Out of the propeller-tuning business, Throttle-Up is making its own wheels—and gaining some traction.

by Matt Trulio

Even within your own industry, reinventing yourself isn't easy. Just look at Throttle-Up Propellers. You, as a connected performance-boat lover, probably know the St. Petersburg, Fla., company as a respected high-performance propeller-tuning outfit. But did you know that Throttle-Up has been making its own props for two years and is—for all intents and purposes—out of the wheel-tuning game?

"We've had a more difficult time with the transition from shop to manufacturer than I thought we would," says Matt Croce, who started Throttle-Up almost eight years ago with his wife, Julie. "I think we expected our existing propeller-tuning customers to immediately switch to our props when we started making them, but it didn't happen that way. We've been at it for a little more than two years, though, and now things are starting to happen."

The Croces didn't enter the propeller business as lifelong performance-boat nuts. In fact, they moved to St. Petersburg to escape the cold winters of Colorado—they owned a lodge near Durango. Once in St. Petersburg, they bought a home and a twin-engine Scarab and said, according to Matt, "Now what?"

Owning the Scarab opened Matt Croce's eyes to the scarcity of knowledgeable propeller experts and service shops in the area. "When it came to anything beyond aluminum props, they were lost," he says. "No one around here knew anything about props. I said, 'OK, that's the business we're going into. Now, how are we going to do it better?'"

According to Croce, a piece of technology called the Hale MRI provided the answer. The Hale MRI is a computer system with a digital measuring wand that can accurately measure and record every physical aspect of a propeller, from the pitch in each blade (even the pitch in a specific area of the blade) to the diameter. With those measurements, Croce could precisely tune propellers for maximum performance.

In Throttle-Up's first year or so in business, the company "took anything that came in the door," Croce said. But eventually, the company caught the attention of the offshore racing crowd, most noticeably Randy Schleuss of the world-championship-winning Typhoon Racing team. His client list built quickly after that, and among his customers was Donzi's factory-backed F-2 team.

Within two years, says Croce, Throttle-Up was handling 60 to 70 percent of the propeller tuning for the offshore racing fleet.

Throttle-Up also became one of Hydromotive Propellers' biggest dealers. When Hydromotive produced its first six-blade prop, says Croce, Throttle-Up tuned it.

"It was pretty much trial by fire in the early days," Croce said. "I can honestly say that nobody taught me anything. I had to learn it myself."

While Croce enjoyed tuning propellers of other manufacturers, he didn't necessarily enjoy working with material that was, in terms of structural integrity, beyond his control. The propellers of Hering, he said, inspired him to start building his own wheels. (Naturally, not long after Throttle-Up started building its own props, its relationship with Hydromotive ended.)

"I just got so fed up with not having any control over the product," Croce says. "I'd have blades fail and I'd have to talk to the customer about it. So we decided to start making our own stuff."

Going from prop shop to prop manufacturer required Throttle-Up to find a foundry to cast the propellers and to bring CNC machinery in house. (The latter required significant capital investment.) The process was not without difficulties—finding the right CNC operator wasn't easy—but now Throttle-Up offers semi-cleaver four, five- and six-blade conventional stern-drive propellers as well as propellers for Mercury Racing No. 6 dry-sump surface drives.

Croce describes his propellers as "semi-custom." He says his company is building about 300 props per year. Prices range from $1,100 to $5,000.

"We talk to each customer, get all of the performance information and then 'design' it," Croce said. "All of our castings are made in the investment or 'lost wax' process. Once we get the raw casting, we CNC to the design specifications. I call our props 'semi-custom' because the blade shape doesn't really change. The changes we make are basically to things like cup structure, diameter and staggered pitch in alternating blades.

"There are about 12 hours of CNC work, and five to six man-hours of labor, in our typical six-blade prop," he adds.

Though he'd like to be completely out of the propeller-tuning business, Croce still does a small amount of it. "We do 'legacy' work," he says. "For the customers who have used me for years, I'll repair their propellers if they really want it. We have a superior level of service—that's why they came to us in the first place."

CONTACT INFORMATION
Throttle-Up Propellers, 10611 Bay Pines Blvd., Suite 4, St. Petersburg, FL 33708, 727-531-2255, www.throttle-up.com