I've been thinking for the past couple years about getting a 27-30 foot
Catalina or possibly a
Hunter. I've been searching Yachtworld and sailboat listings and it seems most of them have the fixed two blade. If I bought one I would put a Michigan
Wheel fixed
3 blade on it. My real question is about the
propeller shafts. I know they come in 3/4, 7/8 1, 1 1/8, 1 3/4 etc but i'm wondering if the prop shafts on these
boats are standardized in DIA/key way etc? I know the lengths of them aren't. I really don't want an odd size/ un common shaft.
Now heres the issue. I've never sailed before and common sense would dictate to learn on a
dinghy sailboat, which I plan on doing, but it would be nice to have a back up plan to live in. But i'm really not worried about that part. The
boat would stay in a small reservoir for at least two seasons and the rental slips are crowded and tight so I like the idea of having a fixed
3 blade for maneuverability/control/power. At this point i'm not concerned about the exponential drag of a fixed 3 blade.
I do have some
experience operating
boats but never a sailboat.