Home › Forums › Bass Cat Boats › Thanks to KABCOT: SabreFTD and Performance Propellers from the Show Me State
Jstew.
Back in June I had the chance to talk with Bob Lipton from Performance Propellers whos out of the SHOW ME STATE in Missouri. They guy is a racing guru and is interesting at the least regarding boat performance. Its was one of those side benefits you get while attending a BassCat regional OI event. Also, I think they were a sponsor at Kabcot. GRR884 or Clint correct me if Im wrong. Anyway, what a nice guy and he sure impressed me enough for his company to SHOW me what they could do with my dinged up 24p Tempest Plus on my SabreFTD. Anyone who has had dinged up props will appreciate the pics below. He said he could make it look brand new and add performance to my stated goals. Well for the last four months its been sitting in my garage starring at me and I just didnt have the mojo to get out in the Alabama summer heat to fish or run my boat. Well the time is now and Im looking forward to putting my prop to the test starting tomorrow. Wont be conclusive because it requires time on the water. I had the prop B&B with added cup to actualize more bow lift on my SabreFTD. If I get more speed fine but am not doing this for that specific reason. I want to find more lift for my SabreFTD with two in the boat at the motor height I know works great when I fish solo. I do realize there are differences between the solo and dual passengers but I want to see if this prop will offer me the best for both worlds. In the past I had challenges getting the bow up to run full WOT because of WPSI challenges with two in the boat and tournament load. Performance Propellers feel they can help me with this so Ill have fun dialing in this prop. At worst my prop is balanced which has long term lower unit benefits. In the pics below check out the two tone finish on the prop. The blades have a satin finish for additional bite for more potential speed. Sounds good Ill find out. Not all props and boats are the same so Ill reserve thoughts on this. However, I like the racing related performance detail. Cant wait to get out and try it. Oh, Ill be fishing too. See the added cup on the top edge of the prop and no more dings or burs on the blades edgesSee the polished barrel/cylinder and the satin finished blades…. Not the best picsOne more pic
Bob is an honorable man and a nice guy!
let us know the results!!
Tom – reading this, and owning a Sabre, I think I understand what youre saying. My boat has two different personalities depending on loading. Me alone with 1/2 tank of gas and empty wells – the boat is a rocket ship that lifts and handles like a go-cart. Put in a partner, his stuff, fill the gas tank and livewell – I dont get the lift and punch. It made sense to me when I saw a picture of my boat running WOT at a tourney blastoff run. It wasnt lifting. Way too much hull in the water. The stern wasnt coming up. A month ago – I found a 24p early small barrel A40 Trophy. This prop rocks. With the thinner blades & barrel, Im turning the same 5700 rpms in the heat as my 24 Tempest Plus. I think Im getting a little too much lift and can go up on the plate for more rpms. Fully tourney loaded – my spray line is straight out the back, not the corners. My holeshot is better loaded. I may have lost 1mph light – but how often do I run that way? Most of the time, I run loaded, and its faster heavy than the Tempest Plus. Tourney loaded, Im +2mph. No more split personality for the Sabre. The bonus is – if you like the way the Sabre handles with a 3 blade – try it with a 4. It feels light and nimble regardless of the load Im carrying. Im wondering what a little prop doc tuning may do with this one….Last edited by jstew on October 19th, 2013, 3:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Very interested in this subject as I am looking to possibly buy a Sabre FTD with the Merc Optimax Pro XS 150HP and want the best possible prop on it. I will run most of the time with a medium load, split between solo and with a passenger.Dan
Bob was just an attendee at KABCOT.
jstew wrote:Tom – reading this, and owning a Sabre, I think I understand what youre saying. My boat has two different personalities depending on loading. Me alone with 1/2 tank of gas and empty wells – the boat is a rocket ship that lifts and handles like a go-cart. Put in a partner, his stuff, fill the gas tank and livewell – I dont get the lift and punch. It made sense to me when I saw a picture of my boat running WOT at a tourney blastoff run. It wasnt lifting. Way too much hull in the water. The stern wasnt coming up. A month ago – I found a 24p early small barrel A40 Trophy. This prop rocks. With the thinner blades & barrel, Im turning the same 5700 rpms in the heat as my 24 Tempest Plus. I think Im getting a little too much lift and can go up on the plate for more rpms. Fully tourney loaded – my spray line is straight out the back, not the corners. My holeshot is better loaded. I may have lost 1mph light – but how often do I run that way? Most of the time, I run loaded, and its faster heavy than the Tempest Plus. Tourney loaded, Im +2mph. No more split personality for the Sabre. The bonus is – if you like the way the Sabre handles with a 3 blade – try it with a 4. It feels light and nimble regardless of the load Im carrying. Im wondering what a little prop doc tuning may do with this one….Jeff, Split/Personality is good way of explaining how the Sabre / SabreFTD performs if you start to make adjustments. Kudos friend because you want to find that sweet spot. To lurkers considering BassCat Sabre these comments should not be taken as a negative but rather my opinion to the characteristic to how these boats perform in different situations. Others may have different experiences. IMO the Sabre has a nose down feel until you get bow lift while on plane. This is not bad but rather the characteristic of the boat. Conversely, when I had my 2010 Eyra its completely different. There is more natural bow lift with that hull. I had a Yamaha T1 prop with that setup. That combo made it feel like I couldnt see the horizon getting on plane after coming out of my Sabre and PIV. Again, not bad but rather the characteristic of the hull/prop combo. I was incorrectly assuming something was wrong with the hull. I went to a Fury prop and it leveled things out. WOT the Fury is freaky fast and strong! However, the Fury can limit my Sabre bow lift if my motor is to high. It can result loosing to much WPSI thus preventing you to fully actualize RPMS to get to WOT. All fixable with motor height adjustments. Lowering my motor will fix this to maintain good WPSI. Yes, there are nuances to finding the right balance. In general factory specs are set just fine for most applications. However, if you want to tinker with your setup beware you may find your boat has a split personality. My worked prop from Bob Lipton at Performance Propellers has improve my Sabre FTDs bow lift. Its noticeable. I was not able to open up to WOT because it was raining most of the time I was on the water. I cant wait to get my bro out with me to see how it does. To be continued
GRR884 wrote:Bob was just an attendee at KABCOT.Gary, thanks for that correction. After this repair hell get my props if they ever need to be repaired or worked. My Tempest looks brand new!
Here are some better pics of my repaired Tempest Plus.
Flyswatter wrote: To lurkers considering BassCat Sabre these comments should not be taken as a negative but rather my opinion to the characteristic to how these boats perform in different situations.I shouldve been considerate of this as well. To those considering – its an 18 rocket ship thats seen 67 gps with a fresh out of the box 24 Tempest on a 150efi Merc running light. Not too many other 18 class boats that can deliver this level of performance. Loaded however it ran 61. Considering the additional weight was 350-450 lbs – maybe an acceptable drop. With the A40 trophy, same load, Im running 63. Still havent had a chance to move the plate around or run it light with the new prop. Last edited by jstew on October 20th, 2013, 4:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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