Bruntons auto prop

[Daydream believer]

Hi everyone, currently owner of a hunter 306. It has a 2 bladed bruntons folding auto prop and a 18hp yanmar. It performs fine but does seems to struggle when motoring into big waves and strong winds. Would the 3 bladed feathering propeller improve this?

The boat was initially designed with a fixed two bladed propeller.

I’ve had the quote from bruntons and very tempted to proceed but it’s quite an investment which I would like to see a return to.

Same problem with my yacht & auto prop. When one hits a wave it stopped. A 1 metre chop in Fisherman's Gat was a nightmare. but you have to realise that your 18HP engine is probably only producing about 6HP at the prop shaft if on a saildrive.
My original 2 blade fixed prop performed much better in chop but was .5 kt slower when sailing at 6kts due to drag.
My Brunton was over pitched & last year I changed from a 19HP Volvo MD2020 to a D1 30. The prop suits far better and not only do I get at least a better 1 kt top speed but average speed has gone up from 5.9 to a good 6.5+. Speed in chop has gone from less than 3 kts tops, to over 4 kts plus.
3 weeks ago we motored all the way to Ostend (90 miles) in seas up to 2.5M but generally 2 Metre, & a head wind of 20-28 kts, in less than14 hours & the boat was getting slung about everywhere.
Could not have done that with a 20HP motor. Fuel consumption has gone through the roof.

So the message is really power at the prop is what drives one along.