Prop Repair / Refinish

[Potomacbassin’]

It's slow here in the forum during winter so thought I'd give a quick review of Mark's Prop Shop out of Shelbyville IN.

After 150-ish hours my Q3 prop had seen enough nicks, dings and dents that my work bench and bastard file just couldn't keep up, so I sent it off to Mark's to refinish. Mark himself calls you up to talk through your work order to make sure he understands what you're after, and also to keep expectations in check in the event there is too much damage or your performance goals are unachievable.

Shipping was around $35 including $700 of insurance and Mark turned the prop around in about a week after receipt. Cost was around $300 (including return shipping and tax) as I asked him to not only clean up the edges and re-balance, but also to see if he could perform a slight re-pitch to pick up a few hundred RPM. It's all manual labor so I think the price is fair given he probably spent at least an hour on it.

Prop looks brand new with all surfaces given a final polish. The leading edge is now better than factory and almost a knife-edge from midpoint to tip. We'll see how it performs but I'm exited to see if he is the true artisan that many testimonials suggest and my performance goals are met. Only complaint is that he didn't provide a sharp factory square to the trailing edges, but rather gave it a quick once over. I've read how important that is to decrease slip and control a vibration that sometimes is referred to as a "singing" prop. I hit it with a file and we're now good.

There are plenty of great prop shops out there and Mark seems to fall into that category.

 

[BigKahuna]

It's slow here in the forum during winter so thought I'd give a quick review of Mark's Prop Shop out of Shelbyville IN.

After 150-ish hours my Q3 prop had seen enough nicks, dings and dents that my work bench and bastard file just couldn't keep up, so I sent it off to Mark's to refinish. Mark himself calls you up to talk through your work order to make sure he understands what you're after, and also to keep expectations in check in the event there is too much damage or your performance goals are unachievable.

Shipping was around $35 including $700 of insurance and Mark turned the prop around in about a week after receipt. Cost was around $300 (including return shipping and tax) as I asked him to not only clean up the edges and re-balance, but also to see if he could perform a slight re-pitch to pick up a few hundred RPM. It's all manual labor so I think the price is fair given he probably spent at least an hour on it.

Prop looks brand new with all surfaces given a final polish. The leading edge is now better than factory and almost a knife-edge from midpoint to tip. We'll see how it performs but I'm exited to see if he is the true artisan that many testimonials suggest and my performance goals are met. Only complaint is that he didn't provide a sharp factory square to the trailing edges, but rather gave it a quick once over. I've read how important that is to decrease slip and control a vibration that sometimes is referred to as a "singing" prop. I hit it with a file and we're now good.

There are plenty of great prop shops out there and Mark seems to fall into that category.

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Prop looks new! Whatchu hitting in the Potomac?!? Ha! Thought it was mostly a weedy, sandy, hydrilla filled body of water?!? While we're on the subject of props......What are the pros and cons of having those plugs on the prop in or out?!? Curious .......

 

[Potomacbassin’]

Well you probably recall there are some old WW1 era wrecks (barges) up and down the river, especially south of Quantico. I MAY have gotten a "smidge" too close to one chasing fish and tested how sturdy those old iron nails are! Doh. But I'm also prone to finding an occasional rock here or there especially at low tide.

The pro of the vent plugs is simply better acceleration - it supposedly aerates the water (exhaust escapes through the holes) so the engine can spool up RPM quicker out of the hole.

As far as cons go I think it increases slip once the boat is moving and even though at higher speeds the exhaust is no longer sucked out the holes, it creates an uneven surface and likely turbulence and drag. I read Mercury recommends leaving in the solid plugs on larger engines since they can get out of the hole fine on their own.

Seems a little gimmicky to me but some guys swear by them.

 

[Vikingstaff]

Are you just pulling our leg and showing us a new prop?

They do some impressive work. That’s for sure. Sounds like you’ll be getting it back better than new. Nice!

 

[BigKahuna]

Well you probably recall there are some old WW1 era wrecks (barges) up and down the river, especially south of Quantico. I MAY have gotten a "smidge" too close to one chasing fish and tested how sturdy those old iron nails are! Doh. But I'm also prone to finding an occasional rock here or there especially at low tide.

The pro of the vent plugs is simply better acceleration - it supposedly aerates the water (exhaust escapes through the holes) so the engine can spool up RPM quicker out of the hole.

As far as cons go I think it increases slip once the boat is moving and even though at higher speeds the exhaust is no longer sucked out the holes, it creates an uneven surface and likely turbulence and drag. I read Mercury recommends leaving in the solid plugs on larger engines since they can get out of the hole fine on their own.

Seems a little gimmicky to me but some guys swear by them.

Knock on wood .....we've never hit anything with either of the stainless props we've had. (A Mirage Plus and our current Enertia) But we had an aluminum Michigan Wheel prop on our old bowrider and we hit a few things while boating in the Patuxent near Solomons back in the day. We had it fixed at a prop shop off of Indian Head hwy and the guy made it look like brand new!!! The reason I asked you about the plugs.......I noticed I was missing one at the end of last season. I have to have it replaced ...

 

[Potomacbassin’]

Are you just pulling our leg and showing us a new prop?

They do some impressive work. That’s for sure. Sounds like you’ll be getting it back better than new. Nice!

At $350 including shipping it's about half the cost of a new prop, so that's a little nutty when you think about it. But there are cheaper prop shops around for sure which I may try in the future.

Another idea I had was to get a Ken Onion (Work Sharp) electric knife sharpener and try my hand at refinishing the prop with it. Although it would really be used for knives, scissors, mower blades etc. from what I've seen it would be perfectly capable. At $150 it's worth trying?

 

[Potomacbassin’]

Knock on wood .....we've never hit anything with either of the stainless props we've had. (A Mirage Plus and our current Enertia) But we had an aluminum Michigan Wheel prop on our old bowrider and we hit a few things while boating in the Patuxent near Solomons back in the day. We had it fixed at a prop shop off of Indian Head hwy and the guy made it look like brand new!!! The reason I asked you about the plugs.......I noticed I was missing one at the end of last season. I have to have it replaced ...

It might have actually helped! But I'm not sure how you even measure that, probably just seat of the pants feel or if you see your RPMs a little higher with your hole shot. Might be worth it when pulling a skier or wake boarder and you need that instant pop.

 

[Remediation]

You could fix the edges but can you balance it and true the cups of the blade. I use a small shop in Cleves OH that does an amazing job on props. I had hit a underwater buoy and saw no damage but there a vibration. They fixed it and it did not look any different but the vibration was gone.

 

[Potomacbassin’]

Definitely not address cupping. Could I balance? Maybe with a little youtube help??

You're right I'm going to be limited to what I can do with the electric sharpener but if 90% of my damage with be on those leading edges then perhaps I can decrease the frequency of sending off to a prop shop from every other year to maybe every 3 or 4. Never know until I give it a whirl, and I'll still have other uses for the tool.