Catalina props

[jm555]

I recently purchased a catalina MK II 42 and have a great deal of difficulty backing up. I have a 3 blade fixed prop and am told a Max Prop or Auto Prop would eliminate the problem.

Can anyone comment on this solution and which of the two props is the better choice?

 

[Stu Jackson]

It would be more helpful if you described the difficulty you have in backing up. We have a fixed three blade prop and do not have any problems. Did you have another boat before? Most reversing issues have to do with prop walk and NOT giving it enough throttle in reverse. Many times folks think that new props solve those issues. I'm not convinced.

You could also do a search on "prop walk."

 

[Hayden Watson]

I agree that with proper use of the throttle you can overcome much of the affect of prop walk but I wouldn’t trade my AutoProp for anything. It has much less prop walk at all power settings and I can usually back to port and starboard without problems. I also like the sailing speed gains I get. When sailing in 15 knots of breeze, I slow down by 1-kt if I shift into neutral which lets the blades open up.

One other advantage to the AutoProp is that when sailing, it tries to spin the shaft in reverse. (I know, everything about this prop is weird.) The benefit of this is that you must put the transmission in FORWARD to lock it. Because of this, I don’t have to shift to neutral to start the engine so I have no problems starting under way. Without the AutoProp, I often couldn’t get the transmission out of reverse if I was sailing without almost stopping the boat.
I agree that with proper use of the throttle you can overcome much of the affect of prop walk but I wouldn’t trade my AutoProp for anything. It has much less prop walk at all power settings and I can usually back to port and starboard without problems. I also like the sailing speed gains I get. When sailing in 15 knots of breeze, I slow down by 1-kt if I shift into neutral which lets the blades open up.

One other advantage to the AutoProp is that when sailing, it tries to spin the shaft in reverse. (I know, everything about this prop is weird.) The benefit of this is that you must put the transmission in FORWARD to lock it. Because of this, I don’t have to shift to neutral to start the engine so I have no problems starting under way. Without the AutoProp, I often couldn’t get the transmission out of reverse if I was sailing without almost stopping the boat.