I like the big impellers, more thrust at a lower RPM. Lower RPM means better fuel milage and less wear on the engine.
Less wear on the engine...yes. Lower RPM = better fuel mileage...not exactly.
Fuel consumption is governed by how much power is being made, not by how fast or slow the engine spins. Remember this law of energy?
"Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only change form."
An engine converts combustion energy (the ignition and explosion of fuel and air within the cylinder) into reciprocating energy. It then converts the reciprocating energy (i.e. the pistons moving up and down) into rotary energy (the rotating motion of the crank).
It takes a certain amount of fuel to make a certain amount of horsepower. It doesn't matter if you're making that power at 3,000RPMs, 4,000RPMs, 5,000RPMs, etc etc. If the same amount of power is being made at 4,000RPMs as is being made at 5,000RPMs, the engine will require the same amount of fuel regardless of the RPM.
The engine has to make a certain amount of power to generate a certain amount of thrust. In regards to fuel consumtion, it doesn't matter at what RPM it makes it at. The engine will still consume the same amount of fuel to make that certain amount of power. Engine vaccuum controls how much fuel is consumed, and the load placed on the engine controls how much vaccuum you have. More load = less vaccuum = more air = more fuel. RPM has nothing to do with it.
As far as the "more thrust at lower RPM with a bigger impeller", actually you get the same thrust at lower RPM. And yes your RPM may be lower, but if you're making the same amount of thrust at a lower RPM, the pump is requiring the same amount of horsepower as it would at a higher RPM with a smaller impeller to move the same amount of water to create the same amount of thrust.
You can also switch to a bigger impeller to increase the speed of the boat. Let's say for instance with an A impeller your top RPM is 5500RPM. You then switch to an AA impeller. This will load the motor more and drop your 100% RPM value. However, by beefing up the motor so that you can spin the AA impeller to 5500RPM, you will gain MPH because the AA impeller will move more water at 5500RPM than the A impeller would, thus generating more thrust.