New 409 propeller

[Tony K]

I’m looking for a folding prop for a 2013 409 Yanmar 40 hp and sail drive. Anyone have a recommendation on size, pitch and brand? I’m in San Francisco.

thanks,
Tony
Water Gene

[MalcolmP]

Tony

Be prepared for a deluge of views and opinions on this one. 😀

Basically all folding and indeed feathering props will out perform a fixed prop when sailing, so good investment, you should see at least 0.5 knot improvement in typical conditions.

Depending on how much you motor the performance under power also needs to be considered.

Note that there are also many feathering props which work differently to folding.

As well as initial cost the downside of folding and feathering is that they have moving parts so need some maintenance to avoid premature wear.

Personally I love our Bruntons Autoprop, which is a self pitching feathering prop and gives great power in forward and reverse and reduces significant prop walk. Simple to service too and have extremely long life.

[MartyB]

Usually you are better off talking to the dealer that sells them. If they do not have the chart(s) to tell them the correct prop etc, then they can call the distributor to get the proper one.
For Max Prop, call PYI in Lynnwood Wa.
www.pyiinc.com/
They sometimes have used rebuilt/manufactures props for sale also.
My only complaint about a max prop, is the actual weight of the prop, ie heavy, so its fuel use is higher than lighter props like a Kiwi. BUT, reverse is better than a Kiwi. Generally speaking, no prop walk. Always plus's and minus's from one prop to another!

Marty

[j24sailor]

Oct 13, 2018 6:57:36 GMT MalcolmP said:

Tony

Be prepared for a deluge of views and opinions on this one. 😀

Basically all folding and indeed feathering props will out perform a fixed prop when sailing, so good investment, you should see at least 0.5 knot improvement in typical conditions.

Depending on how much you motor the performance under power also needs to be considered.

Note that there are also many feathering props which work differently to folding.

As well as initial cost the downside of folding and feathering is that they have moving parts so need some maintenance to avoid premature wear.

Personally I love our Bruntons Autoprop, which is a self pitching feathering prop and gives great power in forward and reverse and reduces significant prop walk. Simple to service too and have extremely long life.

I agree with both Malcom and Martyb. You are going to have many different opinions all of whom are right. As far as pitch etc. MartyB is right and if you give the engine information along with the year etc. they company you choose will tell you exactly the size and pitch of prop you need. We put a Flexifold prop that we bought from the manufacturer on our 409 four years ago. There is prop walk, but we use it to our advantage for the most part. In the tests it is supposed to have the least amount of prop walk but that is simply untrue though I can live with what there is. However I am very happy with our Flexifold in the end.

Enjoy your new feathering/folding propwalk.

James

[jlasail]

Hi,
I have a SO 409 equipped with a Brunton Autoprop. I like it a lot, prop walk is very reasonable and the gain when motoring is around 3/4 knots compared to a fixed prop in same conditions. Manufacturing support is very good, I used it on one occasion. I am based on the East coast USA.
Jl

[Tony K]

Thanks for the advice. Our boatyard tends to like Gori, but Flexofold sure has nice reviews. The Autoprop and MaxProp look good too. My sense is that folding is typically less maintenance than feathering, but either is more than fixed.

Reasonably quick availability may end up being our key driver here. A previous boatyard worker had installed our fixed prop backwards. It blew off the zincs, ruined the prop and probably didn't do other significant damage, but we're on the hard now.

Thanks for the thoughtful comments.

[Don Reaves]

I have a Kiwiprop on my SO35, and I like it quite a lot. Of course, most everyone likes the props they've switched to, which should let you know that there are a lot of good choices available.

The advantages of the Kiwiprop are: 1) cost (about half the competition), 2) simplicity (no gears, etc), 3) materials (stainless and composites) which means that there are little problems with electrolysis, 4) excellent backing power, and 5) reduced prop walk.

Whatever you do, make sure you investigate lots of alternatives. You might well decide that the recommendations of your local mechanic is very important, since he/she will be comfortable servicing it for you.

Don

[jdl01]

The north american jeanneau plant offers the flexofold line of folding props as their performance option. They can recommend the appropriate "performance" prop size for the SO409. I have their choice for our 379 and I'm not disappointed.

[Tony K]

This is really great information. Thanks to all.

Here's what we're doing. 

We are going to replace the current prop with an aluminum fixed prop and continue shopping. The boat show in San Francisco is in spring, so we'll check things out there and then.

I'm leaning toward the flexofold. Jeanneau recommends 17x11x3, flexofold recommends 17x12x3. The current fixed is 17x13x3; Jeanneau original fixed is 17x14x3.

So in this process, I have made some great discoveries and found resources that I did not know existed.

There is a Jeanneau spare parts website where you can see the schematic diagrams of many important systems on the boat.

spareparts.jeanneau.us

Our dealer never told us about this so it was a huge discovery.

Also, there is a phone number you can call 410.280.9400 and wait for the spare parts prompt. I hit the sailboat prompt and got a dead end. Lol.

[vasko]

hmmm 17x13 seems a bit small for 40ft boat - I have 17x13 on my 34ft Sun Liberty ( original is 16x12)

[blistering]

Hi Tony

Recommend you look at this detailed comparison www.klapschroef.nl/foto/14.pdf.  Fwiw I'm very pleased with my 20 inch flexofold. Slightly more pitch than the fixed-blade it replaced so we motor at 10-15% less revs for the same speed, but power all there. Excellent in reverse, not much prop walk. Good luck. 

[Tony K]

Thanks guys. 
I have communicated with Autoprop, gori, and flexofold. Autoprop says 18", flexofold says 17", and Gori says 18--all for three blade prop. I also ran a few online propeller calculators and they are consistent around 17-18" for a three blade.

[mred]

Oct 18, 2018 18:48:10 GMT Tony K said:

This is really great information. Thanks to all.

Here's what we're doing. 

We are going to replace the current prop with an aluminum fixed prop and continue shopping. The boat show in San Francisco is in spring, so we'll check things out there and then.

I'm leaning toward the flexofold. Jeanneau recommends 17x11x3, flexofold recommends 17x12x3. The current fixed is 17x13x3; Jeanneau original fixed is 17x14x3.

So in this process, I have made some great discoveries and found resources that I did not know existed.

There is a Jeanneau spareparts website where you can see the schematic diagrams of many important systems on the boat.


Our dealer never told us about this so it was a huge discovery for me.

Also, there is a phone number you can call 410.280.9400 and wait for the spare parts prompt. I hit the sailboat prompt and got a dead end. Lol.

I have a 2012 409 with the Flexofold, very happy with it. Can you please forward the web site for spare parts?

[MalcolmP]

Oct 20, 2018 11:39:59 GMT mred said:

...... Can you please forward the web site for spare parts?

Best link is:
spareparts.jeanneau.fr/controleur.php?action=formInscript

[j24sailor]

Oct 18, 2018 18:48:10 GMT Tony K said:

This is really great information. Thanks to all.

Here's what we're doing. 

We are going to replace the current prop with an aluminum fixed prop and continue shopping. The boat show in San Francisco is in spring, so we'll check things out there and then.

I'm leaning toward the flexofold. Jeanneau recommends 17x11x3, flexofold recommends 17x12x3. The current fixed is 17x13x3; Jeanneau original fixed is 17x14x3.

So in this process, I have made some great discoveries and found resources that I did not know existed.

There is a Jeanneau spareparts website where you can see the schematic diagrams of many important systems on the boat.


Our dealer never told us about this so it was a huge discovery for me.

Also, there is a phone number you can call 410.280.9400 and wait for the spare parts prompt. I hit the sailboat prompt and got a dead end. Lol.

We ended up buying our flexifold through our dealer as it was the easiest and cheapest price. We have a 17x13x3 which is what the recommended. We contacted Flexifold directly and that is what they recommended too. We have a 3jhe with a sail drive.

James

[mred25234]

Oct 20, 2018 14:36:12 GMT MalcolmP said:

Oct 20, 2018 11:39:59 GMT mred said:

...... Can you please forward the web site for spare parts?

Best link is:
spareparts.jeanneau.fr/controleur.php?action=formInscript

I wish I could get their sign up form to work!

[MalcolmP]

Oct 27, 2018 13:34:43 GMT mred25234 said:

Oct 20, 2018 14:36:12 GMT MalcolmP said:

Best link is:
spareparts.jeanneau.fr/controleur.php?action=formInscript

I wish I could get their sign up form to work!

Is it they are not responding with a password and login, or does the form not appear at all? If you are using an Apple device, try to access via an PC or Android.

[Tony K]

There’s was a technical issue with the site. I ended up sending an email to a rep that was helping me over the phone, and he signed me up.

i tried two different PC browsers, the iPad safari.

[mred25234]

I can’t get it to work on any computer, do you have an email address for the company?

[Tony K]

Try just spareparts.jeanneau.us That works for me.