Prop Wash – Prop Pitch Edition

Hello, I am Iron Mike and welcome to another installment of our weekly boat column, Prop Wash.

Have you ever changed the motor to a higher wattage motor-wanting to use that power to go faster. Only to find your boat won’t go any faster? Odds are you are out of the running specs for the hull and or prop. Changing the prop out on your boat can give you longer run times, lower time to plane/ Faster acceleration, or raise the top speed, if done correctly. This is just like adjusting the gearing on your RC cars- too much either way will have negative effects.

Boat props are sized by blade count, prop diameter, and pitch. I will cover the Pitch stuff in this column. As a general rule more pitch gives more speed. A Prop with specs of 40mmX52mm is 40mm in diameter with a pitch of 52mm. In a perfect world, that would allow this prop to move 52mm forward for one rotation of the prop. If your boat started with a 40mmX40mm going to a 40mmX52mm would give you a higher potential top speed -like going to a higher tooth count pinion. Going to a 40mmX32mm would lower your top speed, but raise your acceleration -just as going to a lower tooth count pinion would. So remember, if you change your motor to a different KV you will need to change your prop to get all the benefits.

Tune in again next week when I will go over how different blade count and material will affect the performance of your boat.

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