What are the equivalent inches of pitch to degrees?
All feathering propellers have flat blades to ensure minimum drag when sailing with no rotational forces. Normal propellers have progressive pitch with the pitch angle increasing towards the blade root to accommodate the slower circumferential speeds from the smaller diameters. Thus to find an equivalent pitch in inches it is necessary to integrate over the diameter. Empirical experience would indicate that on a 17″ propeller a pitch setting of 21 deg equates to a traditional pitch setting of ~ 12 inches. Obviously for a larger diameter the same pitch setting will produce a higher equivalent pitch. Thus it is much simpler to operate in a degrees of pitch regime for feathering propellers.
