Line Around Propeller

[LakeSuperiorGeezer]

Someone I recently met said that a line accidently wrapped around the propeller could cause $30,000 damage to the engine. Is this an exaggeration? What kinds damage if any have you experienced?

[Minnewaska]

If you chop power at the sign of trouble, I'm having a hard time believing one could add up that much damage. I suppose there are plenty that remain in denial and try to power through, but that is still too much.

Yes, I have wrapped a propeller...... once. No damage, other than getting the line off.

A Spurs line cutter is only several hundred dollars installed. Other than the holes for the holding block that need to be tapped, its a very easy do-it-yourself project for less. I wouldn't be without one.

[BubbleheadMd]

Originally Posted by LakeSuperiorGeezer

Someone I recently met said that a line accidently wrapped around the propeller could cause $30,000 damage to the engine. Is this an exaggeration? What kinds damage if any have you experienced?

$30-large? He must have had a huge, expensive boat. Even if I totally ruined my engine, prop and shaft, and paid someone to do ALL of the work, I'd be looking at about $10k.

[Arpegecap]

On a large power boat, maybe. On a sailboat, nah.

[patrscoe]

I have motored in reverse over our neighbors "excessively hanging in the water" dock lines last year. If you don't know about it, your engine will stall and you will drift backwards... and try to gain control over your boat. Difficult to remove from the shaft and prop at that point but only damage was a loosen stuffing box. Per the Marina's mechanic, typical problem is this is cutlass bearing damage and that is about it. $30k is a ridiculous amount of damage but if the situation is right and perhaps you have collapse motor mounts or issues with your transmission, or any other poor existing condition to your drive, etc... you could make those conditions worse and cause compounding damages but really not the direct cause of the dock lines.

But on the other hand, if I was unable to control my sailboat after I stalled out and ran into a $250k boat, sure, there is a good chance you could cause $30k worth of damage... to someone else's boat.

[Blissopia]

A friend of mine got a line wrapped around the prop on his 29ft sail boat. It bent the prop shaft and tore the motor off it's mounts. It cost $9000 to fix all the related damage. The damage may have been amplified because the line was still attached to the dock.

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by LakeSuperiorGeezer

Someone I recently met said that a line accidently wrapped around the propeller could cause $30,000 damage to the engine. Is this an exaggeration? What kinds damage if any have you experienced?

Yes it's likely an exaggeration. I've yet to see a sailboat with a 30k engine.. A line around a prop CAN cause damage but often the damper plate minimized engine damage. Could bad damage occur to the engine? Sure but it is quite rare...

On boats with 30K engines they chew this stuff up and spit it out like a piece of spaghetti in a garbage disposal.. Used to run 50+ foot sport fishers and you'd never even feel it.... When enough line finally wrapped you'd notice a slight vibration and dive to clear it but the engines never missed a beat.. We even once hit some floating net and while it was a pain to clear it we never felt it..

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by Blissopia

A friend of mine got a line wrapped around the prop on his 29ft sail boat. It bent the prop shaft and tore the motor off it's mounts. It cost $9000 to fix all the related damage. The damage may have been amplified because the line was still attached to the dock.

I simply don't charge enough if there are people willing to pay 9K for some shafting and motor mount work...

[patrscoe]

He must of caught the line while motoring near a dock. I think most of the time, you catch a line while motoring out of your slip or in, those speeds would be slow and your attention to detail to resistance, speed, surroundings, etc... would be high. Any resistance would cause you to immediately stop to ensure you are not causing damage.

My situation above is more on a typical basis. i.e. docking. I think any boat, especially a powerboat cruising at 25 knots, hits a line of any type will cause a lot of damage.

[Barquito]

$30k would replace my whole boat multiple times over.

99% sailor.