I had it to, Vibration Not Good.
I had a very smooth engine drive train on my 1993 Passage 42. I had been considering making a change to the Auto-Prop or the Max-Prop. In February of this year, we went to the Miami Boat Show. There I had the opportunity to talk to both Auto-Prop, and Max-Prop. I was very attracted to the speed and power of the Auto-Prop, and the fact that it was suppose to be a straight bolt on, and made the purchase in the month of March.Many problems from the start, because it was not a straight bolt on, I had to add a “Drive Saver” to add an inch of clearance to the strut so the prop would clear. When I finally got to test the prop, I though the whole drive train would vibrate apart. It would start to get real bad around (2500 RPM), and was so bad from (2900 to 3200) I was scared I would tear something apart. We hauled the boat again, and discovered that blade angle and track appeared to be slightly off, and believed also that the prop was out of balance, but had no way of checking balance. We then check the drive aliment at the coupler and found less than (.0004). Knowing that before I bolted the Auto-Prop on I had a very smooth drive train, something was very wrong. In addition, I was turning up too much RPM (3900), and it should max out at (3600).I contacted Auto-Prop again, and I must add that throughout all three (3) props we tried from Auto-Prop, Steve and the office were very nice and tried to be helpful and supportive. They sent me another prop that we installed. It too vibrated although slightly less and at a different point. We hauled the boat again, after being sent a third prop with much discussing with Steve at Auto-Prop.We believed that this Prop would be correct. So we blindly bolted it on, and dropped the boat in the water. Slightly different vibration, but very much still there. We were instructed to put the boat in forward gear, then shut the engine down and remove the drive saver. Vibration was less, but still there. Upon haul out, we checked blade angle and track, and discovered a small difference on prop three also. I was very disappointed. After four haul out, three different Auto-Props, I gave up.I know this is going to sound like an ad for Max-Prop, but that’s what I went to. We pulled the Auto-Prop, and installed the Max-Prop, and we are back to a very smooth drive train. I do miss the power and extra speed of the Auto-Prop, but the vibration would have tore the boat apart eventually, not to mention the sheer aggravation.Their props must work correctly on some boats, because if they didn’t they would be out of business. Also, I would like to say again, that the people at Auto-Prop were very courteous, and tried to help in every way. It just didn’t work for me.Chuck