Triton 179 TRX w/ 115 Merc Optimax

[ARoe90]

Just bought a new Triton 179 TRX and my 115 ProXS came with a generic 3 blade aluminum prop and I am wanting to upgrade it. I talked to Mercury and they suggest the Spitfire X7 4 blade but my question is would I see much of a performance difference switching to this Spitfire in stainless vs aluminum with a 115 or would the difference be so small that I could go with aluminum and save some extra money (looking at almost $300 difference)?

[cojab]

I'm not sure of the performance difference between alluminum and stainless. I always thought stainless was better more for durability reasons.
I could see where alluminum might flex a little resulting in some loss of performance.
I'll be watching this thread to learn something as well.

[Princeton_Man]

Some big differences between aluminum and stainless. Aluminum blades flex and damage easily. Stainless is much more durable and will take a lot of punishment before you have to have them repaired. A 4 blade will give you a lot better hole shot and get you on plane faster. A 4 blade gives you a lot more bite on the water so it's a better prop in rough water and resists sliding on the curves. It's typical to loose 1-2 mph top end using a 4 blade. Personally, I prefer a stainless prop and I prefer a 4 blade. -Jim

[ARoe90]

So would the main difference be the durability of the prop? I also have ready that if you hit something with a stainless you've got a high possibility of taking out your entire lower unit while if you hit something with an aluminum you will just break the prop...not sure how valid that is.

[Princeton_Man]

Depending on what you hit, it's always possible you could damage a lower unit regardless of the prop material. Of course a dry one inch diameter tree limb below the surface could take out an aluminum prop. What kind of water will you be fishing? We have a member here who's a prop guy, maybe he'll see this and chime in.

I'm not sure how I'd weigh the difference because to me the performance properties are equally as important as the strength.

[ARoe90]

Sounds good! I would also guess that in case going from a generic 3 blade aluminum to a stainless performance 4 blade might improve my situation on all categories and not just hole shot, then again I have no clue, which is why I'm asking lol.

[HOLESHOTPROPELLER]

Not sure how a 4 blade would run on it but alot of guy's with a 115 pro xs end up running a merc laser prop

[DeepV]

The spitfire was designed to bridge the gap between 3 blade and 4 blade and the x7 has more cupping than the aluminum. As far as damage in under the impression the plastic hub in the flow torq kit will break before your gears do.