BoatBanter.com - View Single Post - What are the pros and cons of a folding prop?

(JAXAshby) wrote:

There aren't too many other things you can do to gain that much performance
that easily.

sure there are. you can clean the bottom of your boat. you can thoroughly

If you sail instead of sitting in the marina your boat will have a
clean bottom.

fair the hull before you bottom paint. you can take 500# of useless junk out
of your boat. you can trim the sails. you can buy better sails. you can take
down your dodger and/or bimini and/or 3 of your 8 solar panels. you can use a
hank on jib instead of a roller furled jib. you can use a vinyl bottom paint.
you can do polars on your boat to sail it smarter. you can move your anchor
and 275 foot of chain to the center of the boat. you can sail more so you need
300# less fuel onboard. ----------------------- you can install a two blade
prop ------------------------- which i damned cheap and damned effective. you
can line up your prop with the keel.

The person that inquired has a Westsail. This is not a racing boat.
He wants to sail faster WITH the dodger and bimini, and with the
roller furled jib and with the solar panels and the fuel etc. He
isn't racing.

Just because these are all things that can make a boat go faster
doesn't mean that they are viable options for a cruising sailboat nor
that the folding prop isn't also an option that he can use
effectively.

grandma Rosalie