Re-propping a Suzuki DF140

[roycruse]

I don't have my boat yet but have been trawling the net looking at the various 3rd party prop manufacturers and trying to decide where to buy my first replacement / spare propeller.

It seems that the Suzuki DF140 engine has a low gear ratio for the size of engine of 2.38:1 which Suzuki claim means that it can turn a larger diameter prop.

The only problem is that all the third party manufacturers don't seem to have allowed for this and all the props available are of around the 13" diameter.

After finding a very interesting article on the piranha site http://www.piranhapropellers.com/bulletins/Suz4Stk.pdf stating that using a 13" prop will have no where near enough blade surface area when compared to the Suzuki original for the DF140 causing excess slip and cavitation and suggesting that you use their 4 blade hub with blades intended for their larger gear case model hubs. This all sounding like a very reasonable and logical argument.

This in my mind would leave only 2 choices :-
(1.) Only buy the 14" original Suzuki propellers
(2.) Get a piranha 4 blade as described in their article.

Suzuki original props are likely to be very expensive and harder to come by second hand and Piranha props seem to be very scarce in this country (and I'm not sure I like the idea of composite anyway)

So my question is what experience have all you other Suzuki DF140 owners had when re-propping your boats and how did the props you chose perform?

[Richard B]

Question is, what do you want from your spare prop?

Do you want the same size, but just a "cheap-get-you-home" prop in case of bushing failure?

Do you want a different size for performance testing?

I would wait until you know whether your 1st prop is the correct size or not, see if your boat will reach maximum revs at WOT, or if it's reaching max revs too early. Then you'll know if you're looking for a different size prop or a spare the same size.

OEM props are, IMHO, the way to go. Unfortunately they are expensive. Some aftermarket props are slightly cheaper, but I don't rate them for use as a main prop. I have a Pirhana composite as a spare, but have never used it so I can't comment on their performance.

[roycruse]

Yes - this was my plan - once the engine is run in I was goping to replace the standard prop (I think it will be a suzuki 14 X 21 ally) with a stainless either 20 or 22 (if I i was buying Suzuki original) depending on as you say whether I feel I need to go up or down a pitch. This would then leave me my original ally prop as the spare.

I was just researching the possibility of third party props but seemed to be finding that there wasnt much choice when it came to this suzuki df140 engine.

Is anybody actually using a non suzuki prop on thier df140 - if so what is it and how do you find it?

[Richard B]

I think Alex Brown has a Solas s/s prop on his, IIRC.

I'm not the number one fan of Solas props though!

[Alex Brown]

Yeap, as Richard says, I have a Solas prop on my DF140.

If I remember right, it's 13/7/8" diameter, 21" pitch high rake.... The actual diameter looks pretty much the same as the suzuki original ali prop. I went for this prop cos apparently the high rake makes the prop nearer 22" or something - not sure exactly how it works.

The reason why I wanted stainless is cos the ali prop was starting to get tiny chips in it from river use - I've no idea how cos it never touches the ground (haven't yet anyway touch wood). Replacing the ali suzuki prop (genuine part now) works out about the same price as the stainless Titan prop so I figured I could go along with that.

If you like playing around and cornering hard at silly speeds, then the stainless is better than the ali with the water grip I find - also, it bites the water quicker after a brief amount of flight time whereas the ali prop takes maybe a fraction of a second longer.

Speed performance, well, err, the ali prop is about the same as the stainless at wot to be honest. Maybe the stainless gets me an extra half knot or something in perfect conditions, otherwise nothing that you'd notice much.

Richard had problems with his bush, but I hope, and assume that's cos his engine puts out a lot more power than mine - so far, I haven't seen any indication of failure on my prop. Every so often, I'll take the thing off, check it, re-grease and pop back on again to make sure it's all fine.
Locally, I don't bother carrying the spare ali prop with me on the boat, but I think if I went away for a weekend or over to Ireland or something then I maybe would.

If you're literally after a get me home prop, I'd get the cheapest ali prop you can find that will fit the suzuki. If you want something to last a bit longer and not show signs of general wear so much, I'd look at stainless anyway.....

-Alex

[roycruse]

Where did all the DF 140 owners go ???

Is there no one else running a DF140 with a non OEM prop that can tell me how it performs ?

[Burdick]

I also have a DF140 and need to change the standard prop that it came with. After 190hrs it is not as perfect as it should be and caught the odd sand bank. There are a good 1/2 doz DF140's in the marina where I berth and most seem to have S/S props. Will need to some more homework and also see what else this forum throws up.

[Jono Garton]

I wouldn't use a ss prop on a df 140!

I hit a rock at tick over revs and it did not damage the prop much at all, however it did snap the drive shaft at the krank end, ouch!

Id rather smash a prop than a drive shaft, is it worth it?

If anyone wants any df140 aly props i have a selection.

[Alex Brown]

Jono,

Can I ask what the approx cost was to fix the broken shaft?

Thanks,

-Alex

[Jono Garton]

It was cheaper for a new box than to rebuild the gearbox with new drive shaft. The Power Head had to come off to get the old shaft out.

All in all the bill came to about £3500