Propeller Test Programe

Steel Dev · 26 May 2004, 21:05

Hi there Ribsters

As promised I thought I would let you know in advance about the test propeller programme we are doing at the RibEx show. We will have several stainless steel propellers available for you to test at the show. Basically, if you are interested you come to the stand and pay a deposit, i.e. the value of the propeller, you can do this by credit card. You take the propeller away, fit it to your rib and take the prop for a spin to see if you like the performance. You then bring the prop back to the stand and we either give you a full refund or we supply a new propeller. We will do this for half hour slots, hopefully this should be enough time to test the prop as it is not far to the Solent from the marina. All that we ask is that you return the propeller undamaged and in the condition it was when we supplied it to you. The props available will be;

D Series
Titan & New Saturn 3 blade 13.3/4x15, 13.1/4x17, 13.1/4x19, 13x21
HR4 Titan 4 blade 13.1/4x15, 13x17

E Series
Titan 3 blade 15.1/4x17, 15x19, 14.3/4x21, 14.1/2x23
HR3 Titan 3 blade 14.3/4x20, 14.1/4x22
Scorpion 3 blade 15.1/8x23, 15.1/8x24, 15.1/8x25, 15.1/8x26
Lazer II 3 blade 14x19 , 13.7/8x21, 13.3/4x23
High Five 5 blade 13.1/4x19, High Five 13.1/4x21

A quick note about each prop, the Titan & New Saturn are good around propellers, HR3 is for top end with bow lift, The Scorpion is a new propeller and gives really good top end with bow lift, the Lazer II is for lightly loaded boats, the HR4 Titan gives added acceleration but slightly lower top end and the High Five is for ultimate acceleration but does have a slightly lower top end.

All props will be on a first come first served basis, however I have had some requests for pre booking so if you would like to do this please give us a call on 020 8874 7059

Sorry to sound like an advert! if you are not interested in a prop come to the stand and say hello anyway, its always nice to put a face to a name.

Steel Dev · 26 May 2004, 21:23

Forgot to mention, if any of you that are interested in the prop testing have twin outboards could you let me know so I can arrange to take extras of some sizes for you to try?

DJL · 26 May 2004, 21:43

Hi Julie,

Is there much difference between the Saturn and the New Saturn?

..and how come your not bringing any props for your customers with 'smaller' engines?

Matt · 26 May 2004, 22:18

Do you offer similar terms (ie sale or return) under normal circumstances or is this a 1 off?

Bittentobuggery · 26 May 2004, 23:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steel Dev

Hi there Ribsters

You take the propeller away, fit it to your rib and take the prop for a spin to see if you like the performance. You then bring the prop back to the stand and we either give you a full refund or we supply a new propeller.

Hi Julie,

As previously indicated, I like the sound of this, but would it not be possible for your experienced personnel to do the fitting, along with the dance of the seven veils, whilst I admire the spectacle from The Fountain or wherever the nearest local hostelry may be.

If it improves my top end big time, I might be prepared to part with sufficient moulah to make this a worthwhile proposition.

ATB

Brian

p.s Written after the Champions League final..& I bought Total Goal Minutes @ 125

Steel Dev · 27 May 2004, 00:06

Re the smaller engines, I can bring a couple of these if there is enough interest, for the C series there are a couple of options but the main ones are the saturn and new saturn. The Saturn is for general purpose, the New Saturn has a larger blade area and this generally gives better acceleration. Give me a call if you would like to take part and I will see what I can do about some test props for this size.

Re fitting, we will try and have someone available to help with this but I can not promise, but if you have problems re fitting we will do our best to get you sorted out. After all it is in my interest to get the prop on your rib to test and hopefully you will be impressed enough to part with some hard earned green stuff!

We are trialing the test programe at the show, but we hope to be able to offer it for the future possibly by mail order or collection from our premises in London. I will keep you posted on this one.

Steel Dev · 27 May 2004, 11:42

I've decided to add some C series propellers to the programe they will be
Saturn 11.1/8x13, 11.1/8x14
New Saturn 11.3/8x12, 11.1/8x13

DJL · 27 May 2004, 12:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steel Dev

I've decided to add some C series propellers to the programe they will be
Saturn 11.1/8x13, 11.1/8x14
New Saturn 11.3/8x12, 11.1/8x13

Excellent decision..

I'll probably give the New Saturn a try.

Steel Dev · 27 May 2004, 16:36

No problem, look forward to seeing you there.

John Kennett · 07 June 2004, 16:17

I saw Julie at the end of the day yesterday, and I can't believe how few people took Steel Developments up on their offer! Only half a dozen people over the whole weekend could be bothered.

Of these, all bar one showed an improvement, the most impressive being an 8 knot increase in top speed on a RIB where the owner had said that he was already happy with the performance, but just interested to see what a different prop would do!

John

Steel Dev · 08 June 2004, 11:53

I am sorry to say that because we had so little response to the test program it is not viable to continue it after the show which is a real shame, but of course we can still give advise to customers as to the best choice of propeller to suit their purpose, so if you have any queries please do not hesitate to give us a call.

For those interested here are a few of the test results for propellers tried which really show how much difference a propeller can make!

Revenger 715 Rib with Honda 150
Original prop Solas s/s New Saturn 14”x21” rpm achieved 5700 speed 57mph
Tested Solas s/s Titan 15”x19” rpm achieved 5900 speed 52mph
Tested Solas s/s Titan HR3 14.3/4”x20” rpm achieved 6200 speed 60mph

Ribeye Sport 785 with Yamaha 300
Original propeller s/s Yamaha 13.3/4”x21” rpm achieved 5400 speed 53mph
Tested Solas Scorpion 15.1/8”x23” rpm achieved 5400 speed 61mph

Scorpion 81 with Honda 225
Original prop Solas s/s New Saturn 14”x21” rpm achieved 5600 speed 46 knots
Tested Solas s/s Titan HR3 14.3/4”x20” rpm achieved 5800 speed 41.5mph
Would suggest on this boat Titan 15”x19” to bring the rpm up this will probably increase the speed

Cobra 8.5 with Merc 225 Opti max
Original propeller s/s Lazer II 13.7/8x21”rpm achieved 5100 speed 50mph
Tested Solas s/s Titan 15”x19” rpm achieved 5400 speed 44mph
Also improved fuel efficiency by reducing fuel consumption by 1 gallon per hour

John Kennett · 08 June 2004, 12:04

Julie

These figures make interesting reading. Out of curiosity who measured the speeds, and how? Are the figures from the customers or did you have someone on board?

John

Steel Dev · 08 June 2004, 12:22

All the results were taken by the boat owners, we just gave them the props they took them out and used the same equipment to take the readings, we asked them to carry the same number of crew for before and after comparisons and to go in two different directions to take account of tide flows. We did not go on the boats as we wanted to get totally independent results, most people were out for about half an hour so they gave the props a fairly good testing

Rene · 14 June 2004, 10:13

Hi Julie

I was one of the people who triede one of your props, even though it diodn't improve my performances. I would just say a BIG thank you for lettiong me try the prop.

If I didn't try it I might still be wondering.

I'm sorry that you will not continue this exelent service, but I do understand.

Thanks
Rene