Whirlwind CS Prop PIREP

Several folks have PMed me asking for a PIREP on my Whirlwind Prop. I’m not an expert by no means but will try to provide some feedback relevant to others considering this prop.

First I have to say that I was very reluctant to buy a prop from Whirlwind because of the negative comments on the forums. I was very interested in this prop because a couple of my RV friends have the RV200 prop and they are very happy with it so I decided to look into it. So after reading the negative comments I decided to call Whirlwind myself and see how they treated me and see for myself. From the very start they were very helpful, nice and fairly quick to respond and answer all my questions. I asked about the turn around and they told me upfront that their current lead time was usually 10-12 weeks but lately they’ve been running a bit longer. It took me a couple of weeks to commit but when I was ready to order I requested them to give me a firm ship date and they agreed. During the next week I provided them with some colors that I had picked and waited to hear back. 1 week before the promised ship date I was contacted about final payment and final shipping address. I received my prop on the exact date that it was promised. . . . Pretty darn impressive if you ask me, I’m no one special and didn’t receive any special treatment, I was simply nice to them and they were nice to me .
Once getting my hands on the prop I have to say I was impressed with quality and the beauty of the prop. It is absolutely a work of art in my opinion and I’m very happy with it.
For installation I reached out to a couple of folks on this forum and got some answers since this was my first time converting from Fixed Pitch to CS.
Back to the prop - The install was fairly straight forward. This particular prop came with a primed white spinner and hardware. I chose to buy the governor from Whirlwind. After tracking down a list of other hardware that I needed to install the governor, oil line, etc. the install took a total of 2 partial days. I decided to order my oil line from TSFlightline (thanks Tom) to the exact measurement that I needed. I followed the directions for the initial engine run up with the new prop and thankfully no surprises. Luckily the ground static run up was exactly at 2680 which was good enough for now. Overall, everything came together well until I put the cowling on. The spinner bulkhead was touching the ring on both the top and bottom cowl. A local friend volunteered to help with some fiberglass work on the cowl (thanks Steve) and after a couple of more days of fiberglass work it was time to fit the cowl and go for the first flight with the prop.
Fist flight was amazing! I had no idea that my awesome airplane could be that much better. Well it was and it is. My takeoff roll decreased by at least 1/2. On a hot southern day at 93 degrees, I took off and climbed at 1800 ft per/min at 90 knots and 1500 ft per/min at 110 knots to keep the cylinders cooled off. My cruise speeds are faster too, but its hard to compare cruise to my last prop. The only way is that my cruise settings that give me a nice smooth cruise burning the same as it did when I had the fixed pitch prop are around 7 to 10 knots faster at 5500 ft. on the same hot day. Prop is very smooth and don't think it needs to be dynamically balanced and I think I'm going to do that soon anyway just to see.
I’ve been flying it with the new prop for about a month now. It took some time to get use to how much the plane slowed down and controlling the decent while flying slow on final for short fields.

Overall I have to say I’m extremely pleased and honestly a bit giddy when I fly the -7. It’s awesome!

If you are even thinking about ordering the RV200, call them and talk to them. They are good people and deliver a great product. I would have waited another 2 months knowing how the prop performs but I know that’s hard to say now.

Below are some pics of the new prop.

and another nice thing is that it will most likely look like the same after 750 hrs.

Amanda conducting a propeller inspection. FYI, the hub is alum, the thin wall hub cap is steel. at the hub cap, those long screws with spacers and the thin steel ring have a purpose but I'm not going to tell you what it is. send an email to Amanda sometime if you want to know.

It's a beautiful and great performing prop. Yours looks outstanding with the matched colors. I've got an RV200 on my RV-8 spun by an IO-360. I did not build this 8 nor have I flown the 8 with anything else so I have no direct before and after comparison. But I've flown behind a variety of different props and the RV200 spins very smoothly, indeed. The prop pulls great at all speeds and cruises really beautifully. The light weight helps the RV-8 CG when solo too.

The RV200 manual shows no specific RPM limitation except a maximum RPM of 2700 - but follows the standard recommendations to suggest avoiding continuous RPM between 2050-2300 and above 2600 (takeoff and climb not being considered continuous operation so 2600-2700 are OK for takeoff and initial climb). That's due to standard Lycoming resonance at those RPM's causing higher stress. I've run 2300 to 2600 and the prop spins wonderfully at all these RPM's. My standard climb is "about" 2500, cruise at 2350-2450, and descend at 2325-2350... setting throttle / manifold pressure to whatever I need along the way. Anyone else care to say what RPM's they happen to like, with this prop?

The current Prop Manual also suggests owners occasionally use a high quality wax paste wax once a month to aide in protection from the elements. This is mentioned in the later updated manuals (2014-2). I just noticed this when going over my prop logbook that has an older manual (I was looking to see what sort of service letters and updates may exists for my upcoming CI). Does anyone have any comment on what brand wax they use and the procedure for applying and wiping down the wax? I assume a very light "on and off" of the product. I'll probably call the manufacturer and ask myself too. I really love this prop!

+1 for WW RV200 prop

Eddie P said:

It's a beautiful and great performing prop. Yours looks outstanding with the matched colors. I've got an RV200 on my RV-8 spun by an IO-360. I did not build this 8 nor have I flown the 8 with anything else so I have no direct before and after comparison. But I've flown behind a variety of different props and the RV200 spins very smoothly, indeed. The prop pulls great at all speeds and cruises really beautifully. The light weight helps the RV-8 CG when solo too.

The RV200 manual shows no specific RPM limitation except a maximum RPM of 2700 - but follows the standard recommendations to suggest avoiding continuous RPM between 2050-2300 and above 2600 (takeoff and climb not being considered continuous operation so 2600-2700 are OK for takeoff and initial climb). That's due to standard Lycoming resonance at those RPM's causing higher stress. I've run 2300 to 2600 and the prop spins wonderfully at all these RPM's. My standard climb is "about" 2500, cruise at 2350-2450, and descend at 2325-2350... setting throttle / manifold pressure to whatever I need along the way. Anyone else care to say what RPM's they happen to like, with this prop?

The current Prop Manual also suggests owners occasionally use a high quality wax paste wax once a month to aide in protection from the elements. This is mentioned in the later updated manuals (2014-2). I just noticed this when going over my prop logbook that has an older manual (I was looking to see what sort of service letters and updates may exists for my upcoming CI). Does anyone have any comment on what brand wax they use and the procedure for applying and wiping down the wax? I assume a very light "on and off" of the product. I'll probably call the manufacturer and ask myself too. I really love this prop!

Click to expand...

I will second Ed's post. I fly this prop behind a Titan IOX-360 with similar settings to Ed. Very happy with the prop in all regards. I will sometimes pull the prop back to about 1900 rpm in descent, but am still experimenting. I have about 95 hours on the airplane and prop. I too have experienced excellent customer service with Whirl Wind.

Ed asked for RPM opinions, so here is how I run mine.

Take off power with prop full forward gives about 2670. Thats just where the pitch stops were set at the factory, and I have not messed with them.

At 1000 ft, I pull the prop back to 2530 RPM, at the same time that I turn the boost pump off and switch to unfiltered ram air.

At top of climb, I set 2420--2440 RPM, make the big pull to 50F LOP, and I never touch the prop again until I am in the pattern to land. I cruise and descend at WOT, until I reach 24" MAP in descent, then I maintain 24" until I start to slow down just before getting to the pattern. I drop an inch or two of MAP every 30 seconds as I bring the nose up, and then on downwind, reduce MAP to give 2100* RPM solo, 2200* RPM at full gross gives me level at 80 kt with 10 degrees of flap.


On downwind, I move the prop control to full forward, having already throttled down enough to put it on the fine-pitch stops. This is just in case of need for a go-around, I would want 2670 again, not 2440.

* These are sea level RPMs in the pattern. As field elevation goes up, it takes higher RPM to fly level at 80 kt.

Thats it. Easy Peezy

Good to hear the positive review. The sense I've gotten from reading here on the forums has been a middling-to-negative reputation for delivering on time and so forth. Even so, I've still been planning on a 74HRT prop to go on the front of the Titan IOX-370 I'm going for. I was just going to add in some time padding on the prop order. In fact, I'll still do that, nothing wrong with being pleasantly surprised by an "early" arrival.

After a year or two of little progress on the project, I've been super motivated again the past few months, and solidifying all these big-ticket decisions is getting me excited about the day this project goes flying.

I finally have my Whirlwind 200RV prop installed and flying. The combination of the Jihostroj governor and the prop is outstanding. I've never had a CS prop that was this well controlled. I can pull it back to exactly 2450 and there it stays. The prop is very smooth and while I may have a dynamic balance done, it won't be because I think there's too much vibration as it is. It's very smooth.

Of course, the main benefits of CS over FP are in takeoff, climb, descent and landing. I had the Sensenich GA prop and so far, the Whirlwind is no faster or slower than the Sensenich in cruise. No surprise there. The Sensi was very efficient in cruise. It is nice though to push the nose over in descent and just use the throttle to manage airspeeds, instead of worrying about overspeeding the engine and prop on the way down.

I've found Jeremy at Whirlwind to be very responsive. He's obviously a busy man, so give him and his staff some time to respond. As a small business owner myself, I can empathize with their time demands.

I'm very happy so far