Hello,
I'm dreaming about next summer even as the snow is falling and I find myself reviewing the forum often just to feel as if I'm sailing. I've had my 36 for one summer and love the boat. I have had only two disappointments. Because mine is wing keel the pointing is less than stellar, and though the handling under power is really good, I got in a few situations where I couldn't compensate for the prop walk in reverse. I have read all of the threads on docking which have been great. I consider myself to be skilled, because though I broke my pinky jumping for the dock I haven't scratched the boat yet.
At the end of the season I decided that getting a Gori propeller might be appropriate for me. It's expensive, but I single-handle a lot, I want to point as high and as fast as possible, and need good handling under power. If I thought about money too much I'd go crazy, so I'd rather err on the side of being happy and safe. Those of you with more experience, can you talk you into or out of this extravagance?
Kevin Schempf
"Windfall" #1918
2000 C-36 Mk II TR/WK
Traverse City, Michigan
Can't speak for the Gori; but I have an 'Autoprop' and it is great.
Reach cruising speed at 2100 rpm or so, little to no prop walk and reverses and stops extremely well.
---- Howard & Linda Matwick ----
--- S/V "Silhouette" - Nanaimo, BC ----
--- 1999 C36 MkII #1776 M35BC ---
I agree with Howard. Had an Autoprop on my 36 and put one on my 400. Amazing engineering and a beautiful piece of equipment. Speed, power, and auto-adjusting. What more could you ask for?
Tom Sokoloski
C36/375IA Past Commodore
Noank, CT
Never heard anybody say they wished they hadn't bought a Gori prop. Can't say the same thing about Autoprop however.
Clean bottoms are FastBottoms!
Gori on my boat works great, backs up just as well as the fixed 2 blade I had before and the finish quality on it was much superior to the Martec on my last boat.
Jason V
Vancouver, BC, Canada
You can find a comparison [URL="http://www.propelspecialisten.dk/download/propeller_comparison_chart.pdf"]here[/URL]. There are lots of options on folding props. My boat came with a stainless steel MaxProp which I really like. I think the MaxProp might have a little more drag than some of the folding props, but superior reverse thrust.
The Gori claims on overdrive are interesting. One reservation I might have is that I use motor sailing largely to recharge the batteries. Gori overdrive allows you to get the prop pitch up so that you can motor sail at low engine RPM. I'm still running on the OEM alternator setup and I can tell from my battery monitor that the recharge current to the battery is didley-squat until the engine RPM gets up. Motor sailing at 1800 RPM would do little for the battery recharge. I don't see much current until 2000 to 2200 RPM.
Greg Jackson
SV Jacqui Marie
2004 C36, MKII
tall rig, wing keel,
[QUOTE=fstbttms;16530]Never heard anybody say they wished they hadn't bought a Gori prop. Can't say the same thing about Autoprop however.[/QUOTE]
Need you to expand on that, otherwise it doesn't mean much, 2nd hand comments without details are hard to base a decision on. The Original Poster would like to have details in order to qualify an expensive purchase.
Not saying it's the best, but personally I've had no problems with the Autoprop and excellent performance myself... Similar in price to Gori - not sure about parts or warranty comparisons.
Good info from Jason and Greg.
---- Howard & Linda Matwick ----
--- S/V "Silhouette" - Nanaimo, BC ----
--- 1999 C36 MkII #1776 M35BC ---
[QUOTE=HowLin;16533]Need you to expand on that, otherwise it doesn't mean much, 2nd hand comments without details are hard to base a decision on. The Original Poster would like to have details in order to qualify an expensive purchase. [/QUOTE]
Just what I said. Nobody hates their Gori. But plenty of people have lost blades from Autoprops (I've personally seen two Autoprops that have thrown blades.) And don't even get me started on trying to force their frozen blades into motion because the open bearing races get fouled.
Allegedly, newer models of Autoprop have had these design flaws corrected. I couldn't say, never having seen a newer model Autoprop (for which I am eternally grateful.)
Clean bottoms are FastBottoms!
[QUOTE=fstbttms;16572]Just what I said. Nobody hates their Gori. But plenty of people have lost blades from Autoprops (I've personally seen two Autoprops that have thrown blades.) And don't even get me started on trying to force their frozen blades into motion because the open bearing races get fouled.
Allegedly, newer models of Autoprop have had these design flaws corrected. I couldn't say, never having seen a newer model Autoprop (for which I am eternally grateful.)[/QUOTE]
One of my customers has lost a blade on his three blade Auto Prop. Everything has been done "by the book" for the life of this prop. He hit hit a clump of weeds under power and sheared a blade. The replacement blades and parts were NOT cheap.
I clean and grease his bearings yearly and they need it. This is not inexpensive to do every season. The prop also will not allow his engine to turn max rated RPM and thus he has clogged two exhaust elbows in five years.. After five years now his bearing races are showing wear/slop. Don't know really what this will cost......
On his last boat he had a Max Prop and is thinking about pulling the trigger on one in a few weeks but they are not "perfect" either.. ...
-Maine Sail
https://www.marinehowto.com/