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Upgrade Your Trolling Motor for $4 [Airplane Prop on a Trolling Motor]

Spilt Milt Productions

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I came across a video from Duc Tran (Upgraded the prop on my Old Town Autopilot...) where he was able to gain some speed on his ‪@OldTownCanoeKayak‬ AutoPilot kayak by replacing the original stock trolling motor prop with an airplane propeller. I decided to try this out for myself and do a proper and more in depth exploration of this $4 upgrade.

Upgrade Supplies:
Prop featured in this video: https://www.apcprop.com/product/10x4p...
Qty 2: 3/8" stainless steel flat washers
Qty 1: 3/8" lock washer

Let me know what you think!

20 Comments

@Dasato123 3 years ago

A towel draped across the opening in the hull would be good insurance against dropping a nut into the water.

@brian1204 2 years ago

The airplane prop is more efficient, but trolling motor props are also designed to go through weeds without getting them all caught up in the prop.
So, if you are not in weedy water, it shouldn’t be a problem.

@DaveWatts_ejectamenta 2 years ago

You should try it again while dragging a tyre, see how it affects torque.

@jorgedelvalle5569 3 weeks ago

My Pescador Pilot came with an APC prop on the pedal drive. It really does put out a lot of thrust, even in reverse.

@kenpickett9317 5 years ago (edited)

The aircraft prop has a higher aspect ratio than the boat prop, making it more efficient. (Think high performance glider versus a biplane) . This is due to less energy being lost to tip vortices with the higher aspect design. More simply, the boat prop is working like a screw and the airplane prop more like a wing. It has absolutely nothing to do with weight or rotational momentum. The limiting factor for the aero design will ultimately be cavitation on the upper surface of the blade, but for low speed operation like this it probably should be fine.

@ofe56 3 months ago

bu kadar fark için uğraşmaya değmez, teşekkürler

@walleyweez488 5 years ago

more thrust is produced at the tips as they have a higher speed (longer prop = higher tip speed), less pitch = higher rpm = more thrust at higher speeds. More pitch produces more torque hence faster acceleration (probably not necessary in a kayak, unless adverse wind/ current or heavier load). Hope that helps.

@WayneTheBoatGuy 4 years ago

Nice. Running a trolling motor off the back doesn’t have the problem you have with regards to the prop hitting and might gain speed.

@sanibel2008 2 years ago

It works better than stock. But get clogged very easy with weeds etc

@AddictedFishing 5 years ago

We need to link up so you can show us some tricks for setting ours up! We’re excited to get into some kayak fishing.

@daleholland4089 3 years ago

After working with model aircraft props, which are usually glass filled for rigidity. I can tell you that they will cause significant damage to flesh whereas most trolling motor factory props appear to be safer to fingers and flesh. Just a thought

@sailfishoneday2145 5 years ago

Well that was a " proper " test sir haha , just got my 3 rc props in the mail today . I'm exited about that mid range as most of my use is mid range power levels. One thing to note for anyone reading this is these rc props feel very sturdy / strong in ur hand , when u look at a pic or a vid they look very flimsy / cheap but after getting mine today I can assure u they feel strong / great in person . They feel like a 15 dollar prop in ur hand not a 4 dollar prop if that makes sense. Thanks for the vid man , big " props " to all ur effort haha

@stevehogan8829 3 years ago

I think you nailed it with the smaller hub. More prop length at a cost of less durable.

@codyakfishing8856 3 years ago

I posted a video of testing various props on my Intex mariner 4 inflatable boat. I went from 3.7 to 4.3 using the 10X5m-LH prop, I believe you will gain more as well if you went with it

@royrunyon1286 1 year ago

For safety, disconnect the motor from the battery when working with the propeller. The aircraft prop has a higher aspect ratio (length vs. chord) than the stock prop and appears to be less draggy as you guessed. Both factors should contribute to greater net thrust. The question of pitch should also be factored in as this determines hiw much of a "bite" or how far the prop advances through the water per one complete revolution.

@sdbrantley9065 2 years ago

More thorough than most of the videos I've seen regarding prop swaps. Like the data & graphs you provided. You may have saved me a lot of time & effort on my canoe setup.

@sergeydudukin4214 4 years ago

Tried whole bunch of props in different sizes and pitches. Not much of improvement, but larger ones just draw more current. Ended up leaving stock prop and added PWM controller and amp meter. For my Minn Kota C2 50 the best cruise speed at around 26-28 A. If I crank all the way up it draws 40A with tiny gain in speed.

@Harlanmote 4 years ago

It depends on what the prop pitch is too.

@jimmied2838 3 years ago

Props for aircraft have a higher pitch do to air being thinner than water. At low speed I don't think you're going to have any problems but at higher speeds you're going to run into a few. Idk the math but you're definitely putting more stress on the motor because of the higher pitch u get more resistance. Another is in water cavitation is a factor u have to consider. A prop made for the water is designed to minimize cavitation a prop designed for aircraft doesn't have to worry as much about it