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

(JAXAshby) wrote:

The blades rotate until they are inline with the shaft axis, how is this
not feathering?

take a look at the blades. they rotate and thus *reduce* drag, but they
certainly don't "feather".

Blades can be set to in-line with the keel (two blade props), but the
prop still has the blades at about 90 degrees to the shaft. For two
blade props on boats where there is something of the keel sticking
down into the water past where the prop is (like on many sailboats),
this does reduce drag. I think however that many sailboats don't have
two blade props and this doesn't work well with a 3 or more blade
prop.

In feathering and/or folding (since I know there is a difference but
don't remember what it is), the blades move to align themselves along
the shaft - kind of like furling an umbrella.

Some props can be folded or have the pitch changed from inside the
boat and some you have to either haul or go into the water. I think
that is variable pitch. A fixed prop where everything is one solid
piece is a non-feathering/folding and constant pitch prop.

grandma Rosalie