Would a stainless prop make a diffrence for me?

[Choke Canyon Boy]

I have a 1999 Triton TR17 with a 115 Evinrude SPL. This boat came with a omc 14x17 aluminium prop. This is what evinrude recommends as far as pitch and such. I am happy with the performance of the boat. I can get it to 47 mph gps at 5500 rpm. The hole shot is also great. Oh the prop is a 3 blade. My question is what kind of performance gains can i expect by switching to a similar stainless prop? Do you think i can hit 50 and would the performance gains warrent the 300 dollar price tag?

[BigDBasser]

I'm no expert on this, but I'd say that if you get the same size and pitch of prop in stainless, you'd get the same performance out of it.  What you'd gain is a prop that doesn't bend everytime you hit a stump.  With the Al prop, even at idle speeds, the prop may bend when it strikes a solid object.  The stainless prop won't bend.  What you loose is the Al prop may bend but the chances of doing damage to the lower unit is less because of it.  With the stainless prop, the lower unit could be damaged if you hit something solid even if the prop doesn't bend.  When I had an Al prop, I always had a spare with me to change out if I bent it.  They were cheap enough to do this.  I fish in lakes with a lot of submerged stumps and stump fields so this was common.  Now that I have a stainless prop, if I bend it, my day is over because I'm going to the shop to have my lower unit checked out.  In 15 yrs running stainless props, I have only bent one, and it bent the prop shaft also. 

[Basscat7]

You may pick up 1 mph and slightly better holeshot, mostly due to the stainless prop not flexing like the aluminum prop will.

[Ron Fogelson]

Flex is the key as Basscat7 stated the top end should be better but the holeshot might be worse as a SS prop is going to be a bit more to turn then what you have been used to.

Every shop I talked to when I was looking for a SS prop to replace the factory prop on my old 75hp told me I needed to go down one pitch to turn it.  With a 115 it might not be as hard to jump from aluminum to SS but you will have to just test them out.

Find a good place that will let you do some tests before you purchase, but just know if it has any little ding/nick you bought it.   

[WRBass]

Stainless steel props have a lot of options to consider verses the stock aluminum prop. To take advantage of rake, cup, number of blades, diameter, pitch and exhaust bypass, you also need to have the prop running at the optimum height and set back.
Your Triton 175 should run around 50 mph, set up properly, with the correct SST prop. Is 50 mph worth $350? only you can answer that question.
WRB

[cmegee]

buy a stainless, try it you'll pick up a couple mph probably. Worst case you've now got two props, on stainless and a back up aluminum...

[WRBass]

Most prop shops will give you a loner to test before buying. Try a few before you decide what is best for your boat.
WRB