I knew my old fixed 3 bladed prop on my 28' S2 sailboat was in bad
shape so I was expecting to replace it when I hauled her. It was
REALLY bad. Corrosion had got to it so bad that I could literally
break a blade off by pulling on it and it had huge chunks out of each
blade.
So........I got on the phone to Performance Props and with the Yanmar
transmission gear reduction ratio ordered one of their props by next
day mail, plus a prop puller, plus the reccomended anti-fouling
paint. From their description, I expected a thin bladed flexible
plastic thingy of some space age resin.
It got here today and I am sorta impressed and sorta worried. It isnt
a thin plastic, it is a massive plastic casting, impressive. The
blades are very thick and rounded on each face. The prop puller (for
about $30.00) I coulda made myself outa 2 1/4-20 bolts and an alumimum
bar but thats ok, small companies need their money and I really will
use it. The directions said to sand it and paint it with the supplied
anti-fouling paint. So, I sanded it. Opened the paint (for some
reason they sent two cans) and it is white, huh? Read the can, it is
some sorta zinc compound, non-toxic, hmmm. The paint does not go on
very well and streaks badly so I paint several coats sanding lightly
after each coat after waiting two hours tween coats.
So, the prop goes on the boat tomorrow. New prop, new bottom paint,
new zinc.
Will it work better under power than my old 3 bladed prop? I'll let
you know.