Feathering propeller recommendations please

DanTribe

DanTribe

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I have a 14", 3 blade Darglow JF feathering prop which is coming to the end of it's useful life. Only 14 years old but has suffered abuse and neglect [ by me:ambivalence:].
Rather than spend money trying to get it sorted, I'm tempted to replace with a new Darglow Featherstream, partly because Darglow are offering a trade in discount and they are pleasant to deal with.
I have also heard good comments about Kiwi props.
Boat is UFO 31 fin & skeg, 1" shaft drive with P bracket, Engine Yanmar 2GM.
Any comments for or against?
 
If you are happy with your existing prop performance, why not get a quote from Darglow to renovate it. If they are prepared to trade it against a new prop, then they will consider it repairable. The cost may not be as bad as you expect. If you do not ask, you will never know.

Personally I prefer a 2 blade folding and have a Gori fitted and very pleased with.

For all the good comments about Kiwi props there are also some unfavourable ones as well. Do a search to find them.
 
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Fitted a new featherstream to our boat last winter, along with a new engine (it was an expensive winter!), and have been very pleased with it. It seems extremely well engineered and made. Motoring performance has been improved over our old 3 blade fixed, and sailing performance has been transformed! I considered a Kiwi, but was persuaded to spend more on what I considered a better engineered product - I may have wasted that extra cash, but I'm happy. Oh, and yes, Darglow are a good company to deal with.
 
DanTribe said:
I have a 14", 3 blade Darglow JF feathering prop which is coming to the end of it's useful life. Only 14 years old but has suffered abuse and neglect [ by me:ambivalence:].
Rather than spend money trying to get it sorted, I'm tempted to replace with a new Darglow Featherstream, partly because Darglow are offering a trade in discount and they are pleasant to deal with.
I have also heard good comments about Kiwi props.
Boat is UFO 31 fin & skeg, 1" shaft drive with P bracket, Engine Yanmar 2GM.
Any comments for or against?
Click to expand...

If you're happy stick with it. For my similar sized boat with the same engine I used a 15" Brunton - so you might find a larger diameter Featherstream a benefit.
A good folding prop will probably have less drag than even the best feathering prop.
Kiwi props come as a revelation to those who've been used to a fixed prop, but I doubt you'd be impressed after the Featherstream.
 
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You might consider a FlexoFold 2 blade folder. Substantially cheaper and will perform well on your boat.
 
Firstly Darglow are an excellent company with first rate staff.
I have had 3 Maxprops from them and one of them I had refurbished when the play in the blades became excessive.
(Refurbishment means fitting a small washer type spacer to take up the slack.)
I would not recommend a traditional MaxProp. There are better alternatives.
JProp for example (which we now have.)
I have no experience of Darglows other products.
A folding prop instead of a feathering prop was not an option due to limited space. Having said that in theory I still prefer a feathering prop instead of a folding prop.
The servicing costs of some of the other makes have also taken them off the option list. Worth checking servicing requirements.
 
Bruntons Varifold

DanTribe said:
I have a 14", 3 blade Darglow JF feathering prop which is coming to the end of it's useful life. Only 14 years old but has suffered abuse and neglect [ by me:ambivalence:].
Rather than spend money trying to get it sorted, I'm tempted to replace with a new Darglow Featherstream, partly because Darglow are offering a trade in discount and they are pleasant to deal with.
I have also heard good comments about Kiwi props.
Boat is UFO 31 fin & skeg, 1" shaft drive with P bracket, Engine Yanmar 2GM.
Any comments for or against?
Click to expand...

In am very pleased with my Bruntons 2 bladed Varifold
 
My boat came with a 3 bladed MaxProp. It's the dog's whotsits compared to my previous boats, which have had Flexofold, Gori, Martec, a strange German 4 bladed thing, et al. You pays your money...
 
Talulah said:
Firstly Darglow are an excellent company with first rate staff.
Click to expand...

+1. their backup/support with my maxprop has been exemplary even beyond the warranty period.

I note that they're exhibiting at Southampton. If you can get down there why not talk to them, see what they recommend and what kind of a deal they can do...
 
Used the German built Variprop on both my last 2 boats and have no hesitation in recommending them. IMHO Variprop suffer from having Bruntons as their agents who tend to persuade customers to buy their own self pitching prop instead (self pitching is better for motor sailing)

I have just changed and tried a folding prop. Better sailing and motoring performance but astern power is poor compared to the instant braking that all feathering propellers give.
 
Sailfree said:
Used the German built Variprop on both my last 2 boats and have no hesitation in recommending them. IMHO Variprop suffer from having Bruntons as their agents who tend to persuade customers to buy their own self pitching prop instead (self pitching is better for motor sailing)
Click to expand...

Another vote here for the Variprop, fitted 10 years ago and its still performs and looks like new.
 
Thanks everybody for your comments.
This seems to be a rare area where the industry has got things right, everyone seems happy with their various bits of kit.
I do intend to do a deal at Southampton Boat Show but wanted to go armed with as much info as possible as I often suffer from indecision when spending money :( .
My existing prop has been OK but I feel it is a bit low geared. The JF was a cheap option but it was set a bit too fine and should have gone back to Darglow to be made coarser. [ Apparently they could machine bits away to coarsen but not make them finer].
This was all a bit of a faff so never got around to it.
The Featherstream, I understand can. be adjusted in situ.
Time to bite the bullet and pay up.
 
Dan,
enter this search term into Google, all will be revealed on Kiwiprops.

kiwiprop full circle site:ybw.com

Mine is now 8 years old and has cost me very little, and is 20 minutes work per season to service, as well as being very easy to fix if you break a blade (which I have - took a chunk out of one with driftwood).
Aftersales service is second to none with Vecta Marine.
 
I've experienced the same problem as in the vimeo clip. In my case it was a reverse stop roller sticking because the pin was bent. Later ones have a bigger pin. It can also be caused by stiff blades or by the hub mechanism sticking because of crud/barnacles etc inside it. Vital to keep it full of grease.
I had another problem. My gearbox - the standard VP badged ZF one on a 2020D - had reverse ratio higher than forward. It did not like the fixed very high pitch of the Kiwi in astern, 24deg as against 19deg forward. I could only get about 1500rpm and no oomph. Kiwi's fix is to put dome head screws in the blades to bear on the rollers reducing pitch to about 21. It works but chews the rollers up.
The Kiwi prop is not bad and price is attractive but I would think hard before having another and would definitely avoid in the above situation (which is not common). I like the look of the Featherstream.
I now have a 2 blade Flexofold (came with the boat) it seems pretty good but you have to rev a lot more astern to get any go.
 
Hi Dan, I bought a Darglow 14inch 2 blade folding for my UFO31 four years ago, no problem so far Max speed around 6kts with a clean bot.
 
To add another farthings worth....
I have fitted a 2 blade feathering Brunton Autoprop to my French Blob...... (286 Feeling)

Sailing speed improvement, subjectively circa 10%
Motoring much faster for less revs..... sometimes a problem to go slow enough!
Motorsailing is the biggest improvement of the 3.
Very happy.

Bruntons were a joy to deal with, but not cheap...what is?
 
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