Sensenich vs Catto Performance?

Hi Guys,

In a recent thread on Pylon Racing, someone remarked that the winner had a Sensenich prop. I have been planning on going with the Catto prop. The Catto prop definitely looks sexier... and faster too.

Does anyone have performance data comparing the two? I'm thinking the metal prop would be more durable.

Thanks,

Keep in mind that Sensenich also makes a ground adjustable composite prop.

You can have Catto cut a prop to do anything you want. However, if you start cleaning up your plane, you will need a different prop. With each increase in speed, a new prop will be required.

I do know of one local RV-8 guy who swapped out his Catto for a Sensenich GAP and said it outperformed his Catto. (He damaged his Catto and the lead time for a replacement was much longer than ordering the Sensenich.)

CG?

Bill, you might consider prop weight wrt your selection. I have a Sensenich with an Odyssey battery on the fire wall and lug around a 25lb sandbag in the aft baggage compartment when flying solo which is 99% of the time.

Catto vs Sensenich

Hi Bill
I can't speak to comparative speed, but my Catto with metal leading edge and plastic leading edge protector certainly does better in rain than my previous plane with Sensenich. The Catto does not erode in rain like the aluminum prop.

I also had minor damage on my prop at 200 hours, (cracks in metal leading edges) which I suspect was caused by economy cruising at 2300 rpm, within the known vibration zone. Catto repaired the prop under warranty, and I was back in the air within 3 weeks. (Thanks Craig and Nicole!). Catto offered to make my prop a bit finer when he repaired it, so now I cruise at 2450 rpm. The prop still looks like new after another 200 hours, despite some deep grass strips and occasional rain and snow. I also like the light weight of the composite; makes it easy to keep my nose wheel up.

I don't think you can go wrong with either product; nice to have great choices!

Jay

Why is the RV world getting caught up on Catto? No doubt Catto is a good product and is good at what he does but, it's a fixed pitch prop. Meaning, you get what you get. What works for one doesn't always work for the other.

I started to get pulled into the Catto/RV prerequisite but the final price pushed me to look further. I found the Whirlwind ground adjustable. Something I can tweak to my needs. In my opinion, I'm getting more bang for the buck.

I told Craig Catto my model(RV8), my horsepower, and the speed I wanted at 75% power (Van's claimed numbers). He delivered precisely what I requested. I don't have experience with ground adjustable props, but I suspect you will find your optimum setting and that is where it will ever after stay.

Infidel said:

Why is the RV world getting caught up on Catto? No doubt Catto is a good product and is good at what he does but, it's a fixed pitch prop. Meaning, you get what you get. What works for one doesn't always work for the other.

I started to get pulled into the Catto/RV prerequisite but the final price pushed me to look further. I found the Whirlwind ground adjustable. Something I can tweak to my needs. In my opinion, I'm getting more bang for the buck and I'm placing my order tomorrow.

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Seems to me to be a bit like the IPhone/Android decision to me. To each his own!

You do realize the difference was 0.1Kts between the two bladed Sensenich and the three bladed Catto. Pilot skill or even luck could have easily been the difference. These results tend to debunk the notion that, all things being equal, two blades are better than three.

They both have great reputations. Catto is a relatively small, family operation. Having met them, they would get my business hands down.

A recent experience with one of my buddies - Not knowing how a prop would perform on his scratch built aircraft (no known data to go off of) Catto made the new prop. Test flights determined it to not be the correct pitch. They made a new prop, now with some now known data from test flights, took the prop back, and exchanged it for the new one. Worked great. The cost? No charge. "Don't worry about it. We can sell the other prop as "used".
They are super nice people with great reputation, and make an excellent product. We have lots of choices with a huge data base of flying RV's. Pretty hard to screw up getting the right prop for our applications. The rest has more to do with your personal preference.

For the reasons stated above, I would choose Catto. I like supporting small family oriented business and companies that I consider part of the RV community. Craig does own an RV6.

PS - Catto is big in the Super Cub world too. They supply Cub Crafters, and many others.

Props

Well said Infidel, I also am the happy owner of a Whirlwind ground adjustable, which was nearly $500.00 cheaper than Catto equipment for equipment.

props

There was a time we didn't have all the great options we have now! While I'd love to have a new Catto, I'm pretty happy with my aluminum Sensenich. It's good to have a range of choices to accommodate our individual wants, desires and occasionally, needs.

Back to the original question - I had an aluminum Sensenich on my RV9 which I replaced with a 3-blade Catto. Basically performs the same on climb and cruise but a bit less vibration with the three-blade. It also affects W&B (aluminum ~40 lbs on the nose, Catto ~14 lbs on the nose) so that is a possible consideration. I'm now more tail-heavy than with the aluminum prop. But I also have more ground clearance. The other thing I have noticed is that the mass of the Sensenich would tend to act as a flywheel much more than the wood/composite Catto. When I pull the throttle back on the Catto, there is clearly a difference in the pitch (acoustic) of the engine/prop combo that I did not notice with the Sensenich.

I, too, have been very happy to work with Craig and have nothing but great things to say for their company. Happens that they are also close enough to drive over and see the shop etc. Downside is that it is impossible to put a 3-blade prop in the RV and fly it home so one has to drive to pick up the prop!

Greg

Thanks for the feedback

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the great input. Plenty of food for thought. Maybe too much... I guess it's like several have pointed out, we are fortunate to have lots of great options.

I have decided to go with a fixed pitch prop due to cost. Derek pointed out that Sensenich has several models. I had assumed that the fixed pitch Sensenich is like the ones that Van's sells. I had also assumed that the Catto prop has much better performance, based on other threads. Probably both bad assumptions on my part.

In Galin's reply, he pointed out the small difference in speed. This is actually what caught my attention. I have been planning on a Catto prop with an EarthX battery on the firewall and a reasonably light IO-360. I have been worried about having the CG too far aft, limiting passenger size. So when I saw the pylon racing post it got me to thinking that maybe I should take another look at a heavier prop. I'm not too excited about the 25lb sandbag. This is something I haven't fully considered.

To tell the truth, I haven't given too much thought about the Whirlwind. I should probably look into that some more.

I was surprised to hear Jay report that the Catto does better in rain than an aluminum prop.

I think I may be more confused than before, but thank you for all the feedback.

Thanks again,