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Old 05-28-2012, 11:15 AM   #5
Nomad Willy
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City: Concrete Washington State
Vessel Name: Willy
Vessel Model: Willard Nomad 30'
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 18,743
FF, wrote:
"Why , do you operate at max rpm during the usual cruise?"

You know better than to say something like that Fred. Of course not, but if I've got the right amount of power on my boat I may want (or even need) to operate for short periods of time (say 10 min) at 100% load and if I'm not over propped I can do that without any worry about damaging my engine. More importantly I can run at 85% or 90% load for 12 hours and not worry about that either. When I bought my engine I "bent over backwards" to make sure I had an engine small enough that I could load it over 50% during normal cruise to insure that I would be operating an engine fully warmed up.

Re the prop finish most yachty props are probably finished in a more polished state than others because we like them shinny and pretty. The edges of my MP aren't rounded or made to be like a knife either. The edges are ground off flat. The flat edges are about 1/64th of an inch wide and make 2 sharp edges themselves. This may be "casual finishing" as you call it but on the other hand it may produce the lowest drag and have other benefits as well. Polished props and chrome plated cleats may serve no real purpose other than to please the yachtsman. I have several chrome plated cleats, I'm a yachtsman and I like them but hardly anybody is going to see my prop. And the prop I'm sure is going to perform perfectly well wether polished or finished w/o polish and there's a slight chance it will be perform even better. To this yachtsman the blade shape and the commercial heritage is more important. I could polish it myself but I want to see if the coarser finish is more prone to fouling. If it is I'll polish it the next time it's out. Which means I'll probably Polish it the next time it's out.
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