Design Improvements for the Zenith 601 HDS:
Propeller
Propeller
The Zenith kit
had a 3-bladed GSC propeller. We used it for many years, until 2009.
It runs very smoothly, requires little maintenance, and after 1200 hrs
was still in excellent condition. But the propeller is not so
efficient. For mountain flying, it had to be repitched such that
cruise performance was rather dismal. We switched to the
Sensenich 2-blade composite propeller in 2009 and selected
a climb setting for takeoffs and climbs at high
density altitudes. Even with that setting, the cruise performance
of the Sensenich propeller is better than for the GSC propeller
pitched for cruise performance. Another advantage of the Sensenich
propeller is the ease with which propeller pitch can be adjusted.
One simply turns one blade. Due to a delrin cylinder that links
the two propellers in the center of the hub,
the second blade then has the identical pitch.
