Thread: Over propped?
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Old 10-07-2021, 06:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rickinnj View Post
Tom,

Thank you for your generous offer to pay postage to inspect my prop. I don't believe the prop was the issue with poor forward speed as much as a tired engine. Although compression is good and she starts right up since last winter's valve adjustment, I think 50 years of service deserves retirement. I've already reached out to Moyer about a long block and head to put in this winter.

I bought your prop to replace a crappy, sloppy old Martec folder which gave me nothing but trouble mostly concerning partially unfolding. The vibration was so bad that I broke a strut the first year I owned Anchovy. I was thrilled with the Indigo when I splashed that spring. No more vibration. Trouble free. The forward speed never really bothered me...I figured it was a function of the prop being so small. I honestly didn't know I should be going faster.

Then I started seeing dock mates controlling their boats into the slip with just shifting between forward and reverse without touching the throttle and wondered what I was doing wrong. All of these boats had feathering props. I just had to have one!

Last winter I plunked down a chunk of change on the Featherstream (by the way, it's 11x7, not 12x7 as I said earlier...still too much prop). I spent most of the season day sailing where I basically idled out of the marina and had sails up within 10 boat lengths. I was finally backing into my slip without throttling up. I had instant grip in reverse and had full steerage with half a boat length. It wasn't until we went on a week long cruise in August that I found out I had a problem.

I have been in touch with Darglow, and the are very interested in modifying the Featherstream with respect to modifying the blade chord width to reduce wetted surface area. The Indigo has a chord width of approximately 2 7/8" while the Featherstream is 3 3/4".

I don't know if the feathering prop will be workable and if not, I still have the Indigo that I can put back on. Either way, I still plan to repower over the winter.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Don't let me stop you from buying a new engine, but do check for the Stevedore restriction. Also do get a manifold gauge ASAP, you need to know what the engine is doing. I can't get in or out of my slip shifting at idle, the A4 does not have enough thrust for that. Diesels have more low end torque, to the extent it can be a pain. One big motor yacht I had to deliver had something like twin 1200 HP diesels and did 7 knots *at idle*
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