Wicked Looking Arneson Surface Drives on a 40 Foot V-Bottom Powerboat

Traditionally, when you see a boat plowing through the water, you expect the propellers powering it to be submerged underneath the surface. This has always been the design that has been put into use to make these things go, however, as advancements are made every single day, designers and engineers are trying to one up current design to make the systems function more efficient in just about every single category that you could imagine including the way that a boat propeller is set up. That’s exactly what we look into here when we take a minute to check out exactly what an Arneson Surface Drive is and how it operates to make your boat move, well, better.

“The Arneson Surface Drives are among the most efficient marine propulsion systems in the world. Their surface-piercing propeller design reduces underwater drag by 50% compared to conventional submerged propeller drive systems. The only surfaces to contact the water are propeller blades and a protective skeg. This results in higher overall speed, quicker acceleration, and a better payload to power ratio… AND… 50% less drag significantly improves fuel economy while lowering operating costs.” –arneson-industries.com

The basic concept here is that, by placing your propeller above the surface of the water, drag will thereby be eliminated in some capacity, meaning that the boat won’t have to fight with the water as much when it’s producting power. As a result, the vessel will be able to more easily glide across the surface by eliminating some resistance and friction that would come about with a traditional propeller setup.

The video demo below shows you the system in action and how it goes about replacing everything that you thought that you knew about how outdrives worked on the boat. What do you think of this different way of looking at propeller technology that could prove to move your boat faster and more efficiently?