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Sensenich vs Whirlwind vs Catto

M5fly

Well Known Member
I'm beginning my search for a new prop and looking for others to share their experience with the mentioned brands. I've narrowed it down to the Sensenich and Whirlwind ground adjustables or a Catto. Operating out of a high DA airport is what has me leaning toward the ground adjustable, but not sure how the Catto would stack up. All are similarly priced so that's not a factor. I'd like to stick with a 68" diameter for the ground clearance. I'd love to try out a few different props but not sure how I'd go about doing that. I already have a wood Aymar-Demuth with composite overlay so I don't think CG would be negatively affected by any of these options and may even consider a weighted crush plate to help out. Thoughts?
 
I'd love to try out a few different props but not sure how I'd go about doing that?

I just replaced wood 72x72 Warnke for Whirlwind ground adjustable. For this reason, I get what I what. Not saying a fixed pitch Catto wouldn’t do YOU fine, but next guy that has your plane lives in Tampa.....pitch change maybe. Me, 6A O320 160 hp. Whirlwind recommended 72”. I love my whirlwind, looks good too painted vs black IMO.C26D0DD8-2A9D-4C39-8E97-E2192A24F6B4.jpg
 
I'm beginning my search for a new prop and looking for others to share their experience with the mentioned brands. I've narrowed it down to the Sensenich and Whirlwind ground adjustables or a Catto. Operating out of a high DA airport is what has me leaning toward the ground adjustable, but not sure how the Catto would stack up. All are similarly priced so that's not a factor. I'd like to stick with a 68" diameter for the ground clearance. I'd love to try out a few different props but not sure how I'd go about doing that. I already have a wood Aymar-Demuth with composite overlay so I don't think CG would be negatively affected by any of these options and may even consider a weighted crush plate to help out. Thoughts?

I had the Sensenich GA. Its a great looking prop, and performs well. The Sensenich pitch pins make adjustments relatively easy. From what I understand about the WW GA, making adjustments can be laborious. That being said, I have no first hand experience with the WW GA.

If you end up ordering the Sensenich, I recommend ordering the clear coated carbon fiber.
 
Cole,
I have the Sensenich GA carbon prop on my O-360 powered RV4 and it has worked out very well for me. That prop replaced the 85” pitch metal Sensenich prop that would exceed 2900 RPM wide open throttle at practically any altitude.

You said you would like to try out a few different props to see which one performs the best. That is what you are doing with a GA prop. You get it where you want it, and you leave it there. Whirlwind vs Sensenich, set prop pitch differently, but they both end up at the same place. The Catto is a good prop, but you have one (or possibly 2) chances of getting the pitch set right for your airplane. Mr Catto is very good at building the right prop for your application, but if it’s off a bit, he used to repitch it once for free - not sure if that’s still the case. I had a 2-blade Catto on my first RV4 that would spin up above 3000 RPM in level flight. I sent my prop to Catto in CA, and had Catto re-pitch it. That lowered my WOT prop speed to 2900+ RPM - still too rich for my blood.

My Sensenich GA prop provides what I need, and if I want to sell it someday to a back country fisherman, or someone on a 1500’ high altitude dirt runway, they can alter the performance for their needs.

Good lunch with your choice. Any decision you make is still a good one in an RV.
 
I have run both a Catto and W-W GA 200L on my IO-320 RV-8. I ran the Catto for 500 hrs and it performed great, however during summer / high DA take offs performance suffered a bit, but once in the prop's performance envelope, it was excellent.

I was looking for the ability to adjust the pitch on my prop to get better take off performance / static RPM, during high DA operations, so I chose to go with the W-W GA200L.

Adjusting the pitch does require the use of an accurate protractor and use of he supplied blade angle adapter. I made a "blade fork" that slipped over the blade to provide leverage to twist the blade in the hub. It is very easy to make 0.1 degree pitch adjustments. I found that just a difference in 0.5 degree, made the difference in getting significantly improved take off RPM and still making my top end speed of 177 Kts and not over speeding the prop.

I have re-flown all my phase 1 aerobatic maneuvers and did not see any change in the tendency of the prop RPM to bog down on the top of loop or over speed on the down side.


My experience with the W-W GA200L has been excellent, improved static RPM, take off performance, higher 65% cruise by 2 kts and not over speeding at WFO.

I also noted less blade flex on the W-W GA200L.

An added bonus is that the prop comes with a pre-drilled spinner as part of the prop kit. Everything fit perfectly out of the box.
 
My-8 with an IO370 has a WW 200L GA and I’m happy. Prop comes with the spacer, bolts, Nordlock washers and a very nice spinner. Pitch changes take a little over an hour and I like the ability to make very fine pitch adjustments. Adjustments are made with the supplied tool and a digital protractor. I changed pitch four times when new and have it where I like now. As high as shipping has become, I would have hated paying to ship four times to say nothing of the down time. It is also a beautiful prop like the other two are too.
 
Pitch changes take a little over an hour

I know opinions may vary but this seems like quite a chore if you're wanting to change it quickly. Sensenich advertises less than 5 minutes to change with their pin system. Both props seem great but this might be the deciding factor between the two.

Scott Hersha said:
My Sensenich GA prop provides what I need, and if I want to sell it someday to a back country fisherman, or someone on a 1500’ high altitude dirt runway, they can alter the performance for their needs.

That's an excellent point and one I hadn't taken into consideration. I'm guessing it could also eliminate the need for a new prop or re-pitch should I do some engine upgrades down the road. I'd definitely go with the carbon fiber version and maybe a CF spinner as well.
 
I have a three blade Catto on my -8A, operate out of Utah so density altitude on a summer afternoon is usually in the 8000' range. It doesn't provide the huge initial acceleration that the constant speed I did my transition training in had, but climbs out just fine. Top speed I get around 165ktas at around 2800 RPM.
 
Pins vs

In my prop search, I read where tape was being used to tweak a fixed pin system, a non pin system has more flexibility in this regard if you want it. Not really something I see myself doing often, changing pitch.
 
Some of us have been using "that other ground adjustable prop" for years. Yeah... Warp Drive. I have a 3-bladed Warp Drive (not on a Lycoming - that's inconsequential for this particular discussion point).

I discovered the prop protractor provided by Warp Drive was "pretty good" when used in the method they instructed - center the bubble between the two lubber lines. It was only after multiple adjustment sessions that I really mastered accurate prop setting. I'll share the secrets here.

Firstly, it doesn't matter how the aircraft is positioned but if one is making multiple adjustments as experiments it really helps to have the aircraft in the same position each time the adjustment is made.

Find a means by which to rotate your prop to a position that we'll call the "level" reference. In my case I used a digital level placed a specific distance from the blade tip - this level was placed on the prop blade leading edge and the prop rotated to show exactly 0 degrees, or level with the horizon. Of course this was done after the prop protractor had been clamped onto the prop blade at a very exactly measured distance from the blade tip.

Once the prop is levelled, adjust the prop as necessary but, rather than centering the bubble between the two lubber lines, always adjust the prop so the end of the bubble just touches one of the lubber lines. Do this consistently.

The net result of these little refinements is a prop which is incredibly smooth and tracks dead straight. With a digital protractor (1/10th degree resolution) I see blade angles that are within the measurement error of the digital protractor.
 
Just ordered the Sensenich GA, I'll report back with my results once I receive and test it out!
 
Sensenich metal prop

I have a Sensenich 70CM7S9-0-79 metal prop recommended for my O320 -6A by Vans. It has just about 100 hrs on it. Are there any benefits to changing to a ground adjustable prop other than the adjustability,,, and they look cooler.:D They are lighter, does that improve responsiveness to throttle? If there was a nose gear collapse will the carbon fiber blades affect the crankshaft the same as a metal prop? Do the composite props perform better than the metal?

Thanks,
 
2600 rpm limit

I had this prop in 81 inch pitch and it was a great prop except fot the rpm limit
My GA prop matches or exceeds it with the limit
The W&B was better with the metal prop
Cm
 
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