Given the preponderance of free wheeling posts lately I'm tempted to chose a contrarian position ( so that we may continue to enjoy this topic into perpetuity
( but be forewarned - next time I'll likely argue the other side
quote "
The conclusion from these calculations is that a substantial reduction in drag, and thus gains in boatspeed, can be realized when a fixed pitch propeller is allowed to freewheel.
"
Pretty conclusive for the test conditions - yep.
ah - but therein lies the rub.
Being CD'ers we have full keels and there are those that have been heard to mark their prop shafts so as to align their fixed two bladed props with the keel ( methinks they be called racers if there is such a thing among cd owners ? fwiw - maybe the " secret " of cd racers though I suspect they had much more in their bag of tricks - ie skill ! ) .
And being in the " shadow " of the keel ( the deadwood ) was specifically not addressed in the two tests cited earlier .
So not being a scientist , nor having a ged in anything I would be remiss in putting forth any speculation that the results of a fixed two bladed prop locked to align with the deadwood would have much less drag than a " free wheeling " two blade prop . I did notice that the fixed two bladed prop tested did fall in the middle of all props when it was in the " exposed " flow of water - hmmmm . And I wonder if we did not cover this territory before ? ( did we agree that this was the best scenario ? )
However maybe more knowledgeable than I can help out and the fun continue ? ? ?
![Wink ;-)](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)