old brass prop

[dami]

hi, I am new to iboats and this page so please bare with me. I have come across an old 2 blade brass prop. it looks as if it was hand cast. It is also hollow and has an exhaust port on each blade. the numbers stamped in it are D9 and P14. does anyone know anything about this prop. age, value, what it fits? thanks.

 

[Frank Acampora]

It is 9 inch diameter and 14 inch pitch. As to what it fits, it could be anything in the 25-50 Horsepower range. I see bronze props on ebay for ridiculous prices, sometimes upwards of 100 bucks because people think that just because it is old and bronze, it is valuable. In reality, take a couple of good photos and post it on ebay with a 10.00 reserve plus shipping and see if it fetches more. You could also post as buy it now for between 25 and 40 bucks first and see if anyone bites. If it turns out to be a custom or semi-custom like an Oakland Johnson, it could be worth a bit more.

 

[Texasmark]

May be a Michigan Wheel racing prop. Reason is the pitch and porting. Normal pitches for 9" props are quite a bit lower (7 to 9) and the ports are for fast rpm buildup under load like you would encounter on a 3 pt hydroplane racing boat when getting on plane. Had a buddy and his dad who were in that pretty big time back in the '50's. They ran 10 to 40 hp souped up engines on 10-13' hydros. They used a spring loaded throttle and to get on plane the driver would lean over the bow from the hole he rode in, squeeze the throttle to max, shoot a rooster tail 20 feet, gain some momentum, etc. etc. until the boat gained enough speed for the prop to make a good bite and away they'd go. It'd take half a dozen iterations to get up. The spring loaded throttle was basically a kill switch. If the driver let go of the throttle the engine would die.

Mark