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Propeller right or left hand

labtek

New member
Hello to the group and good da

Hello to the group and good day.

How can you determine if a propeller is right or left hand? I'm mildly embarrassed to ask...

Thanks in advance.
 
"Looking at the prop with it f

"Looking at the prop with it fixed to the motor, if it will push water while rotating clockwise it's right handed.

Right handed is considered "normal" - a left hand prop would normally be fitted to a "counter rotating" set-up, such as used in a dual motor rigging. The counter rotating prop helps balance out the torque between the two motors - if both were "normal" rotation, the boat would pull significantly to one side.

However, some small horsepower motors (those mostly without neutral or reverse gears - or "in" gear all the time) have a left hand prop.

That's because in an outboard set-up "reverse" (or counter-clockwise) is the natural rotation of the prop shaft. The driveshaft turns clockwise and if only one gear is present on the propshaft it will turned counter-clockwise.

On outboards that have forward, neutral and reverse, engaging the "forward" gear causes the propshaft to also spin in a clockwise direction, so it will use a right hand prop.

Hope I didn't confuse you more
"
 
"Uuuugh! Getting a headache.

"Uuuugh! Getting a headache. Actually, that was a lucid, pithy explanation.

Much easier to demonstrate it with a prop, as I do in my USCG safe boating classes.

Jeff"
 
"Well, could have used the sim

"Well, could have used the simpler explanation -

"if it goes this way, it's right and the other way is wrong"
"
 
Thank you gentlemen- Graham- I

Thank you gentlemen- Graham- I found your explanation very concise. Thanks for posting. Sharing your obvious expertise is greatly appreciated!
 
"You are welcome Lysle, and Je

"You are welcome Lysle, and Jeff's just trying to give me a hard time - no worries
"
 
"If the boat goes backwards wh

"If the boat goes backwards when forward is selected, you have a "left" prop
biggrin.gif
should have "left " it at home!!!
rofl.gif


That's the simplest solution I've heard of!"
 
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