On Sat, 11 Aug 2007 18:33:27 -0700, quizno mouse
wrote:

Went fishing last week and bent a blade on my small Mercury 4.5hp
motor ( 2 bladed prop)
Would this damage the motor if I would replace it with a three (3)
bladed prop ?
Would this affect the engine or performance ?

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It depends.

A 3 bladed prop will deliver more thrust than a 2 but there's more to
it than that. The most important thing is correct pitch allowing the
engine to operate near its peak in the power/RPM curve. Otherwise you
risk lugging the engine.