Poor Light Air performance and Max Prop

[jpendoley]

Given that I have a Hood In Mast furling system and a smaller main of necessity (no roach), my light air sailing is disappointing, though I do love the in mast furling. Has anyone added a Max Prop?  Proponents claim a 15% reduction in prop drag that helps light air performance. They are pretty spendy, so I'd want to see some great reviews before I considered an upgrade.
Jim

[swiftibis]

Hi,
I have a Max Prop 17" 3 blade.  My light wind performance is pretty great, but I have a big drifter for really light airs. I've been in 4 kts of wind and doing 1.5kts, barely enough to inflate the drifter. However I'd never spend the $ on a Max Prop myself.  Compare a campbell sailor against a regular prop, and you'll see that for roughly the same price as a new prop you can decrease drag without the complications of a feathering mechanism. Also, spend some money on a drifter or asymmetrical. If the air is really light and I'm anywhere in the downwind quadrant than the main usually shadows the headsail anyway, so I take it down.  Considering how much my drifter overlaps the main, I have to be well reaching before I put the main back up.
Best of luck!
S/V Tardis, P367 #26

[SV Perseverance]

Hi There !

My 1979 365 Sloop has a Max Prop (THANKS to the Previous Owner)
Sailed Friday  upwind in 4-6 knts indicated windspeed at 1.45 to 2.10 gps and knotmeter
so tide was slack / not an issue.

Granted - I had JUST cleaned the prop  and brushed the back half of the boat - 12 year old sails - standard
roller furling 130 genoa.

Downwind - furled my head sail - flew my baby spinaker ($200 from the internet buy -  fits a 30' racing boat
so was a nice small size for me to fly single handed on my boat) 1.5 knots dead down wind with
apparent wind of 1.5 knots - I was THRILLED with this performance - it was an awesome Friday afternoon.

[SVJourney]

Jim,
We have a Kiwi prop feathering prop.  We find it gives us about a half knot sailing speed on average over our fixed pitch 3 blade.  Obviously, better advantage in light airs than heavy winds.
It also gives us much better performance in reverse. 
The downside is that it must be cleaned and lubed every year or the reverse will not work.  This means yearly haulout, even if its only for an hour in the slings.  The literature says you can do this in the water, but I wouldn't want to try it.

Wayne

[jpendoley]

Everyone, thank you for the feedback. I think I am in the market for a Cambell prop and an asym!

[P69]

I just put a Campbell Salier on, but it's too new for any useful opinion.

they sold me the following:
R/Hand 16 inch diameter x 8 inch pitch (16x8)

I told them what boat I had, engine and max hp/rpm

[S/V Deo Volente]

What engine do you have? That seems to me to be undersized and the wrong rotation for a standard 365.

http://www.pearson365.com/forum/index.php?topic=1599.msg8476#msg8476

[urlhttp://www.pearson365.com/forum/index.php?topic=226.msg728#msg728][/url]

[P69]

Bob, you're right.

I had RH before the change, the switched to LH because there are more drive train parts available for LH props.

Engine is Universal 5444

I questioned the size also, but they said that their design allows for smaller dimensions.

I installed it a few months ago and on way back from boatyard (10 miles motoring), I noticed no reduced performance. There might have been increased performance, but I was too tired from a week of hard labor that I didn't notice. Previous prop twas 18 x 11 2 blade.