I ordered a Whirlwind 200RV prop through American Propeller at Sun-n-Fun '09 as part of the group buy. This prop is highly recommended for both performance and reduced vibration. Service life is less well known just due to the limited years this has been on the market. However, Whirlwind has been building props for some time. The discount amounted to approx 12" for the prop, spinner, and governor. This prop has been providing great performance to RV-8 drivers due to the light weight (saves 13 lbs over metal CS prop) which helps CG considerably, and the low drag count due to the blade design.
The prop arrived well packaged and all components were present. The prop itself is essentially bolt on. The prop is a work of art, but I did notice two small nicks, actually appearing as pin holes, in the nickel leading edge of one blade that appeared as "puncture marks" as if a ball-point pen had been poked at the leading edge and pierced the nickel. I sent photos to Kevin Russell at American Propellers and he advised to return the prop for repair.
** Update... The repaired prop has arrived and looks great. It appears they filled the two small pin holes with nickel and refinished those areas. You have to really look closely in adequate lighting conditions to see the blemishes, but the surface is perfectly flush and well polished and I can see no reason why this should present any future problems.
