Re: one more prop question
You don't say what motor you're running, but Tiny makes a good analogy. Experienced bike riders will tell you that you'll wipe out your knee joints if you ride in too high a gear!
I'd say you're definitely lugging the motor with only 5000 rpm at WOT. As a mechanical engineer, I would say this is the worst thing you can do to any motor! At all throttle settings, it increases cylinder pressure, temperature and loads on the pistons, rings and bearings. That higher temperature will also tend to burn exhaust valves in 4 stroke engines. Even if you spin the flatter prop faster to get same cruise speed, I suspect the cylinder pressures and temps will be lower, so easier on the engine. Much better to let them spin up to full design speed with lighter loads. The 2-strokes have all needle bearings, so high rpm won't hurt them if they get enough oil. (Be wary of fuel starvation, like a plugged jet, on a pre-mix engine, since that's oil starvation too!)
I think the biggest danger with lugging an engine is that it's more octane sensitive and prone to detonation/pre-ignition (folks call it "pinging" in their car engines; the mixture explodes prematurely during compression stroke instead of burning following controlled ignition . . . what you hear is the valves rattling from the explosion!) If you're running ethanol gas, you should know that it's the ethanol that provides the octane. However if you get enough moisture in the fuel, the ethanol will combine with it and separate out, called "phase separation". When that happens the 87+ octane fuel you thought you had becomes something like 80 octane or less! If you have a 4-stroke, you'll at least hear the valves rattling , but if it's a 2-stroke, there are no valves to rattle, so the first indication you have it may be when it blows a hole in a piston!
Because the consequence of phase separation can be so severe, it's worth some extra effort to prevent and/or detect it. ALWAYS use a fuel stabilizer made for ethanol fuels, and run a good Racor-type 10 micron water separating filter with a bowl on it and check it frequently for water. The 2008 & later E-Tec's (and probably most newer motors) have a water sensor in the fuel system and they have a kit for installing it on older motors. If you find much water in the filter, need to ask why, because you may be at risk for phase separation! Denny
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