Since 2019, our engineers have been extensively reviewing many of the early model Airboat blades and now have come to the conclusion that there is a high probability that of many of these sets have reached their life limit for operation. As many of you know in the Airboat world, blades get damaged, repaired, resold and used on many different power combinations through it’s life time. In each scenario, when a blade is damaged or put on a different engine, it can see different loads and vibration characteristics that over time stress the laminate to a point that it starts to fatigue. The loads that propellers see on any given setup can be very high, especially if the operator likes to do things like spinning donuts at high rpm. Other forms of high stress operation like gator egg collection, tour boats or use on engine’s producing extreme power can also shorten the life limits on blades.
If you think there is any possibility that your Airboat prop is older than 15 years, please follow this link to our website for more information.
https://www.sensenich.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/SB2019-01-life-limits-for-composite-airboat-blades-with-no-spars.pdf
