Should you polish a Prop or not

[Tafflad]

I have just had a new pair of Stainless Steel Duoprops on my boat (exchanged for free)
The props are reasonably polished on blade area but on the hub it's a mixture of polished and what looks a bit like watermarks .. (don't come off with Autosol)
On all my previous boats I have polished props with wet & dry paper from 240 through to 1200 and then finished with Autosol paste to a high shine finish.
What is considered opinion have props polished - less resistance, looks good
Leave unpolished less cavitation & corrosion.

 

[Sea Rider]

If the hub is the outter portion where the prop shaft exits, it's the least part that will benefit from such procedure. A hull well polished and waxed will certainly benefit much more....

Happy Boating​

 

[Scott Danforth]

run it in sand at low tide, it will polish them up.

other than that, polished or not polished, doesnt matter enough from an efficiency standpoint to worry. a nick on the leading edge has more effect than if you polished the whole thing to a mirror finish or sprayed it with primer and threw sand on them. only thing is if you want to make it shiny, make it shiny.

 

[Tafflad]

I meant the body of the props where blades attach

 

[racerone]

There used to be a pride / smile factor in having a polished brass prop.----But today almost every prop is polished stainless , so no more ---" wow factor "-----from having one.-----Heck the factory robots polish them nowadays.

 

[JimS123]

One year we spent a week at our usual vacation spot with the boat tied to floating docks. The water was several feet high and the main dock was under water. When I pulled the boat out my zincs were real bad and my brand new polished SS prop was not too shiny any more. I suspect a power line was submerged somewhere.

Anyway, scotchbrite and a pad on a buffing wheel with ample Flitz shined her right back up and I didn't see any difference in performance.

As far as boat bottoms, guys that run racing boats sand the hulls fore to aft to make little sanding grooves. Wax is frowned upon.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Why only with vaseline of course....lol i will never forget that comment. Aside from that...if it is the apple of your eye...But Of Course!

 

[Faztbullet]

A polished /waxed hull will slow you down and a polished prop has less bite. Us guys who go fast use a satin finish and the polished ones are usually thinned and more than 3 blades. I have had props with over $500 of work done to them ..was it worth it? Yes as these prop started out stock OEM and ending up 3-5 MPH and 4-500RPM faster than stock, handled beeter at WOT and faster holeshot. I have a 26P Raker thats custom worked, comes out of the hole like a 24 P and runs on top end like a 28P

 

[Tafflad]

OK ... I don’t have a race boat, I have a 21’ bowrider used for towed watersports.
It‘s stainless duoprop so 6 blades.

It has not been delivered mirror finish, so wondering whether to polish it all to high sheen or not.
My hull is new and will remain highly polished ... its towed so never has any marine growth.

 

[Faztbullet]

Leave it satin finished.... prop will have more surface tension so works fine with towed water fun toys

 

[82rude]

Paint it black and never worry about theft!Who the heck wants to steal an al prop?