Fitting A Solus Prop On An Old Aquamatic Drive

Why would I want to put an aftermarket prop on my boat? Because I love to explore shallow water and I go through several props in a season. Volvo props are $270, Solas props are $120. So for me, the cheapest is the best. And because I might have to change one with the boat in the water (which I have done) I have made it as easy as possible.

Here's the original setup.

15 X 15 Volvo Penta OE prop on my 250 drive.

It is secured to the outdrive by a cone nut, locked on by 'bendy tabs'.

To remove the prop, you push the bendy tabs back flush with the propeller, then block the prop from turning with a piece of wood and unscrew the cone nut.

I made a tool instead of using a screwdriver.

So off with the OE prop and on with the Solas. The first obstacle was not being able to get the bendy tab on with the new Solas propeller. There were not enough splines sticking out for the inside of the bendy tab to get hold of.

The solution was to reduce the length of the line cutter by about 1/8"

The 250 original line cutter to the left. A taller 280/290 line cutter to right which won't work.

250 Line cutter now shown with about 1/8" removed from propeller side.

Now the bendy tab would fit on the splines.

I'd need to make a 1/8" spacer to use a genuine Volvo Penta propeller again, but that's no problem.

Spacer that can bring the line cutter back to it's original measurements.

The next challenge was to find a way to actually bend the bendy tabs with the new propeller installed. There's no side clearance to get a screwdriver in there...

I'd need something that would slide between the cone and propeller housing that I could pull back on to bend the tabs.

But I didn't like the jerking, so I made a lever that would give me a positive feeling with a definite stop when the tab was properly bent.

The button goes into the hole in the cone and the arm at the bottom goes under the tab. Now just a little pressure on the bar and I can tell the tab is bent up into the slot. This was just the ticket!

You don't really need al these fancy tools to get the job done - I made them up so I could easily change the prop while in the water.

BTW - Solas makes several "short hub" props that will work this way.

There's the 'regular' 3 blade. There's a larger diameter prop with larger blades and there's a 4 blade. All of these props are built on a thru hub housing but with a hub to fit Volvo.