propellor selection

I have a Ericson 32, 1987 which I've owned since 2002. Upon deciding to do a trip from Cape Cod to Florida via near shore/intracoastal in 2003, my mechanic suggested a 3 blade prop to replace the maxi prop the boat came with. I now have a very worn and pitted 13" 3 blade w/12 pitch that I'm trying to replace. I've narrowed my search to two Michigan propellers. Their MP3(which they recommended) or the Sailer 3 which seems to be slightly more streamlined. I do a lot of motoring between sailing opportunities but I still want to keep the drag down when I do sail. Can anybody help me from their experience or information?

Captainken said:

I have a Ericson 32, 1987 which I've owned since 2002. Upon deciding to do a trip from Cape Cod to Florida via near shore/intracoastal in 2003, my mechanic suggested a 3 blade prop to replace the maxi prop the boat came with. I now have a very worn and pitted 13" 3 blade w/12 pitch that I'm trying to replace. I've narrowed my search to two Michigan propellers. Their MP3(which they recommended) or the Sailer 3 which seems to be slightly more streamlined. I do a lot of motoring between sailing opportunities but I still want to keep the drag down when I do sail. Can anybody help me from their experience or information?

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We have a similar-displacement boat. It came with a two blade fixed prop. Then, for a decade, we used a two blade feathering prop and picked up almost a knot of speed under sail, with a slight loss of push under power. Now for several seasons are using a "sailor" (narrow blade) three blade fixed prop. Under power it lives up to all the hype -- we motor @ 7 kts all the time @ cruising rpm's. OTOH, under sail the extra drag costs us at least a half kt and sometimes more.

There just is no 'free lunch' when it comes to props... and if our budget can take the strain we will someday switch to a three blade featherer. The efficiency drops a bit due to the straight blades of the feathering type, but from what I can find out the extra blade area of a three (or even a four) blade makes up for it.
High priced, though. (Around $2800. last I checked.) :0

One other little caveat: if you buy a Michigan brand, have it checked for QC of the pitch on each blade by Prop-Scan. Ours was a half inch off on two blades on a brand new prop. Our local prop shop told me that other prop builders provide a QC spec sheet with each prop -- which probably costs them under a buck to do....... Not like I have a sarcastic opinion or anything!

Cheers,
Loren

Captainken said:

I have a Ericson 32, 1987 which I've owned since 2002. Upon deciding to do a trip from Cape Cod to Florida via near shore/intracoastal in 2003, my mechanic suggested a 3 blade prop to replace the maxi prop the boat came with. I now have a very worn and pitted 13" 3 blade w/12 pitch that I'm trying to replace. I've narrowed my search to two Michigan propellers. Their MP3(which they recommended) or the Sailer 3 which seems to be slightly more streamlined. I do a lot of motoring between sailing opportunities but I still want to keep the drag down when I do sail. Can anybody help me from their experience or information?

Click to expand...

My Yanmar 1GM is a bit underpowered for my E26, so I need to maximize what motoring performance I can get out of it with a good prop. The prop that came with the boat was a large, Dumbo-eared Michigan Wheel 3-blade. It worked quite well under power, giving me surprisingly good motoring performance considering my diminutive engine. But the drag from those blades: yikes!

A few months ago I replaced it with a Campbell Sailer 3 blade. (This is not to be confused with the Michigan prop you mentioned under a similar name.) This is sold by West by North Enterprises. The performance under power is equivalent, with the exception of reverse, which is a bit anemic compared to before. But reverse is good enough. As for under sail, since I don't race the boat I don't have an objective baseline against which to compare the difference. But I *know* it has to be better based on the surface area of the blades alone. Subjectively, it does seem better, especially in light air. I'd have to think I picked up around half a knot--but again, that's just a wild guess.

Maine Sail has done extensive testing on the Campbell Sailer prop here: http://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/prop-review-campbell-sailor.112587/ His recommendation influenced me significantly in my purchasing decision. I will also say that I was entirely satisfied with the tech support of the company that sells these.

I've attached pictures of both props so you can see the before and after.

I have the Michigan sailor 3 blade on my E-26. For reference it is about half way between the blade widths of the two pictures Alan posted. I am running a 12" diameter 11" pitch but I just had it re pitched to a 10" pitch because I was just short of being able to reach full rpm at wide open throttle. Its the only prop I have had on my boat so I don't have much to compare it to.

I'll see if I can find a picture to show the profile from an inline view for comparison.
That's a nice prop Alan! what is the size and pitch?

Here is a better view of the profile.

Shelman said:

That's a nice prop Alan! what is the size and pitch?

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Randy,
It's a 12" x 6.5" pitch. The Campbell Sailers require less pitch than a conventional prop of the same diameter/number of blades. Plus, my 1GM is a less powerful engine than yours. (Mine is a 1GM, not a 1GM10.)

Shelman said:

I have the Michigan sailor 3 blade on my E-26. For reference it is about half way between the blade widths of the two pictures Alan posted. I am running a 12" diameter 11" pitch but I just had it re pitched to a 10" pitch because I was just short of being able to reach full rpm at wide open throttle. Its the only prop I have had on my boat so I don't have much to compare it to.

I'll see if I can find a picture to show the profile from an inline view for comparison.
That's a nice prop Alan! what is the size and pitch?

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I almost cut myself on those pictures!

propeller selection

thanks to all you guys for all the great info! I went with the Michigan wheel "sailor". Now comes the hard part--waiting for delivery! I expect to launch before that so I'll clean up the old prop and prepare to dive down with the new one when it arrives.

Alan Gomes said:

I almost cut myself on those pictures!

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Yea Alan, I had a few close calls with crab pots in the middle of the channel last year so I decided it was time for a line cutter. I hope it works because the new cutter would make a stuck line extra tricky/dangerous to remove if it did manage to get tangled in spite of the cutter.

Captainken said:

thanks to all you guys for all the great info! I went with the Michigan wheel "sailor". Now comes the hard part--waiting for delivery! I expect to launch before that so I'll clean up the old prop and prepare to dive down with the new one when it arrives.

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Cappn'Ken You might consider loosening up the old prop while out on the hard where its easy to put a bit of torque onto it. Mine was REALLY stuck hard on the shaft on account of a less than perfectly cut shaft taper. It had to be pressed off by the professionals.