Innovative new propellers for sailing yachts
From New Zeland the Kiwiprop™ is a unique cost effective feathering propeller that eliminates gears, aligns the blades with the streamlines not the shaft, minimises corrosion potential from the lightweight composite blades and offers users easy variable pitch adjustment.
The Kiwiprop™ is now available as the result of a long and careful development program that was designed to bring new levels of performance and value to the sailor who wishes to retain the known benefits of a fixed three bladed propeller, for motoring and maneuverability, but at the same time minimise drag under all sailing conditions.
Traditionally feathering props have blades geared together, to ensure that they line up with the shaft when feathered. However the shaft rarely lines up with the water flow, thus increasing projected area and thus drag. With a typical inboard engine the shaft will be angled down at 10 to 15 degrees and with the hull sloping up at say 5 to 10 degrees, the shaft may be 15 to 25 degrees off the streamline of the water flow. This can cause auto-rotation and wear with the need for shaft locks. In addition there can be 5 to 10 degrees of leeway on the wind and surging sideways in big waves.
In the Kiwiprop™ designs - the individual blades are always free to "weather vane" in the actual water flow, to a minimum drag position so don't cause autorotation.
This modern light weight three bladed feathering propeller has proved much smoother and quieter in operation than equivalent two bladed units and offers the additional benefits of variable pitch, is fully lubricated with minimal corrosion potential and offers full reverse thrust.
Kiwiprop K3 units has now been in production since 1995 with many thousand installed world wide on a huge range of vessels and drive trains. The SDC or Sail Drive Composite unit having completed Beta testing is now available for purchase.
With the SDC unit in production and a further composite folding propeller in the design pipeline we decided that it was time to amalgamate the sales and promotion of the full range of Kiwiprop™ units. All have in common the extensive use of glass reinforced composites to address weight, corrosion and economic design issues.
With the SDC unit in production and a further composite folding propeller in the design pipeline we decided that it was time to amalgamate the sales and promotion of the full range of Kiwiprop™ units. All have in common the extensive use of glass reinforced composites to address weight, corrosion and economic design issues.
The new Kiwiprops K4 unit is now available with four composite blades on a Stainless Steel blade carrier and boss. This unit is designed for higher horsepower installations, and installations where for larger vessels, additional blade area is required. We have a trial unit in the water and an initial production status run of units in process. These will be also put in service for real world testing for size confirmation and further testing as we start without sizing benchmarks for the popular installations that we can recommend with confidence. Variable pitch always allows for fine tuning to optimise any particular installation.
Technical specifications
K4 - 4 blades
Type:
"weather vane free" - 4 blades
Rotation
left or right
Diameter Nominal:
16.50, 17.00, 17.50, 18, 19.50, 20.50
Pitch Range:
18 to 24 degreesi
Reverse - always ~ 24 degrees
Boss Castings::
316 Stainless Steel ex Rod Stock or Investment Cast
Blades:
DuPont HTN Zytel Black - 50% Glass
Nose Cone::
GF PP Glass filled Polypropylene - Sail Drives oe Shaft Drives
Cap Screws:
Stainless Steel 304/316
Blade Pins:
Titanium
Shaft Diam's:
Cone SAE 1:16 taper 1.250", 1.357", 1.500"
Cone ISO 1:10 30, 35 mm
Sail drive SAE 16/32 Tooth Spline on 28mm
Nut Threads:
ISO 30 - M20 x 1.5 SAE - 1 1/4 = 7/8; 1-3/8 = 1; 1-/1/2=1-1/8
ISO 35 - M24 X 2.0
Saildrives - M16 x 2.0 mm or M20 x 2,0 mm
Keyway:
ISO 30 mm 8 x 7 mm; ISO 35 mm 10 x 8- parallel SAE
ISO 30 mm 8x7 ISo 35 mm 10x8 - parallel
Power Range
To 100 hp (special if required)
Weight:
Type:
"weather vane free" - 4 blades
Rotation
left or right
Diameter Nominal:
16.50, 17.00, 17.50, 18, 19.50, 20.50
Pitch Range:
18 to 24 degreesi
Reverse - always ~ 24 degrees
Boss Castings::
316 Stainless Steel ex Rod Stock or Investment Cast
Blades:
DuPont HTN Zytel Black - 50% Glass
Nose Cone::
GF PP Glass filled Polypropylene - Sail Drives oe Shaft Drives
Cap Screws:
Stainless Steel 304/316
Blade Pins:
Titanium
Shaft Diam's:
Cone SAE 1:16 taper 1.250", 1.357", 1.500"
Cone ISO 1:10 30, 35 mm
Sail drive SAE 16/32 Tooth Spline on 28mm
Nut Threads:
ISO 30 - M20 x 1.5 SAE - 1 1/4 = 7/8; 1-3/8 = 1; 1-/1/2=1-1/8
ISO 35 - M24 X 2.0
Saildrives - M16 x 2.0 mm or M20 x 2,0 mm
Keyway:
ISO 30 mm 8 x 7 mm; ISO 35 mm 10 x 8- parallel SAE
ISO 30 mm 8x7 ISo 35 mm 10x8 - parallel
Power Range
To 100 hp (special if required)
Weight:
< 7,5 kg
Technical specifications
K3 - 3 blades
Type:
"weather vane free" - 3 blades
Rotation
left or right
Diameter Nominal:
14.00, 14.50, 15.00, 15.50 16.00, 16.50 17.00, 18.50, 19.50
Pitch Range:
18 to 24 degreesi
Reverse - always ~ 24 degrees
Boss Castings::
316 Stainless Steel ex Rod Stock or Investment Cast
Blades:
DuPont HTN Zytel Black - 50% Glass
Nose Cone::
GF PP Glass filled Polypropylene - Sail Drives oe Shaft Drives
Cap Screws:
Stainless Steel 304/316
Blade Pins:
Titanium
Shaft Diam's:
Cone ISO 1/10 22, 25, 30, 35 mm
Cone SAE 1/16, 1", 1 1/8", 1 1/43"
Sail drive SAE 16/32 Tooth Spline on 28mm
Nut Threads:
ISO - M16 o M20 x 1.5 SAE - 3/4”
7/8” BSW for 1 1/4”
Saildrives M16 or M20 x 2,0 mm
Keyway:
ISO 6 x 6 or 8 x 7 mm - parallel SAE
1/4” or 5/16” - parallel
Power Range
From 9 to 55 hp (special if required)
Weight:
< 3,4 kg
Type:
"weather vane free" - 3 blades
Rotation
left or right
Diameter Nominal:
14.00, 14.50, 15.00, 15.50 16.00, 16.50 17.00, 18.50, 19.50
Pitch Range:
18 to 24 degreesi
Reverse - always ~ 24 degrees
Boss Castings::
316 Stainless Steel ex Rod Stock or Investment Cast
Blades:
DuPont HTN Zytel Black - 50% Glass
Nose Cone::
GF PP Glass filled Polypropylene - Sail Drives oe Shaft Drives
Cap Screws:
Stainless Steel 304/316
Blade Pins:
Titanium
Shaft Diam's:
Cone ISO 1/10 22, 25, 30, 35 mm
Cone SAE 1/16, 1", 1 1/8", 1 1/43"
Sail drive SAE 16/32 Tooth Spline on 28mm
Nut Threads:
ISO - M16 o M20 x 1.5 SAE - 3/4”
7/8” BSW for 1 1/4”
Saildrives M16 or M20 x 2,0 mm
Keyway:
ISO 6 x 6 or 8 x 7 mm - parallel SAE
1/4” or 5/16” - parallel
Power Range
From 9 to 55 hp (special if required)
Weight:
< 3,4 kg
Kiwiprops 3 blades video
Test on Franch Voile Magazine
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