[Hawkeye25]

A few years ago I got a call to a waterfront 'mansion' in Naples to repair or replace the Mercedes diesel in the owners 56' sloop at the dock out back. Seems it could not rev past 1000 RPM and he'd just escaped having his boat on the rocks while attempting to get out of Gordon Pass. Sure enough, the engine couldn't push the prop above 1000 RPM, but it ran so sweetly at idle I couldn't believe it had somehow died while sitting at the dock.

I called back to the shop for a diver and had him check the prop. Sure enough, it was a feathering prop that had been left almost perfectly feathered, quite by accident, during the last docking, and had accumulated enough growth to lock it like that. A quick cleaning and explaination to the owner straightened out all problems.

Except one. In my opinion, for the convienience of being able to say, "I have one." the man's boat is equipped with a minor accessory that could cost him the boat.

My boat is 22,000 lbs and I have a 52 HP diesel and an 18 x 13 three blade conventional prop. It goes and stops just fine. I accept the very minor drag added by the locked prop while under sail and will not bandy words with naysayers concerning ridiculous drag figures and the greyhound-like speeds of boats with feathering props.

Like anyone else, I love the engineering and beautifully machined parts of some of the worlds best feathering and reversing props, and someday may placed a polished model on my desk, but I will never trust my boat to one.