Custom Props & Prototypes

There is a wide range of choices and price points, so I recommend talking this through with the experts before making a decision. For instance, here at Barletta Boats, we try to find a middle ground prop that allows the motor to spin close to its max RPM. This way, you’re getting a propeller that is made for your boat and will achieve near-peak performance without breaking the bank. I’ve driven numerous different types of boats and have always been pleased with the propeller that was included from the factory every time. Choosing a propeller can be subjective depending on your performance goals, but different engines and hull designs do play into selecting the best prop.

SHARROW by VEEM Propeller

By decreasing and even eliminating tip cavitation and vortices, the Sharrow models also dramatically reduce noise and energy loss when a boat cruises through open waters. Additional benefits include 50% more reverse thrust, 30% more range, less vibration, and doubled speed at mid-range RPMs. Putting its products to the test, Sharrow demonstrates in the below video the dramatic difference in noise production between a standard propeller and its toroidal design. Sharrow Marine has been getting frankly spectacular results from boat propellers that use loops instead of standard blades. After several years of development, the company has now tested its props against hundreds of standard propellers, and the difference is incredible.

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The contra-rotating propeller is a fairly simple concept that features two propellers rotating in opposite directions around the same shaft. The independent and opposite rotations counter the energy otherwise lost in tangential flow, better focusing it on the thrust that drives the boat. The drive system then runs more efficiently than a comparable single-prop drive, resulting in a vessel with improved acceleration and speed, better fuel efficiency or a combination of both. However, extensive sea trials carried out by US website boattest.com on the new Sharrow Propeller MX-1 seem to confirm all of the above and show efficiency gains of between 9-15% over comparable 3-blade propeller designs. The result is a closed loop design that looks like a couple of opposed inclined boomerangs joined at the tips.

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Testing led by the University of Michigan’s Marine Hydrodynamic Laboratory indicates the Sharrow Propeller is 9-to-15% more efficient than standard props. Dye-flow testing at the lab indicated no “vortex” exiting the Sharrow design, while conventional props have a power-wasting vortex that can cause cavitation and loss of efficiency at each blade tip. The effect of the “loop propeller” is to add considerably to the surface area of the blades, as if there were six blades rather than the 3 or 4 usually seen on recreational boat propellers. In terms of drawbacks, these are fairly complex shapes, so they're much harder to manufacture than standard props using cheap and easy injection molding. But even if they double or triple the price of propellers, these are a low-cost part of a drone and the overall impact might not be that tough on the hip pocket.

MIT lincoln laboratory’s winning rotor design for drones

A new propeller design will likely start popping up on boats in Alabama and across the nation in the next few months—provided that the manufacturer eventually gets the price down to affordable levels for more customers at the recreational level. While still experimental, the promise of such toroidal propellers could hopefully be dispatched for mass production in commercial aerial services — including aerial deliveries, cinematography, industrial or infrastructure inspections, and agricultural monitoring. Greg reasoned that if he could reduce or even eliminate these tip vortices, it should lead to a quieter, more efficient drone. His light bulb moment came on a dog walk when the idea of a tipless blade, that loops round to rejoin the propeller hub like a strip of twisted ribbon, first popped into his head. As I mentioned above, the boat manufacturer you choose will typically offer the right propeller for your boat.

Nor-Tech 392 w/Quad Mercury 350s: Enertia Eco Props vs. Sharrow Props - BoatTEST.com

Nor-Tech 392 w/Quad Mercury 350s: Enertia Eco Props vs. Sharrow Props.

Posted: Tue, 18 Apr 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Nightwave Marine Digital Night Vision Camera is True Boating Innovation

We know what happens on the water depends on what you’ve got under the surface. The prop also underwent thorough public testing this fall by BoatTest.com. Greg Sharrow was trying to make quieter drones to film live classical music when he realized that his loopy design, which aimed to limit tip vortices, had an advantage in the water too.

If you’re new to boating, you may have realized that there are so many things to learn before stepping foot on your new vessel. Learning everything there is to know about maintaining and operating the boat can be a chore in itself. We’re so confident that you’ll be satisfied with your prop’s performance that we offer a 30-day money-back guarantee on every propeller we sell. Our shipping and return policies make shopping for your prop easy and worry-free.

from 12-inches to 60-inches in diameter

‘The key thing that we thought was making the propellers quieter, was the fact that you’re now distributing the vortices that are being generated by the propeller across the whole shape of it, instead of just at the tip. That vortex doesn’t propagate as far, so you’re less likely to hear it,‘ continues Sebastian. It has also modelled and simulated tests on toroidal boat propellers up to 9.87m in diameter for displacement trawler yachts, container ships and even super tankers, all of which have shown similar theoretical efficiency gains. Much of this modelling and prototype work was carried out by the University of Michigan’s Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratory and involved scale tank testing to prove its findings. Regarding hydrodynamics, Sharrow Marine has developed a range of propellers that significantly advance rotor technology, which halted after the 1830s. Designed as twisted loops instead of traditional blades, the devices have ‘solved the most basic problem of rotary propulsion.

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"I had an intern of mine, who was just absolutely phenomenal, run with the idea. He took the concept and created a bunch of iterations using 3D printers." As of this writing, the new cast props weren’t yet being mass-produced and the company hadn’t yet announced pricing. But Sharrow says they will be “only slightly more expensive and competitive with” old-school props, and they expect to have the casting operation running full-tilt in short order.

To reduce emissions, cargo ships have to switch to low-emission fuel sources like green methanol. That would involve redesigning new ships, retrofitting old ones, and building the coastal infrastructure to refuel them. He said that Sharrow Marine produces up to 1,300 propellers a month at its facilities in Detroit and that the company had months' worth of back orders to catch up on through a supply collaboration with Yamaha. His plan is to scale up to make hundreds of thousands of propellers each year. "You can get quite a substantial hum of all those propellers that can potentially cover up that natural noise," Halpern said. Indeed, the company says this is a propeller you can stick on more or less any outboard motor, then blast along at 30 mph (48 km/h) quietly enough to have a conversation on board without raising your voice.

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