Bent up a prop last weekend

Well it was my turn I guess. Traveled almost 600 miles at 20mph this year. The one trip where we were going slower in a group (9knots) and I hit a big stick/small log. Traveling from Everett to Point Hudson. It was about 1pm at Marrowston Point I hit a 8-10" log about 4' long. I never seen it from the front, just the thump along the hull and bang. Took a look out back and seen it pop up and then back down again. Dark colored like its been out for a while. I shut the engine down on the Starboard side. And headed down into the engine room, the shaft was still there, no water was coming in. We proceeded to Point Hudson on the Port engine only. Once there we found out that a Diver was hired for the neighboring boat as they ran over a bit of crab pot line. I got the number and called her and she said that she would take a look for us. She showed up the next day and took a look, just as we thought a big dent/cup in one blade of the prop. She could not tell if the shaft/strut/rudder were undamaged at the time. I suppose time will tell what other damage took place. We did mange to have a good time as always at Point Hudson. Traveled back home with the group on Sunday on one engine.

Now we are shopping for props. As I do not have a spare set, and I am afraid the one will not be repairable considering what the diver told us it looked like.
Current props are 28"x32" 3 Blade no cup, 1.75 shaft.
Not sure if we are going to stick with 3 blade or go with a 4 blade. Many of the shops have said its 10-14 weeks out for a set of props. Kind of a bummer to end the season so soon. But thankful that it was not more damaging that it was.

Take it to a good prop shop that has the ability to scan them after the repair. It is surprising what a good shop can do. I would take in the other prop while you are at it and have it scanned too.

Talk about the extra vulnerability of twin props.

I would have a prop shop tell you they can’t fix it. Amazing what they can do.

So sorry to hear about the prop. Glad everything else looks good. At least there should be a good shop near you. Like the others have mentioned, in t mat be repairable.

I am headed to Point Hudson on Wed. I haven't been there in a number of years. Any suggestions on good places to shop for my wife and eat for me?

What would happen if there was water intrusion via the shaft? Is that common? Beyond bilge pumps? Trying to learn what to do.

It depends on the type of shaft log you have whether or not you should get water coming into the boat via the shaft log. The older style has packing that can be adjusted to slow the incoming water but you don’t want to stop it completely or it can overheat. If you have a dripless shaft log then normally there should not be water coming into the boat via the shaft log. The normal dripping from the old style should be a few drops a minute underway and little to none when stopped. The bilge pump should easily handle that.

Check on your insurance coverage. Last time I "reshaped" my props, the insurance covered the diver and prop shop charges 100% since my deductible had reduced to $0 because of a lack of claims.

Some years back I rolled every blade on both props, the damage was quite severe. (Happens to all of us at some point, I guess) When I took them into a prop shop expecting the worst, they took one glance and said "No problem, we fix worse than that all the time."


I bet they can be repaired as good as new, maybe better. Take both of them in and have them tuned.


And don't listen to Mark. He's just another envious, grumpy single engine owner. There's a lot of them in these here parts. LOL.



Doug

bowball said:

What would happen if there was water intrusion via the shaft? Is that common? Beyond bilge pumps? Trying to learn what to do.

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A 1.75 inch hole will has a flow rate between 100-200 gallons a minute. (Depending on pressures) You can do the math on you bilge pump rates, (and most pumps do not pump what they are rated for given installation parameters may be less than ideal). but most likely, pumps are not going to solve your problem.

You would need to go down and mitigate or seal the leak or else its a matter of time before you sink

Some of the quickest sinkings Ive read about were ones where the boat either hit something, or had cable/tow rope in prop and prop shaft was pulled out.

Serious stuff

Ouch.

I got lucky with a similar hit a couple weeks ago. 6 foot long, 4 inch diameter log. Doing ~5 kts coming back into the river, never saw the log before the hit. Heard a thump, then the sound of something under the hull, so I yanked the engines into neutral. Then a couple more thumps, grinds, and clunks, then it popped up dead center in my wake.

Immediately turned around and headed back out for a test run. Got out of the river, jumped up on plane. No vibrations all the way up to WOT, no excess stuffing box drips. Speed vs RPM checked out normal both on plane and at slow cruise.

So either somehow that log managed to miss both props, or I got them into neutral fast enough that it just gently bounced off without noticeable damage. I guess we'll see if there are any marks when I haul this winter. I'm kinda curious if I'll have any scuffs in the prop paint.

dhays said:

So sorry to hear about the prop. Glad everything else looks good. At least there should be a good shop near you. Like the others have mentioned, in t mat be repairable.

I am headed to Point Hudson on Wed. I haven't been there in a number of years. Any suggestions on good places to shop for my wife and eat for me?

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For Coffee got the wooden boat shop, its not open on Saturday, but its good if you like good coffee. For a bite to eat we like Doc's. For shopping I like the book store on the water side. I can spend hours there.

bowball said:

What would happen if there was water intrusion via the shaft? Is that common? Beyond bilge pumps? Trying to learn what to do.

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A friend of ours hit a log a few years back doing 20+. It ripped one prop/shaft out of the boat. He had some wood cones he hammered in. Drove it to the Port and had them pull it out of the water. I also hear that the old style Nerf footballs work well for stopping water if you stuff them in. Most sport fishers come with a few good size bilge pumps, so you can get the water back out.

5 years ago I hit a sunken log at 30 mph and bent a prop badly. Took both props in to the Prop shop in Mukilteo https://propshopinc.com/ and he repaired it as good as new and matched both props. $500 was my cost.

Bill V said:

5 years ago I hit a sunken log at 30 mph and bent a prop badly. Took both props in to the Prop shop in Mukilteo https://propshopinc.com/ and he repaired it as good as new and matched both props. $500 was my cost.

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The Prop shop does fine work. I had these Props off the boat and into them for truing/inspection/cleaning last November.

Dougcole said:

. (Happens to all of us at some point, I guess)


Doug

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I guess I have been lucky. 30 years of boating in single screw boats and not once.
Probably because I always carried a spare on board with all the tools and gear to change if necessary.

I totally agree find a good propshop first. you would be surprised at some of the pictures of repairs i have seen that have been done to all kinds of props. If you have the money and want to have a second set on hand get them so you can have a set if you have a future oops

jleonard said:

I guess I have been lucky. 30 years of boating in single screw boats and not once.
Probably because I always carried a spare on board with all the tools and gear to change if necessary.

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While I don't have 30 years of boating just yet. This is the first time... prob due to the fact this is the first boat I have had without a full set of spares aboard.

jleonard said:

I guess I have been lucky. 30 years of boating in single screw boats and not once.
Probably because I always carried a spare on board with all the tools and gear to change if necessary.

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Yeah, that's the only time for me on the bigger boats. I've wrecked quite a few outboard props though. But if you are a flats fisherman it the cost of doing business.


We don't have too many floating logs down here. But I tend to try to squeeze into really shallow water at times. I bumped bottom hard enough to shut off the stb motor last month, but it was in sand, no damage luckily.

Prop shop might be able to make them perfect, but if not they could probably make them "good enough" to get you through the rest of the season.

markpierce said:

Talk about the extra vulnerability of twin props.

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Yup! However, talk about the capability to keep going of twin engines.

There's a trade off in everything!

markpierce said:

Talk about the extra vulnerability of twin props.

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Huh? Bend one prop, the other will get you home. Bend one prop on a single, you are screwed.

A keel protected single will fare better in a grounding, but with debris in the water, it's all luck about where it ends up under the boat. A single might have better chances, but it's far from unheard of for a debris strike to cause prop damage with a single.

We were bringing our last boat home and running up the Hudson we must have hit stuff at least a dozen times. Stuff that we could feel all the way up on the flybridge, the whole boat would shudder. Since it was very earlly in the season there was a lot of debris in the river and a lot of it was submerged. I expected to find damaged props however when we were lifted on the Big Chute railway they looked at the props and said they were fine. That boat did have a fairly deep keel so it did protect both props well. So it isn’t just a case of singles being protected and twins not being protected. It all depends on the individual boat.

rslifkin said:

A keel protected single will fare better in a grounding, but with debris in the water, it's all luck about where it ends up under the boat. A single might have better chances, but it's far from unheard of for a debris strike to cause prop damage with a single.

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Finally got towing insurance the day I traded twins for single.

IMO, I wouldn't be making the most of California Delta if I didn't sometimes touch bottom and occasionally bend a prop or two. Of course, it's a much bigger deal if you're a long way from 'home'.

I'll own the fact that it's what I do...and that's why I have TowBoatUS towing and hull insurance! Life's too short to worry about it. So far, so good!!

I'd much rather single-hand with confidence in maneuverability in my twin than approach the dock dependent on my bow grinder working. I have two single engine dock neighbors who are afraid to move their boats without the grinders running.

They're easy to hear coming and going!

Prop Repair

I’ve used Tacoma Propeller a few times over the years and have been very satisfied. They can diagnose, tune, repair or replace.

wjstults said:

I’ve used Tacoma Propeller a few times over the years and have been very satisfied. They can diagnose, tune, repair or replace.

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I called them and gave them the info I had.
He barked out a nigh number and stated it was 9-18 weeks out and I need to pay up front. He was almost double what the local to me guy is for the same set of props.

Who would have know all the choices for a set of props.
Bronze, NiBral, 3 or 4 blade, cup or no cup...

Local guys say that my Bronze Props are at their max capacity given the size and HP. They recommend I step up to NiBral. He said far as 3 or 4 blade go... The 4 blade is smoother in most boats, but probably never notice it in a Detroit powered boat. It will also give me grater control at low speeds. But I currently do not have a problem with that. And they are 500-1000 more each.

Far as Cup no Cup he said there is not much info on my style of boat for a cup no cup. But he recommends the Cupped prop to help reduce cavitation.

Then there is the brands.
Michigan, Acme, ZF, Hung Shen, VEEM....
And then there is the finish, full CNC, tip CNC, Hand finish....

You would think with 100's of this style boat out there I could find more info. I must just be looking in the wrong areas.

Good to know. I bought a prop about 18 years ago and I think at that time it was a competitive price. Had both analyzed a several years ago and the turn around time was okay then.
Glad to hear you found a good price elsewhere.