Line-Cutting Prop Blade
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In my sailing area,
there are hundreds of fish and lobster traps (lobster pots) on the seabed
which have a line and float attached.
It is very difficult to avoid these floats especially at night, and
can be dangerous to the boat if the line becomes entangled around the prop.
This is especially true of a boat with an exposed propeller shaft and strut
(“P-leg”) such as the US Scanmars have;
European boats usually have a Saildrive instead of
an exposed shaft and strut. A
friend of mine nearly lost his boat when he unwittingly snagged a lobster
pot’s line on his prop while he
was sailing. The prop shaft
pulled completely out of the boat leaving a huge leak around the stuffing
box, the propeller shaft hanging on only the strut. Luckily, he made it to shore
after stuffing whatever he could in the shaft opening in the hole. |
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While I fully appreciate
the hard-working lobsterman, if the choice is cutting a hidden lobster pot line
to save my boat or to save the lobsterman’s line, the safety of my boat
and its crew comes first.
Although I have yet to snag a lobsterpot, if it happens it will
probably occur at the worst possible time. I decided to attach a line-cutting
blade to my propeller shaft. |
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There are several types
of these devices, but to summarize there is the shears-type such as Spurs and the blade-type such as the PropProtector.
The shears-type traps a line between a stationary and a rotating blade and
snips it as a pair of scissors would.
It’s a bit more complicated as there are two blades and a
“holding block”, and the blades must be sharpened periodically.
The blade-type has no moving parts and is simpler to maintain, easy to
install and rugged; also the blade rarely would need sharpening as there is
no wear of one blade against another as with Spurs. |
Spurs |
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The PropProtector
can be sharpened by the boat owner with an |
PropProtector |
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PropProtector installed |
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