boat, and lossage

[nosrednayduj]

We had the first ski ride of the season today. The wind had picked up by the time we actually got going, so it was kind of crummy conditions. Also, the boat was behaving kind of oddly. Eventually we pulled up the motor and looked at the propeller and one of the blades was MISSING. How did that happen? I don't remember hitting anything. Could be that it was damaged slightly earlier, and it just took a while for something to rattle free and fall off, and it did that while I was driving down from the boat launch ramp to the house. So now I have to figure out how to get a new propeller, and exactly what to get. Here's hoping the tariff-induced shortages have not started yet.

Comments

[lauradi7dw]

A new fact for me of the day - you actually have a choice about new propeller? Doesn't it have to be the one that fits correctly for the rest of your motor? I know nothing of such matters...

[nosrednayduj]

There are specifications, but it is a range. In our case, we want to have more power at lower speeds in order to get the water skier up. Some people want to have higher speeds at full throttle after you have accelerated to the top speed, which goes along with less power at lower speeds. There's a thing called "pitch", which is, in a lossless medium, the number of inches forward to that the propeller would push the boat. Higher pitch gives you faster top end speed; lower pitch gives you better "out of the hole" performance. Then, you can also choose from a range of diameters. And, some of the propellers have 3 blades and some of them have 4. Our old one had 4, which is probably why it worked at all with a missing blade.

Turns out we can get exactly what we had, but maybe we want to change. Ken is going to cogitate on it with math. It also turns out that exactly what we had isn't listed in the table in the manual for the boat. It is listed on the manufacturer's site, which has a longer table of possible props.

[lauradi7dw]

A clear explanation, thanks.

[wrog]

you should, of course, get one of these
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNCbnntCU2k

(yeah, I know, they're probably super-expensive now or they don't make the right size for your boat, etc...)

[nosrednayduj]

mmm, $2000 propeller for my $10000 motor on my vintage 1980 hull. Maybe not?

[wrog]

yeah okay. maybe 20 years from now when the patent expires?

(I guess if you're still water-skiing then that'll be a whole new world of possible hurt.

[he says, posting from the living room of Mother-in-law Who is Still Recovering From Broken Arm

{really more like shattered, but anyway

(yes, I like being able to do nested parens the way they taught in English class many decades ago)}])