Four blade Vs. 3 blade props pros cons

Four blade will usually give you more stern lift and more bite in a heavy sea, if that's what you are after. I'm running a stock three blade yamaha prop on my sneakbox, never thought to try a four blade.
 
Most of the guys that I know that use them are using them on larger offshore center consoles to generate stern lift and push the bow down, but it does sacrifice speed. It also adds 'bite' or lessens the likelihood of cavitation in rough seas.

Of course this is all for larger vessels. Not sure how it would effect a sneakbox.
 
You generally lose some top-end speed with a four blade prop. Your hole shot and boat control in turns is improved, since your motor is spinning more blade surface area.
 
The 3 blade will typically give you more speed and a quicker "hole shot" than a 4 blade. A 4 blade will typically give you a smoother ride and better economy.

Like craig said, this applies mostly to larger boats since economy and smoothness is really irrelevant when pushing a couple hundred pounds in a 12 foot platform.

I run a 3 blade with 9" pitch (9" of pitch means that how far you move in one revolution) and get 22-25 mph top end depending on load. Based on where I hunt I look for the cheaper prop since it gets beat up in skinny water.
 
I just switched my 30 horse Honda from 3 blade to 4 , i went with a lower pitch but a larger dia which seems to work well with a good load in my Cackler , i am still not used to the loss at top end but at 28 miles an hour on the gps for a 14 foot boat i can live with it . Good Luck
 
My brother just changed over to four fins on his forty etec... I think I am going with the same diameter and 10 pitch instead of 11. The prop on the is pretty dinged up so I think less pitch and and new prop will do the trick
 
William ,

From what remember reading if you up the number of blades they recommend dropping back on the pitch Honda manual said i could go to a 10 inch from 9 inch dia and i had a 9x12 now i run a 10x11 4 blade Aluminum . There is a huge difference in rpm's i have noticed it does make the boat slower but the trade off when weighted down is well worth it .
 
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