Feathering Prop Choices / Manufacturers

[Cheechako]

at 7 knots in a 35000 lb boat, you can go right into reverse and gun it with a max prop. no problems. done it many times.

[CFR]

Hi all, i am considering also the swap from fixed to feathering prop. I also hope that due to the less turbulence my wheatherhelm will be reduced which 2 friends of mine experineced with their boats. I have a 44 feet aluminium boat with a 2 cyl. Sabb engine with only 30 HP which give me 7 knots at calm conditions. As i like stainless steel props, which i have at the moment , i checked with autostream but the mentioned their 20" is too small for me. Now i found Ewol from Italy. Looks very nice but i never heard about them before. Any experience availöable from the forum would be appreciated.

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by CFR

Hi all, i am considering also the swap from fixed to feathering prop. I also hope that due to the less turbulence my wheatherhelm will be reduced which 2 friends of mine experineced with their boats. I have a 44 feet aluminium boat with a 2 cyl. Sabb engine with only 30 HP which give me 7 knots at calm conditions. As i like stainless steel props, which i have at the moment , i checked with autostream but the mentioned their 20" is too small for me. Now i found Ewol from Italy. Looks very nice but i never heard about them before. Any experience availöable from the forum would be appreciated.

I had a look at the Ewol web site. As I have two autostreams on my cat I thought it would be worth a comparison. I am a bit surprised that autostream said that a 20" was too small. I have 18"s on my 40hp Yanmar sail drives and they seem to do just fine. From looking at the installation video I would say that the Ewol installation is definitely simpler than the autostream. I don't think I would ever attempt to do the autostreams under water. I'm assuming you have a shaft drive so this information may not be relavent, but with the autostreams on a saildrive it is impossible to change the drive zincs without complete disassembly and removal of the prop. This is true even when using split zinc kits. The problem is the skirt of the prop hub essentially covers the zinc and it impossible to access. The smaller hub of the Ewol seems to eliminate this issue. The blades of the Ewol look to be thinner than the autostream, which may or may not be an issue. The blades certainly have a different shape than the autostreams, whether this translates to greater efficiency I don't know. Adjusting the pitch seems to be easier with the Ewol as well. Adjusting the pitch on the autostreams is not terribly difficult and there are separate pitch adjustments for forward and reverse. I did not get deep enough into the Ewol documentation to see if it had a similar feature.

All that being said it looks to me like the Ewol is certainly worth a good hard look. If I was looking to replace my autostreams I would certainly be doing so.

[redcobra]

Originally Posted by swagman

Hi Don,
Afraid I can't comment on US prices but in terms of performance, I understand they do differ.
FWIW we had a Maxprop 3 bladed feathering prop on a 42' Grand Soleil. It was brilliant, much much better than the folding 3 blade on the next 46' Hanse.
You might also check out the newer KiwiProps. We had a pal with a 37 footer took one and found it outperformed his folding prop both in its action and the power it delivered both ahead and astern - but he had the biggest they made and I'm not sure it would be big enough for a 39....
Good luck.
JOHN

+1 on the Maxprop (on a 39).

[CFR]

Hi Captain Bill. i got the same impression. The only difference is that with Ewol you can not change the backward pitch which has been set in the factory, but i assume this can be accepted.

I was also wondering about autostreams reply reg. the size. I have 20 x 16 3 blade prop and i reach max rpm which is only 1800 and it seems that autostream will recommend a bigger one.

If i would go with bronze prop the choice would be bigger and the props are cheaper but wit a aluminium hull i like to minimize the used me´talss underwater.

I will visit Ewol in Milano this year to heave a closer look, but from manufactiring and design the pro looks really well made but at 3500-4000 USD also quite expensive.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Safari38LH

We have a Max Prop on our Little Harbor 38. While I cannot compare it to others I do want to say that it took three seasons before we figured out the right pitch even with the manufacture help. Don't expect to get it exactly right the first try.

I have a Bristol 38.8 (same hull as your Little Harbor) and could not get a Max Prop to fit inside my aperture. The body of the prop (17", 3-blade) is too long. How did you manage it?

Some of the European-made props will fit (e.g. Variprop) but they have become outrageously expensive due to unfavorable dollar-Euro exchange rates.

So I'm going with a Luke. As compared to the Max Prop, you lose about 1/10th of knot when sailing in light air, but the blades on the Luke have true pitch, which should result in better performance under power, particularly in reverse. You also save over $600 vs the Max Prop and $1,500 over the Variprop.

[jannpage]

Helio. Try a Kiwi. I have had a pair on 30 hp Yanmars some 6 years and over 3000 miles with really nice results. They even seem to shrug off striking things with not notifalble effect.

[Curmudgeon]

Well, if there are warranty or similar issues I'd prefer a vendor with a North American representative. I'm also a little cautious about those plastic blades.

[jannpage]

Of course I understand your concern. I was too. But I from my experience I would not be concerned about either. I had no warrenty problem but their after sales help reasures me that if I had a problem with mine they would get me fixed up. And regarding those plastic blades, if they had been metal I would already have had a bent blade or more and expensive repairs. As is, I though I had been lucky and not tangled with rocks till I did a bottom job a couple of weeks later and I could see the marks on one of the props. As is and after very careful examination and a bit of testing I simply cleaned up scratches in a few minutes.. And of course I can buy 2 for the price of 1. I guess it depends on how rich you feel. I really am impressed with their back down power. Of course I like the big Featherstream I have on a 75 HP yanmar on my Nimble. Have you checked out CDI? I have found their flexible furlers far more reliable than several metal ones I have had. And none of those would have functiones reliably are a reefing furler. I guess I trust trained engineers and the experience of sailors over jawboning.

Good Luck

[Curmudgeon]

I've researched the Kiwi props and there have been issues reported. Sehttp://www.ventspleen.com/?p=1049e

Now that's one person's anecdotal experience, but a half-priced feathering prop loses its attractiveness if the blades have to be replaced every few years. If these guys were local, I might give their product a shot. But they are not.

[ato]

I got a SEAHAWK (Australia) type S1 on my Jeanneau Sun ODyssey 37. It's a good prop, and I'm very happy with this prop :-)

[GRNordstrom]

PE Luke in Maine makes an outstanding feathering prop, with a twist in the blade. They are a serious piece of equipment.. not cheap, and the shaft will auto rotate because of the twist , so you'll need a way to stop the shaft . I picked up an extra 3/4 knot under power at the same RPM on my previous sailboat. Significant on a 7 knot boat.
Won't hurt to look into one.
Ray