maxi props worth the $ ?

[dougshipl]

considering a maxi prop on our 28,000# 46' sail boat (hylas). is it worth the cost?

[Fstbttms]

I have installed many and have never heard anybody say the wish they'd spent the money on something else. Max Prop is a real quality piece of machinery.

[Faster]

We also considered the Max for our 40 footer. In the end, the $4000 plus scared us off. They are very nice in action, and do the job real well, esp the reversing power, very smooth.

However we did hear problems some were having with debris (expensive repairs/service after catching a plastic bag)

In the end since we were no longer racing the boat we went with a low drag fixed 3 blade"Campell Sailor" prop - at $700 much easier on the wallet. We did lose some speed but nothing we couldn't live with, and brakes were good with much less drag than a standard michigan wheel.

But there were light days when we wished we had a true feathering prop...

[dougshipl]

thanks much - yea we dont race (unless beer is involved) and it was suggested but we're a bit shocked at price.

[btrayfors]

Once you get over the sticker shock and come to your senses, you'll know that the MaxProp is just what the doctor ordered for your Hylas 46.

I put one on my Perry-designed 42' 27K lbs displacement sloop in 1992. Never a problem since, and I've never heard of anyone having a problem they didn't cause themselves.

Don't skimp; it's a worthwhile investment, IMHO.

Bill

[soul searcher]

Faster,
I'm all for fewer moving parts and have been interested in th cambell prop also, would you mind giving up some of your experiance with one. like boat speed and performance in reverse?

Bill,
my maine consern with the max is added maintance what is your expieriance been with up keep.

I'd like to get more details if y'all dont mind.

[Hawkeye25]

While I tend to be a bit of a skeptic concerning MOST 'trick' props, I have 'rebuilt/fixed/adjusted' most of them in twenty plus years yacht service, and the Max is one of the VERY few I wished I could justify the expense for. It is well made, simple, strong, and effective, and I cannot speak a word against it.

However . . .

There was one incident involving one of my customers in Naples with a 57' custom something-or-other sloop, that almost cost him the boat, and the problem turned out to be a Maxiprop. In docking the boat, he'd gone back and forth with the gear shift, and again, and again, and finally popped it from forward, trying for neutral, but hit backgear, and popped it quickly into neutral. This left the blades almost perfectly feathered, quite by accident, with only a little forward pitch.

He left town for two months, and when he returned, ushered a gaggle of giggling clients onto the boat and headed for Gordon Pass, where he found high current, high winds, and very soon, a high heart rate as he struggled to keep his beloved sloop off the rocks. Escaping with only emotional scarring, he called me when he got the boat back to the slip and instructed me to have a new Mercedes Diesel installed because the present engine had apparently 'given up the ghost' and would not spin up past 900 RPM.

After a quick check of a perfectly sound engine, I had a diver look below, where he found and cleaned an incredibly encrusted Maxiprop that could no longer operate properly. It did after a proper cleaning, and the relieved owner set us on a two week bottom service, making sure the prop could never again make him wet his pants in front of non-giggling clients.

The props are great, but they have to be watched.

Hawk

[Goodnewsboy]

There is no right answer to this queation. A propeller is always a compromise. The simplicity of a one piece wheel means reliability, but it comes at the price of some hydrodynamic drag.

A complex propeller such as the Max delivers the advantages of reduced drag, but it will always be susceptible to some kind of functional difficulty (Such as Hawk has described.) just because its parts must move with respect to one another to function properly.

You must decide what suits your own particular purposes and uses because those things aren't the same for everyone.

I personally like the simplicity of a one piece propeller when I am inshore in foul weather and/or darkness, but it is an individual thing.

[blt2ski]

I've had my boat for 2 yrs, and original owner put a max prop on her about 8 yrs before. He claimed about 1-2 knots additional speed, and this is on a 30'OA 25'WL boat! He definetly loved it!

So far I only have had to grease the prop, which is supposed tobe done once a yr, and I have heard a diver can do this vs pulling it out for a 3-4 squeeze shoot of the grease out of a grease gun equivalent.

I can not tell you if it is worth it price wise, as I got it with her, and have not priced out other folding style props. I will say I have no side movement backing up etc, very smooth forward and in reverse etc. i would consider another one on another boat if and when we get a larger one if we do.

Marty

[Valiente]

I have bought a VariProp, because of the ability to adjust pitch separately for both forward and aft, and the ability to do so without hauling. I bought a four-blade model and will install it this fall, along with the new Aquadrive coupling.

I looked at the MaxProp, and it seems fine, but the VariProp met my needs better for the relatively confined fore-and-aft room I have for the blades. On the VariProp, they don't extend past (or behind) the hub. This is good for a full-keel boat with a transom-hung rudder that is mounted on a reverse angle.

I'll post my impressions next spring. I got a Gori folder in 2005 for the old racer, and it was pretty impressive and gave me a boost under sail.