Folding or Feathering Prop Advice

[CruiserAD]

Hi all

After years of research and looking at several boats I finally pulled the trigger and bought a Broadblue 38 Prestige last summer.

Since it is a true blue water boat by design and well maintained, there is actually not so much which needs to be done, but as you all know, when one starts...

So one of the things I plan to replace are the props. She once had feathering props but they where stolen while she was on the hard, so now she's got the original fixed two blade props back on again.
She is somewhat overpowerded as she has got two 55 hp Volvo Penta engines with saildrives. With the current 2-blade props she makes 8 knots in flat water with 2'000 rpms (both engines on) and manouvering is basically done at idle speed. So from that aspect there is no need to get bigger props.

The only reason to replace the props is the drag and the constant wear on the sail drives due to the turning of the props when sailing.

I should have enough space between the saildrive and the rudder, so mounting folding props should be possible but I'm not sure if this is the best option?

Planned usage of the boat: full time livaaboard while cruising incl. ocean passages as well as coastal cruising. I like the simplicity of folding props vs. feathering ones, but a little worried over the open machanics and barnacle growth. In general I prefer simple solutions, but the drag of a fixed prop seems to be bad enough to justify the extra cost and complication of a prop with moving parts?

Do you have suggestions of which brand and type of prop I should choose? Especially long term experiences in tropical waters would be great!

Or even if I should just leave the fixed ones on?

cheers Jan