New or repaired Acme 422 prop

[preston95z]

First post, lurking so far! Our family picked up a new to us '98 SNOB at the end of the season last year. Great shape and low hours. Trying to do some work in the off season to get ready for spring. Currently has stock OJ prop and decided a spare was a good idea. Seems like putting on an Acme 422 and using the stock as a spare is the way to go for us based on my searches here. To my question. I bought a "new" Acme 422 off ebay private party. Just showed up at the house. My question is whether it's new or not? Maybe I am expecting too much from a CNC machined prop? Measures 12.375" not 12.5" diameter. Few areas of porosity in the parent casting. More grinding marks than I expected. From the pictures I see online, those props only have marks from the CNC mill. Mine has sand/grinding marks on the front/back of each blade. I don't have anything to compare to and this is my first inboard. If these are just from blending and smoothing, then great. Here are a few shots. What do you think?
Thanks!

[NautiqueJeff]

That is not a new ACME prop.

The whole point of CNC is that it is perfect without extra grinding, etc.

[preston95z]

That's what I was afraid of. Seemed like it should be a lot better than that. Time to talk to the seller. Thanks for the quick answer.

[CCfan]

I just bought a new 668 from a seller on ski-it-again.com. The box was sealed and the hub of the prop still had a warning sticker on it. I was pretty sure it was a new prop, but 2 of the blades had the CNC cutting marks ground out. I emailed ACME and here is their response:

Hi, this concern comes up often, no worry, their just buffing marks...done in the process of balancing the prop...

Thanks, Greg Resner
ACME SALES
ph. 1-888-661-2263

[NautiqueJeff]

I can see that being possible, but the markings on his prop are way more than buffing marks. His was quite obviously repaired.

[swc5150]

x2 what Jeff said. That prop has been repaired for sure.

[Zach@n3]

I agree with Jeff. Acmes aren't polished up like that it looks like it has been ground down from welding repairs. Acme balances their propellers on the back side so the front looks nice and CNC new but the back side has a little bit of grinder work on the rear of usually 1 2 or 3 blades pending how much balancing needs to be done when checked at the factory.

[ddipert]

I personally would stay a way from that prop. If you look at the third picture the pores (usually a sign of a bad weld)in that prop would have me worried. Now this comes from years of outboard experience with SS props, which are a different. I've slung blades on my outboards would not want to on an inboard.

[TRBenj]

I personally would stay a way from that prop. If you look at the third picture the pores (usually a sign of a bad weld)in that prop would have me worried. Now this comes from years of outboard experience with SS props, which are a different. I've slung blades on my outboards would not want to on an inboard.

The prop has definitely been repaired based on pictures 3 and 4, but I don't see anything that would cause me to worry about the prop's safety. The prop repair looks more obvious than it should, which makes me worry about the quality of the repair... But you won't really know what you've got until you run it. While a repair should have been disclosed when selling, it is not uncommon for a repaired prop to function as-new (I have a few that run perfect).

[ddipert]

NiBrAl should be easy to repair with no noticeable pores when correctly repaied. From the pictures there was extensive damage to the prop at one time . Diameter is taken off props all the time to fix chewed up edges. Cheaper to grind material away the add.

TRBenj,
You are correct the prop it's self doesn't seem to be an issue but the lack of a quality repair is what would worry me.

For what a prop cost new/used (plenty of quality used props) which I'd not risk damage to my boat. Saving a few hundred now on a prop which could cause me to have a fiberglass/gel coat repair later wouldn't be worth it to me.

But then again you could use the prop and it might not ever cause you any issues.


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