Which propeller for my Jeanneau 42 DS??

[Infinity]

Dear friends,
I have a 2011 Jeanneau Sun Odissey 42 DS with a Yanmar 4jh5e and a sal drive SD50.
With my fix three blades propeller I have a mot cruising speed of about 8.3-8.5 knots at 2600 rmp an I would like to maintain this speed but I also would like to change my propeller to have benefits under sail.

few months ago I and a friend of mine brought 2 EWOL propellers.
my friend who has a sun odissey 42 with "traditional" transmission (I do not know how is called in English but I believe you can understand), mounted it and he is absolutely enthusiast, he gained in motor speed, sail speed and manoeuvrability in particular in rear gear.

i mounted it on my sail drive but I did not found the same pros, unfortunately I lost something in motor speed, and I did not gained a lot in sail speed. This is probably dur to the fact that my heavy boat caused some cavitation. The EWOL Factory was absolutely honest and reliable, they retrieved my propeller giving me back the money.

may I please ask to people having a 42 DS or a 42 I (same hull) with sail drive, which type of propeller they mount? Which is their speed under engine?
Someone suggested me Autoprop or Flexofold.... May I know your thoughts

thank you!

 

[Tranona]

Autoprop an Flexofold are both different kind of propellers from the feathering EWOL type.

In principle there is no reason why you should get any loss in motoring performance with a correctly sized folding propeller. Jeanneau now offer the Flexofold 3 blade folding propeller as an option. The Autoprop is self pitching and has different characteristics from a folding propeller. Either can be used on a saildrive. Not sure that propellers are boat specific as it is more important to ensure that the size is correct.

 

[Skylark]

I have a 41 ft Bene. It has S50 saildrive. It was originally fitted with a fixed prop and the noise while sailing drove me mad. The guys at Darglow Engineering gave very good advice and I bought their 18 inch flex-o-fold. It's been a very good purchase.

 

[pissativlypossed]

I have exactly the same boat and engine but with a shaft, I fitted a 3 blade Gori folding prop and have been delighted with it. It has the overdrive function which drops the revs considerably when cruising, performance when in reverse is also much better than the standard fixed three blade prop.

 

[PhilS]

This season we fitted a three bladed flexofold on our Jeanneau 409 after contacting the office in Denmark for suggestions of size and pitch. They were very helpful and after I had paid by credit card on their secure website it was delivered to me in three days by UPS. They offered both two and three blade and said both were good. Since Jeanneau offer the three blade I went for that.
Sailing is now faster and quieter which I love. It also goes faster for the same rpm under motor. Many people feel that a propeller that motors faster is a good thing, and I haven't found any problems. My worry is that is equivalent to overdrive on a car. It is possible to be over-geared and the load on the engine at a given rpm will be higher, so there is unlikely to be a linear increase in fuel consumption. Despite my worries it has performed well all season. I don't keep good enough records to know if fuel consumption has changed.
I think you will be pleased with Flexofold! (I have no connection.)