Today it was time to test Hill Marine semi cleaver propeller on Selva Madeira 40. I switched from Solas Amita 3 11"x17" aluminium propeller. Many people say that you lose RPMs when switching from aluminum to stainless steel, some say that you gain RPMs. In my case I was going from 17" pitch to 18" so the RPMs should drop in any case. Semi cleaver is of course very different kind of propeller compared to round ear Solas.
I did the installation when the boat was in water, no major problems, I used two washers although the hub kit contained only one.
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| Hill Marine semi cleaver 11 1/4 x 18 on Madeira 40. |
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| The stock nut and pin worked well. |
This semi cleaver is a lot heavier than Solas aluminium propeller but I didn't notice any problems when switching from neutral to forward. The weather was quite windy and it was not able to get optimal results. I noticed that the RPMs at WOT where around 5400 rpms whereas with Solas they were above 5600 rpms, also the top speed was more than 3 knots lower.
I was able to trim motor up without the propeller losing grip, it seems that semi cleaver (as well as cleavers) likes run close to the surface of water.
I was not happy with the performance, maybe the propeller has too much pitch, I'm considering raising the engine to the highest mounting holes. I need to test again in calmer conditions and will try to trim the motor as up as possible. It is said that cleavers create transom lift but I did not notice anything worth mentioning.
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