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Boating Business

Yamaha To Cast and Sell Sharrow Propellers

Yamaha propellers, Sharrow propellers

Investment castings of Sharrow props lined up the receive stainless steel in Yamaha’s Precision Propeller facility.

Jonathon Burns, Yamaha Propellers

Jonathon Burns, second from right – seen here before moving on to become General Manager of the of Yamaha US Planning and Development — was in charge of building Yamaha’s Precision Propeller manufacturing facility and is well acquainted with marine props of all kinds. 

Jonathon Burns, General Manager, Yamaha US Marine Planning and Development, said the company will offer the Sharrow Propeller™ as a new option to more than 100 of the world’s boat builders and its network of more than 2,000 dealers. The Sharrow propellers will have unique SKU numbers for Yamaha dealers to easily order for their customers.

“Through YPPI and our new relationship with Sharrow Marine, Yamaha can offer boat builders, dealers and customers an even greater number of options when it comes to maximizing boat performance through propeller selection,” Burns said. “Sharrow Marine’s choice of YPPI as a manufacturing and distribution partner underscores Yamaha’s leadership position in the casting industry.”

Greg Sharrow, Sharrow Propellers, NMMA Innovation Award

Greg Sharrow, left — with three of his chief engineers who are all recognized expert engineers in the aerospace industry — after winning the NMMA innovation award in 2020 for his new prop design.

Validation of Sharrow Props Performance Capabilities

Sharrow Marine won an NMMA® Innovation Award during the 2020 Miami International Boat® Show  for its original design, fuel efficiency and general improvement of boat performance. Since then, Sharrow props have been tested on dozens of boats by major boat builders and several outboard engine manufacturers. Yamaha’s distribution agreement is viewed as validation of the performance improvements possible with Sharrow’s new technology.

Yamaha propellers factory, Yamaha propellers

Yamaha’s 55,000 sq. ft. foundry and manufacturing facility near Indianapolis is said to be able to produce more than 100,000 propellers a year and increases Yamaha’s casting volume by 67%.

World-Class Casting for Sharrow Props

Greg Sharrow, CEO of Sharrow Marine said, “Yamaha has worldwide respect for the quality and dependability of its products. We’re proud to have the opportunity to manufacture our high-tech propellers in Yamaha’s new, state-of-the-art casting facility in Indiana.”

He continued, “We’re also excited to have access to the Yamaha distribution network, which will dramatically accelerate our efforts to deliver the Sharrow Propeller™ to boat motors around the world.

YPPI, a division of the Yamaha U.S. Marine Business Unit, designs and builds stainless steel propellers for distribution around the globe for Yamaha Outboards. YPPI and Yamaha work together to design propellers to fit the thousands of different boat applications in the market. In total, YPPI manufacturers over 300 different propellers.

According to Yamaha, YPPI is one of only two marine propeller foundries in the U.S. and one of the largest stainless-steel investment casting foundries in the world. To achieve greater levels of efficiency and increased production, the YPPI team brought in several new equipment advancements including a first-of-its-kind pouring system plus higher levels of space-efficient automation, i.e. robotic processing. The robotics created the need for new technical roles to support the equipment and technology.

Sharrow propellers, BoatTEST Sharrow propellers

Sharrow makes off-the-shelf props and custom props for commercial and recreation applications.

Sharrow Marine’s Cutting Edge Technology

Sharrow Engineering, LLC, is an engineering company dedicated to the research and development of propulsion technologies for the maritime and aeronautical industries. Sharrow Engineering is the parent company for Sharrow Marine, LLC, and Sharrow Commercial Marine, LLC. Company offices are headquartered in Detroit, MI. Sharrow Engineering, LLC, has assembled a team of the world’s top aeronautical, nautical, aerospace, and mechanical engineers to assist with the company’s core mission to reinvent the methodologies and technologies used for propulsion in the 21st century. 

Sharrow prop, BoatTEST, Greg Sharrow

BoatTEST Captains were the first 3rd party media organization to test the Sharrow Props in August 2019. Seven days were spent testing Sharrow props against several standard props, then it broke the news in September, 2019.

BoatTEST has been testing Sharrow props for nearly three years and has consistently come up with the same percentages of performance improvements on several different types of boats and engines.  Most recently, BoatTEST tested Sharrow props on a commercial application on twin 300-hp diesel engines. To See the results of that test and the video, plus a history of Sharrow Marine, click here…