Boat Props

Sterndrive Engineering (SEI) offers Solas® props for MerCruiser® propeller applications. These boat props fit and/or replace Mercruiser® stern drive applications for MerCruiser® Alpha One® and Gen II. SEI currently stocks the Solas® Aluminum marine propellers, which are an economical, quality replacement for a MerCruiser propeller on MerCruiser's® Alpha One® and Gen II stern drives.

Solas® aluminum propellers have four layers of paint. Using superior coatings and a high-tech painting process that ensures excellent anti-corrosion performance, Solas® aluminum propellers are exposed to over 500 hours of testing in a salt water spray tank. This testing simulates more than six months of normal salt water use.

Solas® uses a state-of-the-art squeeze-casting process to make the aluminum boat props stronger and tougher than traditional die cast products. As can be seen with magnification of a propeller blade root cross-section, the squeeze-cast boat propeller is almost non-porous, with finer grain size than the die cast boat propeller.

The history of the marine propeller, or boat prop, is very interesting. The very first applications of the propeller, like Archimedes' invention of the screw pump, were designed for supplying irrigation water and were the forerunner of the marine propeller.

Screw propellers installed in the 1860 era lacked refinement, but their performance exceeded other devices of that time. The paddle wheel was gradually rendered obsolete in seagoing ships, as the screw propeller became the only type of propulsion in ships.

Modern day marine propellers and the art of "advanced propping" is most interesting, including the applications of three-blade, four-blade and five-blade propellers, properties of aluminum, bronze, stainless steel and even plastic propellers. Speed prediction formulae and propeller selection methods are very advanced today and can make big differences in boat performance and propulsion systems.

The hydrodynamic drag of the gear case can be a primary contributor to overall drag. Manufacturers have recently realized the tremendous impact of aerodynamics and hydrodynamics on hull performance. Today, outboard and out-drive design has reached a point where model changes are dictated by the design of the gear case.

Thank you for your interest in SEI products and Solas® propellers that fit and/or replace MerCruiser® propellers.