"Ringmaster" wrote in message
oups.com...
Any sailboat will benifit from a folding prop. It's a 1/2 kt gain.
There is no downside. When docking etc. you just plan in advance.
There's a little less power in reverse. You should never approach a
dock harder than yo'ur willing to hit it anyway.

If you get a Brunton, it works equally efficiently in reverse. Same can be
said for Maxprop and other feathering (as opposed tofolding) props. But the
big advantage of the Brunton is that it is self-pitching and adjusts itself
to best pitch no matter what the engine regime or boat speed.

Folding props are not much good on a cruising boat. Terrible reverse
braking, and no significant speed advantage over a feathering prop.

If you google around you will find a very good pdf tabular comparison of all
props done by a German university. Somebody else may have a reference. The
police nicked my old computer eight months ago so I no longer have a
reference to it...