ID prop markings

[Ray Downes]

A little over twenty years ago, I purchased a 25SS engine that came equipped with this 7 1/4 by 14 Michigan prop. The prop is now a paperweight / letter opener:

http://ncrd.homeip.net/images/face.jpghttp://ncrd.homeip.net/images/side.jpg

I have wondered about its stamped markings, such as "Hopkins", "Ray Mang" and "KBKR" (or perhaps "VBKR") - can anyone point me to a reference, or to the "lore" of these terms?

[Mark75H]

Hopkins is easy ... the prop was made by Floyd Hopkins; a pretty famous prop guy

[Master Oil Racing Team]

One thing Floyd did was stamp an ID of the prop owner or driver. It looks like he must have altered his codes over the years. Clayton Elmer and I had props that Floyd built that my Dad bought when we were partners and Claytons's props were stamped CE and mine were stamped WB. But we also had props stamped "Baldy".

So I would expect that "Ray Mang" was an owner/driver or Mang may have been a short version of the last name. But I would bet that Ray was the one who commissioned the prop.

Floyd had some weird numbers and letters that described his props. When he found a good comination he would stamp that code on it..

You've got something to keep Ray.

[Jeff Lytle]

Ray and Ron Mang were out of the Buffalo N.Y. area. Mang Bros. Racing ran 25SS and BSR with good success. I've seen pics of the trailer they used to use somewhere on BRF in the past. All their stuff was top notch too.

They used to be Keller distributors, and I used to buy stuff off them, so much so, I can still remember their address: 1501 Hertel Ave, Buffalo NY. They owned a florist business as I recall too.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

.......you'll never know what kind of interesting facts may show up on BRF. If we could get Glenn Hopkins on here, he could tell us about the codes.

Here is an example of some different codes Floyd would use. The following codes we had on props and some of them had the same code, but different pitches on the leading edge, the middle and trailing edge and diameters.

CD
CDH
BALDY CH2
KD66
PKD66
B14 PB44
PC11 B14
PC11 13
PC11 STD
BRG1 PB44
BRG1 716
BRG1 PC11

We had more of the BRG1 PC11's than any other. It was a very successful configuration, but I don't know what they mean.

Floyd would come down to our house and spend a few days testing props and recording information. There was one particular prop that was very good. We won a lot of races with it, and it was supposed to be "our" prop as my Dad spent a lot of money with Floyd to "find" it. When that prop showed up on a lot of other boats, my Dad got a little peeved and started buying Seebold props. Floyd and my Dad were too close to let that get between them so they got over it, but we continued buying Seebold as well as Hopkins.

[Ray Downes]

Thanks all for the enlightenment – I had purchased the engine used, out of a little shop on perhaps Honeoye Lake in upstate New York. The prop seemed to work better all-around that the Mercury Lab 3-blade that I bought later.

This boat/engine combo was as close to non-spectator status that I managed, besides a little inboard crewing (UL333) as well as towing down here on Lake Wheeler (USTS).