Craig Catto Props

LifeofReiley · #1 03-21-2007, 07:21 PM

This guy is on Top. All question asked were answered. Knowledge of RV's and performance numbers understood. After months of research and comparison you can't beat his prop for price, appearance and performance. Ordered mine today... It's good to deal with great professional business people.

Oh... and yes, Thanks Mel for all of your Great Advice! You are a True Asset to the VAF forums hands down!!!!!

Scott Will · #2 03-21-2007, 08:06 PM

Good choice... but hope you don't have to wait as long as some of the others on the board. What's he quoting on lead time these days? I think I ordered mine in October and received it in mid-March after a lot of emails in the later months.

Best,

svanarts · #3 03-21-2007, 08:22 PM

Yep, bear that in mind when ordering from Craig. His props are top notch but he is a one man operation and actually has a life so give yourself plenty of time. You won't find a nicer guy to deal with (he's nice in person anyway) and he really knows his stuff.

rvpilot · #4 03-21-2007, 08:45 PM

He quoted me 12 weeks on a two blade and 8 months on a three blade. That was about two weeks ago! Can't beat the performance for the money though.

db1yg · #5 03-22-2007, 05:20 AM

Darrell,

Good choice on a prop. Dittos to all the things others have said about Craig.

Of all the vendors that I dealt with during the build process Craig was the only one who was right on projected performance of his product. He projected many items for my prop/engine combo, ie: how much static rpm I would see, how much rpm on take off, how much rpm at cruise, top speed (which I beat)---you get the picture. He has a lot of RV data and must have an incredible data base from which to make projections. The only thing you should be aware of is that he does take a long time to deliver and his delivery times are somewhat "optimistic". He is a one man operation with a family and therefore many other commitments.

That being said, it is worth the wait----light, smooooooth, fast, simple, and absolutely beautiful!!!!

Cheers,

db

LifeofReiley · #6 03-22-2007, 07:52 AM

Thanks! Many of you have shared information about your Aircraft and Catto props with me and it's much appreciated. I have access to other props to fly if need be. It would just require a little more paperwork and test flight time to make the swap. And, I'm up to the challenge as I'm building the plane to FLY.

Craig stated the norm for 3 blade delivery time.

Avenger V · #7 03-22-2007, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LifeofReiley

This guy is on Top. All question asked were answered. Knowledge of RV's and performance numbers understood. After months of research and comparison you can't beat his prop for price, appearance and performance. Ordered mine today... It's good to deal with great professional business people.

Oh... and yes, Thanks Mel for all of your Great Advice! You are a True Asset to the VAF forums hands down!!!!!

I talked to Creig last week regarding delivery of my three bladed prop. It will probably be about six months. I had Mike Loehle of Aero Coatings send him some of his flexible paint for the prop. Should work fine. Creig currently has a back log of over 100 RV props. This man is going to be busy for a long time.
Ron Russ RV9A
Holly Springs, GA

Brantel · #8 03-22-2007, 09:01 AM

Sounds like he needs to expand his business and start training some helpers.

David_Nelson · #9 03-22-2007, 10:18 AM

Hi Darrell,

I would really like to go the way of Catto. But in talking/listening with/around other builders, there were discussion(s) that a metal prop was favored up front on -7's for better W&B. Don't remember if the conversation were restricted to just -7's or if they included -7A's. Have you heard this?

I've been studying Dan-the-Man's W&B DB (http://www.rvproject.com/wab/) to "see" what is being discussed. But I'm not quite seeing the "point" in the data.

Thanks,
/\/elson

db1yg · #10 03-22-2007, 10:37 AM

David,

Van designed the 7 and 7a to accomodate up to the angle valve (200hp) Lyc and the Hartzell CS prop. If you install the lighter parrallel Lyc and a Catto (my Catto weighs in at a whopping 17 lbs vs the 60+ for the CS) the empty wt cg moves aft. You would therefore have to take this into consideration when loading your plane---which you should do anyway!! However, there are ways around this--check with Sabre Manufacturing. They make up to a 22 lb steel crush plate (vs aluminum) which would be of benefit to an aft cg aircraft with a Catto.

My RV 9a was designed with the smaller engines in mind and therefore has a more forward cg--on the average. You can verify this by checking out Dan's w&b data comparing several 7a and 9a's with similar prop/engine combos.

Hope this helps---any way you go with the RV you will be amazed at the performance.

Cheers,

db