Cavitation is a phenomena of water vaporizing or "boiling" due to the extreme reduction of pressure on the back of the propeller blade.

Cavitation (which is often confused with ventilation) is a phenomena of water vaporizing or "boiling" due to the extreme reduction of pressure on the back of the propeller blade. Many propellers partially cavitate during normal operation, but excessive cavitation can result in physical damage to the blade surface due to the collapse of microscopic bubbles in the metal.

There may be numerous causes of cavitation such as incorrect matching of propeller style to application, incorrect pitch, physical damage to the blade edges, etc...

Be advised disturbances in the water flow forward of the propeller can result in blade damage which appears to be blade cavitation, but is actually due to non-favorable water flow.