Re: prop ventilating
He's talking about drilling ventilating holes in the propeller, to allow the motor to spin up faster upon takeoff, to get a better hole shot.<br /><br />This is good for water skiing amongst other things. You do have to be careful to drill the holes in the right spot, also you can't go too big or the prop'll slip a WHOLE bunch. I had an old Merc 700 dockbuster with 2-bladed bronze prop. Drilled a couple of ventilation holes in it and it had a takeoff like you wouldn't believe!<br /><br />You can look at some of the hi-perf props to see where they position the holes. This info was available somewhere but I can't seem to place it.<br /><br />If you want to list your E-mail address here in a manner which can be deciphered, but won't be susceptible to spam, I can send you a .gif file which shows exactly where to position the holes. <br /><br />Unless one of the Inline Dudes cares to post a link to the file!!!!<br /><br />To describe roughly, drill holes away from the internal stiffeners of the prop, at about 5/16" +/- 1/16" from the leading edge of the propeller (the most forward edge), where the blade fairs into the propeller body. You probably would want to start with a smallish hole, something like 3/16" or so. I had pretty big holes in the old Merc prop, and at a sloppy 5/16" they were almost too much!<br /><br />If you were to look at the prop from the stbd (right) side of the boat, the hole is ABOVE the front edge of the prop. This allows exhaust gasses to flow over the blades and "ventilate" the prop in a controlled manner.<br /><br />Once up to speed, exhaust is pulled out the rear of the prop, and a minimum amount of exhaust spills out the holes. <br /><br />Note on some hi-perf props they come with plugs so you can choose to ventilate or not.<br /><br />HTH, if you're doing this at home, measure carefully, you're on your own and do so at your own risk!!!!............ed
<br /><br />c/6<br />Hooty