In Evan Gatehouse writes:

Glenn Ashmore wrote:

I had not thought of the J-prop but I will look at them. The 3 bladed Gori
and MaxProp are near the top of my list.

Glenn,

I looked into all of the above, plus J Prop and the Kiwi
plastic ones. I ended up with a _used_ 17" Autostream
bought from a private seller in Oz, but was leaning to the
Kiwi prop for weight (catamaran) and cost reasons previously.

Kiwi:

- cheaper than the rest
- corresponded with one early adopter who had only good
words to say
- blades maybe a bit more vulnerable if you hit debris, but
maybe this saves a shaft or coupling?
- chunky hub

Maxprop
- good track record
- expensive for the VP version


Autostream
- continuous improvement from their earliest models
- Duplex s.s. construction with low corrosion
- simple and very nice engineering. I like this
- seals are simple O-rings at blade hubs with delrin bushings
- independent reverse/fwd. pitch, easily adjustable with a
wrench and allen key underwater
- I don't think their blade area is anything different from
Maxprop

J-Prop
- asked for price from Quebec distributor (out of sight) so
didn't think about it further

So you did not really look at it. :-).

All Feathering props:
- must exchange blades to change pitch; usually time limit
on this

I do not get this. So far I can understand and have some experience you
can change the pitch on most feathering props, and many of them allow it
to be done without removing the propeller and even under the water and
some allow you to have different pitch on reverse and forward.

- can't change pitch if boat more loaded/fouled bottom

Of course you have to dive under the boat to change the pitch.

- lower efficicency in head seas/wind

Lower compared to what?

- best choice for racing oriented boats but not cruising
boats IMO

So what is the superior cruising propeller?

Autoprop
- bloody costly and fairly heavy

Costly, will change the pitch automatically.

Varifold
- no opinion

Evan Gatehouse

- Lauri Tarkkonen