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Prop Blade Protectors while towing???


rustie

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I'm sure you've all read somewhere, or have been told that these new CNC props (or any prop) should be protected from rock dings during towing, but the search engine here returns no such answers.

I was told by a local dealer that he once saw a multiple-eared protector (like Mickey Mouse ears for 3 or 4 blade props) made from either plastic, or neoprene that fit over each individual blade for protection. Then, the individual blade covers were all tied together by a bungee cord. The thinking being that should you forget to remove the covers, all that would happen is centrifugal force would throw the covers off automatically....and it would float back to the surface for retrieval (IF you remembered to look!)

Problem is, the dealer cannot remember where he saw these blade protectors. Anybody seen any such a thing before???

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HA! Very kewl.....worth a look there PP. Wonder if they're large enough for our inboard blade ears? Thanks! Thumbup.gifThumbup.gifThumbup.gif

Edited by rustie
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If they're not, seems like you're handy with a sewing machine and fabric.

Maybe you could start selling custom prop protectors with your transom gaurd. Cheers.gif

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Who wants to crawl under their boat every time you get to the ramp and then before you go home too. Not me.

Well, the whole point here is to not have to crawl under your boat and change out an expensive prop because some rock/s got kicked up while tooling along on the road. That prop hangs quite low, and it certainly wouldn't take much to really damage it on a moderately long haul....especially at 70mph where most boats are towed....

It's your choice. A little extra caution to install and/or remove a blade cover.....or a LOT of extra $$$ and effort to replace that prop in the event of damage..... :unsure: :unsure: :unsure:

I'll be checking into the blade covers that PP mentioned to see if they'll fit our large ears....it's damn cheap insurance ifin ya axes me..... Thumbup.gifThumbup.gifThumbup.gif

Edited by rustie
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Maybe for a long haul but not 10 miles or less.

Well, no....you're right on that. I probably wouldn't spend the time to install them for such a short trip either. But when traveling 100 miles or more, it would certainly eliminate the possibility of some expensive damage....

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If something (on the road) impacts the prop with enough force to do damage then:

A) That product linked to above isn't going to do anything.

B) A damaged prop is going to be the least of your worries.

This is a waste of time and money, don't bother.

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I agree wom. I have mudflaps on the truck to take care of rocks and debris coming from the rear wheels. In all my towing neither boat has had any issues w/ regards to impacts on the prop.

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This is a waste of time and money, don't bother.

Oh...not hardly! Although a little more costly, guys with race props remove them every time their boats are put on a trailer.

Our props can cost $400 to $600, and the race guys can almost double that cost....but props do indeed get dinged when driving. Brought my 247 LSV back from TN to CA and there were several dings on the negative face on my prop (especially one blade for whatever reason)....and you only normally get dings on the positive face during operation.

It's at the prop repair shop right now being cleaned up and dressed out. His suggestion was to look into getting some type of protection while on-the-road, or remove altogether during transportation over 100 miles (a royal PITA for sure). So, was just looking into my options....and if any of you guys had used something similar to what this experienced prop guy is suggesting.

Those Prop Sox definitely look interesting, but just found this:

http://www.propskin.com/

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This is a waste of time and money, don't bother.

Oh...not hardly! Although a little more costly, guys with race props remove them every time their boats are put on a trailer.

Our props can cost $400 to $600, and the race guys can almost double that cost....but props do indeed get dinged when driving. Brought my 247 LSV back from TN to CA and there were several dings on the negative face on my prop (especially one blade for whatever reason)....and you only normally get dings on the positive face during operation.

It's at the prop repair shop right now being cleaned up and dressed out. His suggestion was to look into getting some type of protection while on-the-road, or remove altogether during transportation over 100 miles (a royal PITA for sure). So, was just looking into my options....and if any of you guys had used something similar to what this experienced prop guy is suggesting.

Those Prop Sox definitely look interesting, but just found this:

http://www.propskin.com/

Why didn't you remove the prop when going from CA to TN, or just hindsight 20/20. I travel roughly 250 miles every weekend w/o any problems. I would think just removing the prop would be almost as quick and save $$$ as well.

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Why didn't you remove the prop when going from CA to TN, or just hindsight 20/20. I travel roughly 250 miles every weekend w/o any problems. I would think just removing the prop would be almost as quick and save $$$ as well

Yeah, totally true....but I just bought the boat and had enough problems just getting all the proper docs signed by the previous owner....then buying a couple spare trailer tires (for the 4 day long journey)....and never once thought about the prop. But since this was my first "prop" boat....I never had problems before.

My last boat was a blown 502 Chevy jet, and there are several mfgrs today making "pump inlet covers" specifically to prevent damaging the expensive S/S impellers from the exact same thing (rocks kicked up while towing). In fact, they've been making these pump inlet rock-ding-prevention covers for the last 25 years!

Actually, I never even thought about the "prop-ding" problems until I went in to have my original 537 re-worked (and bought a 1273 for all the peeps I'll be carrying with my HH powered 247 while towing). Now with the new 1273 in place, just trying to keep this new prop as fresh as possible for my multiple 250 mile trips (each way) to the Colorado River from Ventura four or more times a summer.

Edited by rustie
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Brought my 247 LSV back from TN to CA and there were several dings on the negative face on my prop (especially one blade for whatever reason)....and you only normally get dings on the positive face during operation.

What do you mean by negative and positive? Maybe that's some aeronautical term relating to the generated lift that I haven't encountered before, but for clarity sake, let's call them concave and convex faces.

FYI, those dings didn't come from your trip towing the boat, they were there before.

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What do you mean by negative and positive? Maybe that's some aeronautical term relating to the generated lift that I haven't encountered before, but for clarity sake, let's call them concave and convex faces.

Actually it's a common term for any propeller or impeller, whether it's on an aircraft, prop or jet boat...it's all the same.

It's real easy though. The "positive face" is the pressure side that does the pushing....or more simply, the back or rear facing side (concave in your description).

The "negative face" is the NEGATIVE pressure side (aka; vacuum) that is opposite the positive side, and is the face most often eroded by cavitation (although both sides can be). It's simply the forward facing side (convex in your description)

Edited by rustie
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FYI, those dings didn't come from your trip towing the boat, they were there before.

Some may indeed have been, but not from operation. The first owner towed the boat from lake to lake as well for the previous 2 years.

While it's not impossible, it is very unlikely that you can ding the negative blade face from operation. If there are any small rocks churned up in the water during operation ( by being too close to the bottom), the blade areas most often damaged are the outer diameter (obviously) and the positive face (from where the rocks are "pushed").

FWIW....if you hit any submerged wooden stumps, you may only bend blades with no visible dings on either side....

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I've never had any significant prop damage towing either. And I can't imagine that little plastic thing saving the prop from much more than a little pebble hitting the prop.

What about adding a pair of aluminum skid plates to the trailer that would protect the prop & rudder (& Wedge if you tow with it down)? Seems like that would solve any possible problem without having to get under the boat every trip.

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What about adding a pair of aluminum skid plates to the trailer that would protect the prop & rudder (& Wedge if you tow with it down)? Seems like that would solve any possible problem without having to get under the boat every trip.

Yeah, actually that would be a damn good idea. I like that the best! With some properly designed skid plates, I should just about be able to offroad that 247....

Odd that isn't an available option on these expensive custom trailers. Certainly wouldn't have taken much effort on their part.

Good on ya there Bill.... Thumbup.gifThumbup.gifThumbup.gif

Edited by rustie
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Just an FYI (and not really that big of a deal), but if you launch in a lake that is at all mucky, you will get this debris all over the top of the skid plate. You will just scoop it up as you back into the lake. You will probably want to wash it off before heading out b/c there may be rocks there and you don't want the muck to dry and harden on there (more of an appearance factor). Again, not that big of a deal, but something to think about.

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Just an FYI (and not really that big of a deal), but if you launch in a lake that is at all mucky, you will get this debris all over the top of the skid plate. You will just scoop it up as you back into the lake. You will probably want to wash it off before heading out b/c there may be rocks there and you don't want the muck to dry and harden on there (more of an appearance factor). Again, not that big of a deal, but something to think about.

Also a great device to help Zebra mussels propagate. I bet if you local lake was checking you'd be turned away, unless you made it porous.

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Just an FYI (and not really that big of a deal), but if you launch in a lake that is at all mucky, you will get this debris all over the top of the skid plate. You will just scoop it up as you back into the lake.

Another excellent point made there Kern!

What I'll do to solve that (at least partially) is to put a 1/2" spacer at the trailer's rear frame crossbar, just below the prop cage. This should allow enough space between the frame and skid plate for the sand/mud to flow under the frame crossbar and not allow the crossbar to be a catch area for all the debris.

Love your guys input!!!!

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Also a great device to help Zebra mussels propagate. I bet if you local lake was checking you'd be turned away, unless you made it porous.

Yeah....as a side note, I forgot all about that Zebra Mussel thing when I brought my 247 into CA. They had me pull the plugs on the boat right at the CA/AZ boarder entry. VERRRY luckily, the bilge was bone dry. They mentioned that if any water even dripped out, I would indeed have been turned away. I was damn lucky that morning.....

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