Kiwi folding propellor

Fitted this year. Fantastic stuff: does what it says on the box, it is cheap (relatively) and the suppliers (Vecta marine) are VERY helpful. Go-frit.

no connections with vendors, just a satisfied customer
 
Hi I had a Kiwi-prop fitted this season, excellent piece of kit saildrive no longer spins no more noise and alot less wear on gearbox/saildrive.

Good propolsion only real difference being that in forward slightly less thrust but in reverse good stopping power, ounce up to speed alittle better than the 3 blade fixed.

Sailing performance about 1 knot extra in light winds maybe more.
As for corrosion wear etc will find out at next lift out
 
Have found the Kiwi to develop good thrust forward but the pitch is too great in reverse. Can adjust the forward pitch if we wanted to but the reverse pitch isn't.
Have had it in the water for over a year and found no corrosion whatsoever whereas the Gori's we used to use dissolved for fun.
Decided to live with the reverse problem.
 
I've been using one for a year now on a Volvo 120 saildrive coupled to a Volvo 2030 engine. It's an excellent piece of kit. Forward thrust is much the same as my original Volvo 3 bladed folding prop. Thrust astern is far superior. Be sure that you get the pitch of the blades right. Antifoul on the blades is advisable and I use hard antifoul (Trilux). Be sure to buy the maintenance kit from Vectra marine which mainly consists of a high pressure greas gun, the correct grease, and the correct nozzle to fit the 5 grease points on the prop.
 
... as noted above, the reverse pitch is not adjustable. Therefore you get a lot of thrust. In our case this is great. It might be a problem with slightly underpowered engines (I am not sure). We originally had a two bladed fixed prop: now everything is much quieter, both under power and under sail, and we go noticeably faster (>1Kn) under sail. I hope it will also be good at not wearing out... time will tell.
 
Me too. Ditto plaudits above. Great value. Yawn.
I think I am the only one to have done a racing prop blade change - 90 seconds all 3. It was muddy and I was kneeling in it.
 
Thrust in reverse is awesome. In forward, I have noise at about 3,5 knots, which sounds like cavitation. Disappears at higher speeds. The info which comes with the prop mentions this phenomenon. The only disappointment , and is probably due to the very high reverse pitch, is the excessive propwalk.
 
Brilliant piece of kit, totally transformed the boat. Mine happens to have the same pitch in reverse as forward. Quite spooky to be travelling backwards at high speed! As someone else said, the service from Vecta Marine is second to none. Don't hesitate - buy one today!

No connection, just a very happy customer.

Simon
 
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