Cruising Sailors Forum Archive

we had a 3 blade MaxProp on TD
In Response To: DQOTD: Props ()

We've never had a boat with a 2 blade prop but I would 'guess' (completely a guess) that any vessel with 3 blades would give better performance against a headwind, current and swell. When we'd be pushing against oncoming swell and chop the boat would almost stop at times taking time to gain speed again. I can only guess that the 3 blades digging in brought it back to speed faster than if it only had 2. Then again, we had a deep underwater belly making for a not easily driven hull like yours.

As SG responded, give PYI a call and discuss the situation & your idea of switching to 3 from 2 with them. They will ask for the current pitch settings and diameter of your current prop so have the information available when calling. I would comment that we had the option of upgrading to the MaxProp with the adjusting rings (it had just came out) and opted not to ($$). i think it was a wrong decision on my part and I should have upgraded so I could have played with the pitch.

When we switched from a fixed to the MaxProp we did loose some performance. I sent it to PYI and they swapped the blades for ones that were 2 inches larger diameter which brought the performance back. That may be another option, larger diameter blades and a slightly lower pitch (another guess).

Messages In This Thread