Cavitation
____Full Size Subsurface Prop Definition ____

Cavitation (which is often confused with ventilation), is a phenomena 

of water vaporizing or "boiling" due to the extreme reduction of pressure

on the back of the propeller blade. Many propellers partially cavitate

during normal operation, but excessive cavitation can result in metal

 erosion or "cavitation burn" to the prop's blade surface. There are

 numerous causes of cavitation such as incorrect matching of propeller 

   style to application, incorrect pitch, physical damage to the blade edges, etc.

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Note: The above describes typical Cavitation for full size subsurface props.

The Cavitation we experience with RC surface drive props is considerably different.

During launch we have a transition from subsurface to surface drive, as the

boat lifts itself on plane. During this transition, cavitation is considerable, however

diminishes when up on plane at speed. With surface drive the prop blades are partially

  submerged and suffer more from "Slippage" then cavitation.

Paul Govostes 10/27/2002

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