Propellar Handbook: The Complete Reference for Choosing, Installing, and Understanding Boat Propellers

Dave has done an excellent job of clearly covering a very complex subject. He gives you quick practical ways of estimating as well as more detailed methods for determining propeller requirements and performance. This book will benefit anyone dealing with propellers. This includes boat owners, repair yards and design offices. I am a professional engineer, practicing in naval architecture and marine engineering. As a result I have read a lot of material on this subject. This is the best reference on propellers that I have seen to date.

This is a very practical book in terms of its simple way of guiding the reader through both, the conceptual understanding of propellers and the corresponding calculations.
This book fulfilled all my expectations

This is a well-written, extremely nice discussion for laymen of what's known about marine propellers. The book is short on surfacing props, where most of what's known is from seat of the pants testing by racers. The few equations presented are empirical equations based on scaling of one sort or another. I.e., there is no good theory of any sort of prop, low speed submerged props included. The role of circulation in producing high thrust/drag rations is explained, props are understood (we can say since Prandtl, ca. 1916) as rotating hydrofoils. What surprises me is that the upper curve in fig. 5-4 agrees with my experience setting up fast boats with surfacing props. I'm surprised because there's no known reason why it should work. I recommend the book to anyone who's interested in marine propellers!

There are a few errors. E.g., cavitation is not a vacuum, in cavitation the local water pressure has fallen below vapor pressure, so the water 'boils' locally, forms bubbles (the assumption of incompressible flow fails). A bubble, of course, provides no thrust. Cavitation cannot occur with an airplane propeller, air is analogous to water vapor but in normal flow is treated as incompressible. In that case the assumption of incompressibility fails when supersonic speeds are reached.

It is for the technically minded. Don't buy a propeller without reading it first. And after you've read it, you will probably buy a new propeller, because you will likely to find out that the old one is not right.

Good technical information and references.
This is not for the 'hop in the boat, hit the key' sailor.