Heres the deal, Ive got a 23 mini HD with heads, carb, intake, exhaust. Pretty much a stage 1 with maybe a teeny extra, from evt. I originally had the 11x10 when it was stock and I ran 4050 by myself at around 26-27mph. 4 people it would bog down and fall on its face usually. After the upgrades I bought a new 11x10 and a new big blade to test. Neither by themselves showed any increase in speed over the stock motor (really bummed me out) even though I could turn 4400 without blowing out. Putting the big blade on gave me much better holeshot but no extra speed so I left it on there. While still turning the big blade at 4400 I decided to get a lil prop work done to bring it done and hopefully find the speed thats missing somewhere. I get the prop back in from Hopkins Prop (added 2 inches of cup I think) and the top speed by myself was 25 and rpms at 3750! If that! I took some Ice chests to fill with water, and with 350lbs + me, were talkin around 33-3400. Not good. I could trim the motor way up and bump 3900 by myself while maintaining speed but it was trying to blowout and the vibrations are terrible. Im worried I may have done some irrepairable work to the big blade. What direction do I go from here, is there an obvious mistake I missed? Im getting tired of fooling with it and want to get the stage 1 to perform like it should.

I forgot to add, with the drop in rpms on the load, I was still only pushing 23mph. I wouldve have liked the rpm drop if it added some speed or load carrying, but it didnt at all.

Went and ran the modified big blade and the stock new 11x10 side by side to make sure it wasnt my motor.

11x10
One person 27mph steady at 4350-4400
Me + 480lbs of water 23mph bumping 24 at 4050

Modified Big Blade
One person 25mph at 3750-3800 (could go tad higher, no speed gain but vibrated really bad)
Me + 480lbs of water 22-23mph 3300ish

The smaller prop got on step with the load much faster than the big prop, seemed like it bogged it down real bad. This was the complete opposite result than the original big blade vs the 11x10.

are u sure he added cup? ive been told by several people to never add any more cup to the big blade just have it repitched.

Sounds about right to me...Went a lil heavy on the pitch, you just don't have the power to swing a blade like that. If you would have added some pitch on the 11x prop, you may have picked up some speed. More pitch=less hole shot usually though. Coupled with a larger diameter, your motor just can't turn it...

May get someone with a modded 35 to pick it up from you though. I think DB8 said that is the recipe he uses on his motor, BB with 2 in of extra pitch. His motor has the power to swing it, and it helps keep him off the rev limiter on the cdi...

i have a BB ill swap ya if you wanna get rid of the prop

Well, ther you go

Sounded to me like the bb worked best for you. The numbers you posted with it, I think you should be happy with. If you want to get more speed, try pitching a smaller prop. 12" is a lot for that lil 23 to turn, mod's or not. Pitching a smaller prop, you're probably gonna loose some load carrying and hole shot, but you may get some empty speed if that's what your looking for.

The purpose of all this was to gain some 4 man torque so that I wouldnt have problems with it. Id be willing to part with some top end to get it. Do yall think the stock bb is the way to go for this? I just want to get a load moving from a stop. I'm guessing holeshot is what I'm after. So the bb would fit the bill here? And P.S. if the stock BB does turn out to be what I need I'd be glad to switch with you as long as its new. Ill do an even swap since I had a couple hours on it before the work. Ive got 300 into the prop, just don't want to be stuck with it! Thanks.

the way it sounds u didnt gain any speed from the BB but u gained holeshot. if u didnt loose any performance going to the BB i would go with that.

my prop isnt new, i have 28 hrs on my motor and most of it is clear water running. it still measures right at 12.25. if you end up wanting to go that route send me a pm and i can send u some pics of it or we can work something out on a swap. it will save me from sending my big blade to hopkins for the repitch

I would say a bigger diameter prop with less pitch is what is gonna throw the boat up out of the water, but it will top out at lower speeds. Smaller prop with more pitch should give you higher top end, but probably less hole shot. The big blade is a good compromise to top end and bottom end, if you can turn it (which it sounds like you can) that's what I would run.

With the props, you kinda have to pick your poison. You cannot have it all. You can keep playing with different one's and spend lots of money, but I doubt you'll find anything that works much better with your particular set up.

Just kinda an afterthought. On the mb's you can play with your gears. Have you tried this yet? You may try posting over there on that site and see if anyone would recommend a gear swap. I'm sure you sacrifice something, but maybe that would help you be able to use the prop you have.