Acme props

[Craig Mac]

There seems to be good results on the blackfin,Carolina classic,& albemarle web sites-has anyone tried them?

[Tony Meola]

Craig

From talking to someone I know who runs 38 Henriques, the company seems to be pretty easy to work with and he is really happy with his end results. However one caveat, he has some juice in the boating world, so ACME worked with him through the prop shop he uses to customize his props. He picked up 2 knots and increased his range slightly. The Prop shop was posting on some of the boating boards the results of this work and indicated that they are willing to move in this direction for certain boats.

Ironically he followed to some degree the Bob Lilco theory of props, but with slightly different results since he did not take it to the same degree as Bob.

He first jumped up to their next size wheel which is made from a bigger casting. Then they cut it down to the right size giving him more blade area than if he just purchased the correct prop. Then he added his pitch and cup and played with the rake but he did not take the rake to the same extreme as Bob.

So his end result was a 2 knot higher cruise without increasing his idle speed.

[Capt.Frank]

Jimmy G ran ACME on fighting Angle and on Kiler Instinct I believe. He would be the one to talk to.
I had a buddy build a Penn Yan with a 50 or 70:HP diesel he got for free and could not get much out of the little boat till he switched to ACME and they worked with him. He loved results over the Michigan wheel he tryed before.

[Carl]

Jimmy G ran ACME on fighting Angle and on Kiler Instinct I believe. He would be the one to talk to.
I had a buddy build a Penn Yan with a 50 or 70:HP diesel he got for free and could not get much out of the little boat till he switched to ACME and they worked with him. He loved results over the Michigan wheel he tryed before.

If its the Penn Yan with tunnel drive, the key is the Rake. I used to run an OJ prop ski prop on mine...difference between that wheel over any other wheel I tried (and I tried about 15-20 wheels, its nice when your friends with prop shops) was a 9 knot faster cruise with same WOT, same burn. Pricey little bastard, but I went from slouch to a nice cruise at 22-23knts, well worth the money.



As to Acme wheels, not on my boat as I just got around to dialing my wheels in after changing gear ratio some 11-12 years ago...but that's another story...always a story.
I know a few guys that with a little prodding made the leap into Acme Wheels. They were already dialed in pretty well so nothing dramatic...some a knot or two was gained, some little less burn, smoother ride or combination. Overall in the end they were happy and that says alot as these guys are serious about their boats.

[bob lico]

the props i build will lower your wot. speed (compare to a stock 3 blade ) but dramatically raise the cruise speed with stupid numbers for a fantastic fuel economy gain. i can also build for wot. speed but idle speed in our boats will be 10 or more knots.the "blanks" come from a prop maker in ST. Augustine FL. then build at B&S on long island.i might add Phil (the owner) is reluctant to take a perfectly good, brand new 22 or 23" prop. and turn it down to 21" !!!!!