Michigan Wheel Corporation

Michigan Wheel Corporation has one goal - to produce the finest propellers possible, while maintaining the highest standards of quality. Michigan Wheel has dedicated itself to that mission since its founding in 1903.

With almost 100 years of experience as the marine propulsion industry leader, Michigan Wheel continues to make the custom-crafted propeller you buy off the shelf. The unmatched performance and the wide variety of styles and types in Michigan propellers offer boaters a single source for propellers that are custom made for every kind of pleasure craft in the water. Propellers ranging from the marine inboard and industrial fixed pitch propellers, from 3" through 96" diameters - suited for pleasure and commercial markets, all the way to a complete line of aluminum and stainless steel replacement propellers for Outboard and Sterndrive applications. Whatever your particular demands, Michigan Wheel can fit you with the right, hand-crafted propeller.

Michigan Wheel's philosophy of applying both machine and hand operations - each in the areas where it excels - has made Michigan propellers the standard by which the industry judges excellence. Such manufacturing integrity means that, in the future as in the past, you can depend upon Michigan Wheel - where breakthroughs in propeller technology begin.


	Blade Back Suction side. Forward side of the blade (surface facing the bow). Blade Face Pressure Side, Pitch Side. Aft side of the blade (surface facing the stern). Blade Number Equal to the number of blades on the propeller. Blade Root Fillet area. The region of transition from the blade surfaces and edges to the hub periphery. The area where the blade attaches to the hub. Blade Tip Maximum reach of the blade from the center of the hub. Separates the leading and trailing edges.

Cavitation
Cavitation, (which is often confused with ventilation), is a phenoma 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 physical damage to the propeller's blade surface due to the collapse of microscopic bubbles on the blade. There may be numerous causes of cavitation such as incorrect matching of propeller style to application, incorrect pitch, physical damage to the blade edges, etc...

Cup
Small radius of curvature located on the trailing edge of the blade. This curved lip on the propeller allows it to get a better bite on the water. This results in reduced ventilation, slipping, and allows for a better hole shot in many cases.

	Diameter Diameter is two times the distance from the center of the hub to the tip of the blade. It can also be looked at as the distance across the circle that the propeller would make when rotating. It is the first number listed when describing a propeller. Hub Solid cylinder located at the center of the propeller. Bored to accommodate the engine shaft. Hub shapes include cylindrical, conical, radius, & barreled. Leading Edge The edge of the propeller blade adjacent to the forward end of the hub. When viewing the propeller from astern, this edge is furthest away. The leading edge leads into the flow when providing forward thrust.

	Pitch Pitch is defined as the theoretical forward movement of a propeller during one revolution — assuming there is no "slippage" between the propeller blade and the water. Pitch is the second number listed in the propeller description. Radius The distance from the axis of rotation to the blade tip. The radius multiplied by two is equal to the diameter. Rake Rake is the degree that the blades slant forward or backwards in relation to the hub. Rake can affect the flow of water through the propeller, and as implications with respect to boat performance. Aft Rake helps to trim the bow of the boat upward, which often results in less wetted surface area and therefore higher top end speed. Forward, or negative rake, helps hold the bow of the boat down. This is more common in workboat type applications.

	Rotation When viewed from the stern (facing forward): Right-hand propellers rotate clockwise to provide forward thrust. Left-hand propellers rotate counter-clockwise to provide forward thrust. Skew The transverse sweeping of a blade such that viewing the blades from fore or aft shows an asymmetrical shape. Aft Skew: Positive skew. Blade sweep in direction opposite of rotation. Forward Skew: Negative skew. Blade sweep in same direction as rotation. Slip Slip is the difference between actual and theoretical travel of the propeller blades through water. A properly matched propeller will actually move forward about 80 to 90 percent of the theoretical pitch.

	Trailing Edge The edge of the propeller adjacent to the aft end of the hub. When viewing the propeller from astern, this edge is closest. The trailing edge retreats from the flow when providing forward thrust. Track The absolute difference of the actual individual blade rake distributions to the other blade rake distributions. Always a positive value and represents the spread between individual blade rake distributions. Ventilation Ventilation is a situation where surface air or exhaust gasses are drawn into the propeller blades. When this situation occurs, boat speed is lost and engine RPM climbs rapidly. This can result from excessively tight cornering, a motor that is mounted very high on the transom, or by over-trimming the engine.