OK, folks. Suppose you have two almost identical ships. These two ships are identical in every way, except for their props and motors. One has shallow-pitched props turning at high RPMs to get it up to speed. The other has steep-pitched props turning at low RPMs to get it up to speed. So here's the question: which ship gets better acceleration and turning, the one with the shallow pitch/high RPMs, or the one with the steep pitch/low RPMs?
Not necessarily, some motors are more efficient at higher rpm, although the high speed props might be more prone to cavatation...............it's a bit of a black art really.
I'd think that the shallow pitch/high rpm props would be more efficient, given that modern cruisers and destroyers with variable pitch props start with their props in that configuration. As they build up speed, they increase pitch to bite more water per revolution.
Interesting. Are there any other benefits that might suggest one combination over the other? Right now I'm thinking that the geared-down ship would be applying more torque to the prop, and be more capable of chewing through weeds, mines, etc. Does anything else come to mind?
I'd say the geared-down ship would have more torque applied to the prop, so it might hack the weeds more, but I haven't seen much advantage in weeds between my geared and my direct drive ships. It might be like 4 wheel drive in heavy mud... with 4-wheel drive you get stuck 100 feet further in If you have the motor data, you can see where the motor's most efficient speed is, and gear it to run at it's most efficient speed for a given prop rpm.
Ships with gear reduction can tear weeds off much beter than direct drive ships. In extreem weeds, both still get stuck, but in moderate weeds, gear drive has a big advantage.
