Dumb mistake - Broken Minn Kota Prop Blade

[Hweebe]

So dumb mistake on the weekend with the new Minn Kota bow mount it does overhang the front of the boat quite a bit but is still 30-50cm higher than the pontoon.

As a creature of habbit I was busy lining up the pontoon on the port side - everything going as per usual.

What I didn't account for / factor was that the pylons holding the pontoon extend straight up.

As I docked the boat it drifted forward ever so slightly and the front of the minn kota prop blade clipped the pylon and snap - 3 blade prop converted to 2 blade.

Needless to say i'll be docking the pontoons from the opposite side (starboard) to avoid this from happening again.

[Old Scaley]

That’s not good @Hweebe. Do you know if the are spare props in stock locally? Seems like a lot of things boating are hard to find atm.

[Kat]

I think Brian needs to be careful with that too!

[Angry51]

Just check you haven't bent the shaft, if it had 

enough to break a blade off you could have bent the shaft.

[Hweebe]

2 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

That’s not good @Hweebe. Do you know if the are spare props in stock locally? Seems like a lot of things boating are hard to find atm.

Pricing in Australia for a replacement prop was $140-$150 but stock seems ok.

I ended up ordering from from https://www.tradeinn.com/waveinn/en at just on $80 (including shipping) approx 2 weeks.

[Hweebe]

1 hour ago, Angry51 said:

Just check you haven't bent the shaft, if it had 

enough to break a blade off you could have bent the shaft.

My gut feel is that the prop shaft should be ok (fingers crossed) it was really a slow drift and better the prop blade break off and not the shaft getting bent.

From what i could see there was minimal to no flew in the prop blade (makes sense) and as soon as the bump happened, the blade snapped like brittle plastic. I'd say if I'm an engineer this is how i would design it and sacrifice the prop to protect the shaft.

 

[Angry51]

No worries, it just crossed my mind.