i for several years have complained about the standard volvo props that come on the aquamatic drives (270, 280, 290). i have a 285 and hated it.
the props were designed to move a lot of water but never to perform. i spent a few hours on the phone with an engineer from solas props (trying to get through from sales people was a bear) and here is what he told me:
those drives were designed to be on tugboats or vessels that are extremly heavy and need to move large amounts of water and never on runabouts (higer speed and performance), thus the non trimmable units until the later years of the drives (right before the merger with cobra). he told me that Solas helped design a prop for some of the volvo marinas on the west coast in the late 80's and early 90's. the were a merc style prop (thru hub) with a volvo penta hub inside (no they are not an exchangable prop) and that they were stricktly designed for these drives (most of the drives have a 1.6 ratio verses mercrusier being around 1.9 and higer). he further explained some of the processes they used to design these props and that the pitchs on these props were decreased from the volvo penta props but with the increased rake and cupping top end speeds were still to be had. after the conversation he gave me a list of part numbers of props that they still carry for this application. of course the stainless carrried a hefty price tag.
i had been looking on ebay for the last two years for a newer style prop to replace mine with and had no luck. the luck i did have when looking was from Ron Hill marine. i think the website is hillmarine.com or his name on eby is prop19 i contacted him through email directly for what i wanted and he was able to offer several differnt props for around 300 - 350 with an exchangeable hub. sill never got around to trying his props.
HOWEVER, about 4 weeks ago i was able to find one of the solas designed volvo props on ebay!! SS and got it for 139!! what a steal!! Now for some particulars, i was running a 14.25x19 lh alum OEM volvo prop. bad holehsot (not as bad as the 21p that is also OEM volvo that i have) but with a top speed of 47. The new prop (solas designed with Volvo stamped hub fixed mount) is a 15x17 SS lh. The hole shot is increadible. top speed is 46 loaded with people and 47-48 by myself and best of all, my WOT of 4800 is still kept. i didnt increase rpms at all!! I LOVE IT!! oh and not to mention that cornering is a whole nother story!! i can corner with out loosing speed, without cavitation, and with out the prop loosing grip on the water. it is awesome. like a whole different boat. yeah i know props arent miricale workers but when comming from a garbage OEM VP prop this was!!
like i said i complained for years that the OEM volvo props for aqumatic drives were garbage (too much surface area on the blades, no cupping, no rake, and desinged more like a screw than a prop). i kept looking and found different options, they are out there and yes it can be done. Remember if you are looking volvo penta drives can easily be converted from LH to RH or vice versa, that change takes about 3 minutes and is simple. when you find your prop you can open up to differnt rotations.
the props were designed to move a lot of water but never to perform. i spent a few hours on the phone with an engineer from solas props (trying to get through from sales people was a bear) and here is what he told me:
those drives were designed to be on tugboats or vessels that are extremly heavy and need to move large amounts of water and never on runabouts (higer speed and performance), thus the non trimmable units until the later years of the drives (right before the merger with cobra). he told me that Solas helped design a prop for some of the volvo marinas on the west coast in the late 80's and early 90's. the were a merc style prop (thru hub) with a volvo penta hub inside (no they are not an exchangable prop) and that they were stricktly designed for these drives (most of the drives have a 1.6 ratio verses mercrusier being around 1.9 and higer). he further explained some of the processes they used to design these props and that the pitchs on these props were decreased from the volvo penta props but with the increased rake and cupping top end speeds were still to be had. after the conversation he gave me a list of part numbers of props that they still carry for this application. of course the stainless carrried a hefty price tag.
i had been looking on ebay for the last two years for a newer style prop to replace mine with and had no luck. the luck i did have when looking was from Ron Hill marine. i think the website is hillmarine.com or his name on eby is prop19 i contacted him through email directly for what i wanted and he was able to offer several differnt props for around 300 - 350 with an exchangeable hub. sill never got around to trying his props.
HOWEVER, about 4 weeks ago i was able to find one of the solas designed volvo props on ebay!! SS and got it for 139!! what a steal!! Now for some particulars, i was running a 14.25x19 lh alum OEM volvo prop. bad holehsot (not as bad as the 21p that is also OEM volvo that i have) but with a top speed of 47. The new prop (solas designed with Volvo stamped hub fixed mount) is a 15x17 SS lh. The hole shot is increadible. top speed is 46 loaded with people and 47-48 by myself and best of all, my WOT of 4800 is still kept. i didnt increase rpms at all!! I LOVE IT!! oh and not to mention that cornering is a whole nother story!! i can corner with out loosing speed, without cavitation, and with out the prop loosing grip on the water. it is awesome. like a whole different boat. yeah i know props arent miricale workers but when comming from a garbage OEM VP prop this was!!
like i said i complained for years that the OEM volvo props for aqumatic drives were garbage (too much surface area on the blades, no cupping, no rake, and desinged more like a screw than a prop). i kept looking and found different options, they are out there and yes it can be done. Remember if you are looking volvo penta drives can easily be converted from LH to RH or vice versa, that change takes about 3 minutes and is simple. when you find your prop you can open up to differnt rotations.