380: Lagoon 380 3 blade folding props question?

[CaptRDJR]

I am currently purchasing a Lagoon 380 with fixed 2 blade props to keep on the Chesapeake. We have hot summers with days of little wind and no waves. I would like to replace the existing props with 3 blade folding props for better sailing performance but mostly to increase my maximum speed under power. Does anyone have experience doing this and did it up your speed under power? What prop do you recommend for a 27HP Yanmar?

[Telstarr]

Hello. We replaced our monohulls prop from a two blade little egg whisk to a good sized two blade folding 'flex-o-fold'. It gave us a big difference in performance under power (from 5 kts to nearly 6 at same revs) It also obviously increased our sailing speed (but only by perhaps half a knot) Because the prop is folding, you can swing a bigger prop appropriate to your engine without compromising sailing speed. Our engine is a Bukh DV24. The folding prop was one of the best purchases we have made for our boat (and there have been many!!)

If you read the flexofold website, it seems the two blade folder (rather than three) gives more power except in perhaps heavy sea conditions when the three blade gives you more bite. But the two blade is simpler and less expensive.

[Telstarr]

I thought I'd add a picture of our old verses new folding prop as it's tells it's own story

[jwcolby54]

How do you go about selecting the correct blade size for a given boat / weight / HP etc.

[TOT]

Wow huge difference!


SV TOT
Wayne 😃

[jwcolby54]

Originally Posted by Telstarr

Attachment 105972

I thought I'd add a picture of our old verses new folding prop as it's tells it's own story

Are you allowed to tell us the price?

[Telstarr]

Regarding correct size for your engine/boat. This is something the prop manufacturer will probably have on their database (especially for a high production model like the L380). 'Flex-o-fold' props are made in Denmark I believe, but we purchased ours through a UK distributer (Darglow engineering) as they were able to machine match the bore of the new prop exactly to the bore of our old prop (which we sent them in the post) etc. It was 'Darglow' that matched the folding prop size and pitch to our engine and boat (a Westerly Konsort 29')

We purchased ours in 2012 and the price then was around £850 (UK sterling) for a single 2 blade. Not cheap, but even my wife agrees it was worth it as the difference in performance is very noticeable.

[CaptRDJR]

Telstar - Thanks for your replies - very helpful

[Savanna]

The previous owner of my Maxim 380 replaced the fixed blade props with Volvo three bladed folding props, and reported a significant performance increase both sailing (due to folded prop) and motoring. The motors are Yanmar GM30s with SD20 sail drives.