Mercury High Five

[catfishkiller]

Who out there is runnig a Mercury High Five Propeller? On what motor? What boat? Why did you settle on the High Flive and what propellers did you try prior to settling in on the High Five? Pros / Cons? Performance numbers? I'm looking to take the plunge and fork the dough to by a 20P for my 115 Suzuki. I'd love to hear if those that preceded me had good / bad results. Anyone have one they'd like to part with?

catfish
"the other fish"

[PJM]

Catfishkiller

The High Five is a prop known for it hole shot and getting your boat on plane fast. I would say its not the best backtrolling prop and you will loose some top end speed and with that said, what boat are you putting it on.

[hondo]

I agree with PJM. I've had a High Five on two boats, great hole shot, great handling with a load, not the fastest prop, not good in reverse.

My first boat came with a High Five and I left it on there. My second boat came with a High Five, which I changed to a Tempest (3 blade) after a while, which I later changed to a Rev 4 (4 blade) which I still have on the boat. The Rev 4 was the best all-around prop for me, holeshot and handling with a load, speed with a load, decent bite in reverse, etc.

I think it's hard to bite the bullet and buy a prop for your boat without testing it first, or at least knowing that it's a popular prop with guys that are running your EXACT SAME setup.

Have you consulted with your boat manufacturer? They probably have some good info for props for that motor on your boat.

[T Mac]

The High 5 has it's purposes. It will help in some circumstances (probably a few more, too)
1) A boat which is bow heavy.. or lists.
2) Stays "hooked up" better in big waves (especially running down wind)
3) Can improve hole shot - especially on boats with extreme deadrise.

But... it is slower on a problem-less boat in typical conditions because with 5 blades, it is inherently less efficient.

[wiredog]

Not sure the Hi Five will work on your engine. The hub diameter may be to large to match up to your lower unit!! Wiredog

[eye4aneye]

Not sure the Hi Five will work on your engine. The hub diameter may be to large to match up to your lower unit!! Wiredog


They make them in both hub sizes.

[propmann]

Pros / Cons? Performance numbers? I'm looking to take the plunge and fork the dough to by a 20P for my 115 Suzuki.

catfish
"the other fish"

Theirs two different types of prop guys out their. Ones that all they do is recommend the 5 hive think that is the best thing since sliced bread. And their me trying to talk most people out of them. Yes i'll amit their a place for them, but most of the time you can get a 4 blade to perform better. The high 5 may have 5 blades but if your where to total up the total suface area the four blade props have more, thus giving you better back trolling faster speeds better planing. I hear alot that people that have the high 5 have a hard time unloading their boat at the landing. Thats my 2 cents

[chompers]

Running a 19 pitch high five on a 150 hp merc opti on a 1785 sc yar craft great holeshot great bite in rough water not much in reverse gear top speed went down about 2 mph.

[catfishkiller]

I have an 04 115 suzuki, on a 620T, 25" shaft. With the flo-troq suzuki hub it'll fit quite well.

What interests me is the small diameter and overall small blade size of the high five. As with its poor backtrolling bite, it should also be much less efficient at idle in going forward. This should result in a much lower forward troll speed at idle which is one of my primary goals. Slow reverse trolling, due to the poor reverse movement efficiency of the high five, is actually an advantage. Us tiller guys like going slow backward. If you've ever ran the 115 suzuki, you'll agree that a minnkota vantage at half power is almost louder than the suzuki... My goal is to eliminate the need for a rear electric. As far as top end performance, I don't expect it to do better than 36-38mph. If I wanted 50 mph I'd a bought a 620 with a steering wheel. IMHO, As far as the over 115hp tiller boats go... don't it kinda defeat the purpose of a tiller?

catfish

[peter8]

Boat= Warrior 193 w/ 225 opti, 9.9 pro kicker,4 batteries, 3 anchors and "lots" of "stuff" . I have tried many props w/ the best over all performance coming from a 21p hi 5 or a DAH worked 20p hi 5 w/ a prop ring to make up for the small hub. Tried 19,21,23 Cabela's 3 blade ss = just plain no improvement in any category. 19,21p rev 4= great hook up (couldn't trim motor out of the water at speed) also couldn't turn prop past 5100 rpm's. 19,21 tempest= good hookup still couldn't turn past 51-5200 rpm's. All props w/ the PVS system were run in many different ways from solid plugs to no plugs. The hi5 stays hooked up in very nasty stuff,keeps me on plane at 16-18 mph,and believe it or not gives me the best top end= 51 gps @ 5450rpm's . For all the bad rap it gets for it's reverse tendancies once you run one you get used to what it will do on your particular rig and it's not that bad.

[frank]

I am running a 17 pitch Hi5 on a 150 HP Verado (tiller)/ Yarcraft 2095 combo. My dealer gave me 3, 4 and 5 blade Merc 17P props to test when I purchased my rig. I ran all 3 props and decided the Hi5 was the best fit for me. With 2 guys, gear, full tank of gas (36 gallons), 4 batteries and 1 live well full I get 43 MPH @ 6400 RPM, 1.5 MPH forward trolling @ 650 RPM (zero wind) and .8 MPH backtrolling @ 650 RPM (zero wind). With the same load/conditions, the 4 blade gave me 46 mph top end speed and 2.2 mph forward trolling. The 3 blade gave me 48.5 MPH top end speed and 2.4 MPH forward trolling.

My requirements were 1) ability to pull cranks forward tolling at 1.5-2.0 mph without using drift bags / drift socks or running and/or running your electric troll motor in reverse. I don’t want to have to monkey around with these options at 2AM (in the dark) when it’s 40 degrees and the wind is blowing 20 MPH. 2) ability to back troll with the main motor if my Vantage is out of juice. I fish some remote areas where electricity is not available to charge my trolling motor batteries 3) hole shot / stability in rough water. I don’t fish tournaments and I’m not a “gear head”, so top end speed was not a priority for me. Seems like most days I fish there is a good amount of wind and 1-3 footers, so I not going to be running 43 MPH anyway, and definitely not 48+ MPH.

Hope this helps.