front, his buddy in the middle and me in the back. A couple of times I had a fourth person, and I think we were still going in the low 20's if not the mids. Then I had some engine issures, carb icing I think, water in gas, etc. After getting all that taken care of though, at any rpm I want to try including 3050 -4050, I would guess that I am not going faster than 20, if I'm even hitting that, with just 2 people in the boat, and to do that I have to put both of us in the back of the boat to get that fast otherwise we're just ploughing water. Bottom line I'm not running but 50% - 65% as fast as I was at same rpm and having to change my weight distribution to do that.

I called KP, and he opined that I had either worn the prop down too much or that I had scarred the edges of the prop. I measured and prop was fine. I looked and the edges of the prop are scarred but I wouldn't have thought it would have been enough to make that kind of difference. (I did remember running over a gravel road several times when I had forgot to pull up the collar, so the motor didn't kick up when I hit it.)

Have any of you had any experience with this, an opinion or a suggestion? Should I buy a new prop, rebuild what I've got or what? Should I go to a stainless steel?

Are both cylinders firing? Compression?

Just get a new one and run it to see. Always good to have a spare prop on hand anyway even if its used.

Both cylinders are firing and have compression I'm pretty sure. That was something they checked when I was having the enginge problems which is a whole other story. (The local PD dealer has a mechanic certified to work on the unit but not the engine, and the certified Briggs mechanic they send them to for engine work has only worked on lawnmowers and does know you know what from shinola about how the engines are set up on PD's, e.g., he said someone could void the warranty because the governor had been fiddled with to allow the engine to go over 3750 rpm.) I am going to have to have it serviced before duck season, so I'll have them check that again just to make sure. (A different guy, my regular mechanic, checked the compression.)

What is the compression at? I know you said you had it checked, but sometimes an auto mechanic would be looking for lower numbers. Low compression would def make you lose power.

Oh, and the stock prop should have already been stainless...

Actually I had my outboard motor and boat repairman check it as well as the Briggs guy. I'm sure they told me what the compression was, but I'm really nonmechanical, and I don't remember what they said.

I actually asked the dealer about getting a stainless steel prop when I got the motor and he told me I wouldn't need it. I always run stainless props on outboard motors and wish I had got one on my PD.

All the PD props are stainless.....The one you have is stainless!!!!!

They are stainless. By scarring I take it you mean some dings, I have had them on my props and never really noticed that they made any difference in performance. They were not really bad though.

gravel roads are hell on 1/8ths aluminum, you think your hull may be janked up?

Yeah, its def worth looking at but may not be the only culprit.

Being that you never really gps'd it, its kinda hard to say what you really lost. 4-5mph will feel like a lot. Even riding in to the wind vs with the wind feels faster, though its more likely slower. I know I've riden in my boat when it didn't "feel" like I was movin and pulled out the gps and I was actually going the same speed as normal.

Also, I forgot to mention that my speed estimates may not be accurate as to exact speeds as they are estimates, but the ratios of before and after would be. Bottom line I'm going roughly 60% as fast with comparable boat loads as I was going before at the same rpm.

What all was done to the engine to fix your problems? Sounds like your valves are leaking if you have the RPMS but not the power. Ask whoever worked on your motor what they did if you don't know. Oh and I bet you 10 million thousand gazillion dollars that your werent running close to 30 MPH with 3 people with a stock motor in that gatortrax boat, probably more like 25.

Whatever you hit with your pd prop would have probably destroyed an outboard prop, I'm guessing you ran across something metal underwater, or if by chance your prop has a flaw in the steel, it could probably wear like that.

What work was done to the motor?

Where are you located?

I checked the bottom of my boat, and it is smooth as a baby's behind.

I went across a gravel road several times in real shallow water and had forgotten to lift the collar so that the motor would kick up.

I live in Batesville, Arkansass.

The short answer to the motor trouble is that I think I started out with some carb icing problems when the weather got really cold, e.g., one day we were hunting one day in 5 degree weather. Then the motor sounded okay, but the boat was just wallowing, then the motor started cutting out pretty badly. I kept having problems with water getting in my gas even though I was buying gas without ethanol, added the Marine Sta-Bil, and have a gas-water filter installed.

Since the dealer didn't have a Briggs certified mechanic, he had to send it to a local guy who bascially never worked on anything other than lawnmowers. Now I know that ought to be okay, but this idiot said that the warranty was probably cancelled because someone had changed the governor where the rpms were too high. (The governor was set at the factory and would do about 4300 rpm when it was not under a load. I found out that the max rpm on lawn mowers is aroung 3750.) He even said there was water in the oil, and I damn sure don't see how that was possible. The bottom line is that he said none of this was under warranty. (He gets 1/2 price for his warranty work I found out.) In short, I don't have a clue this guy knows what he's doing, but I can't use my regular mechanic who is extraordinarily good because he's not certified with Briggs nor is the mechanic at the dealership where I bought it.

I did start it up last night when I checked the boat hull, and it was hitting 4240 rpm sitting on the trailer, but it was cutting in and out.

My wife did take the photos last night, and I will put them on here if I can figure out how to do that.

Thanks for your help and thought.

I would call PD back and talk to Peck or KP and let them run you thru some things and see if they can help you get the warranty work done.

They are extremely helpful and have seen it all at one time or another.

And if you want help here, answer owen's question... Have you done ANY work to motor, or had someone do work to the motor? If so, what?

post a pic of the prop....

what are you OOW WOT RPM's now? And WOT RPM'S in the water? (if you posted already I missed it...)

I know you ran it last night and the motor was cutting in and out, but is it bumping the govenor or was it cutting out? Describe the cutting in and out a little more.

GPS speeds would be helpful. "Feeling" can be very deceiving.. I know you feel you are only getting 60%, but it is really hard to tell sometimes... I have looked down at my gps and been shocked both ways....

Are you losing Power or just Speeds? get up on plane the same? There a lots of factors that can alter speed. Very minor placement issues in the boat can change a mph or two. I have moved an ice chest about 6 inches from just off center to center and picked up almost 2 mph. You could have several little things going on... I picked up about 6 mph one time by moving my spare gas cans to the back of the boat and having my uncle switch from facing forward to facing back.... These boat/motor combo's are very sensitive to weight distribution. Until you have gps and play around with it, you won't believe how much it effects you.

Good luck

Before problems with motor I was hitting 4300 rpm or better without a load and could get above 4100 rpm in the water. The boat ran best betweem 3950 amd 4050 rpm.

Last night the motor was hitting 4240 rpm at best without a load, and it has been running best at 3850 rpm in the water.

Let me assure everyone that I don't need gps readings or that this is a question of feel. I'm not talking about 2 or 3 mph difference. I'm talking 10 mph or better. I am being badly outrun by boats that I was badly outrunning. I was getting great performance with the same load every hunt with 3 people sitting front, middle and back of boat and now with just 2 people I'm having to put both of them in the back just to get it to plane out.

I'll post pictures of the prop if I can figure out how to do it or someone can tell me.

Oh, forgot the cutting out. It would be humming for a second or two and then cut way back for a second or two and this kept alterrnating. I was standing behind the boat holding the throttle on one side of the boat and my wife was on the other looking at the meter. She said the top rpm was 4240, but she didn't notice what the meter showed when it cut back.

My wife is trying to send the photos of the prop now. She's more tech by far than me.

You will play hell findinging a lawnmower shop that wants to work on it. They will come up with every excuse not to.

How many hours do you have on your prop?

If I were closer I'd let you try my prop to see. Maybe someone is close to you that can help. I still say just buy a new one. Never know when you gonna tear one up and a spare will come in handy one day.

Holy shit dude, you said you had motor issues but they were taken care of. I asked you what was done to the motor 2 times and you still won't answer. What gives??? When you are checking your neutral rpms you need to slowly roll the throttle up to wide open and you need to use the twist throttle so you can be in the boat and YOU can look at the RPMS on the tach.

Buy a new prop!

Well, turned on the motor tonight and no cutting out but 4160 without a load was all it hit.

could this cutting out be the govenor cutting in?.. they do that.. anyway buy a new prop and gps, and run it

Bring it down to conway I will help get it taken care of.


Chris