Prop Shaft Line Cutters: Yes or No?

[Trim50]

Absolutely...especially if you are sailing in Mexico or Thailand. Both places we heard our spurs chop through major lines and nets. I wouldn't cruise without them.

[Sandero]

In the warm clear waters of the Caribbean with not many of the Maine type lobster traps... I wouldn't spend money on this...

[Scaramanga F25]

Here is what can happen, particularly in Florida's West Coast or in the
Bahamas.

Should you snag a polypropylene pot line, it can get hot and melt itself around
the shaft at the strut and then you cannot cut it away.

[wrwakefield]

On a different sailboat (Valiant Esprit 37) in the 80's I once wrapped an unseen line with a hard plastic float [not foam...] with my diesel powered high speed underwater winch.

I didn't have a line cutter on that vessel, and didn't know anything was wrong until I heard the small, hard plastic float banging against the hull. By then it was too late: I had to dive in 45F water to cut it off. I discovered the hard float had wedged between the hull and 2 bladed 18" prop- bending one blade about 40° rendering the prop unusable. [Of course I didn't have my spare prop on board...]

It took me 2 weeks to make port in light to non-existent winds. [I only had 5 gallons of gas left for the dinghy outboard so I saved that for tight maneuvering situations once near port...]

Ever since then I have had good quality line cutters on my prop shafts.

If you do install a line cutter, please remind yourselves it is there when you and anyone else go swimming around your boat- especially anyone you ask to dive on your hull to replace zincs, etc...

I sailed 10s of thousands of miles without a line cutter before that incident...

Cheers!

Bill

[Capt Phil]

Ever wrapped your prop?
'Nuff said... Use your head!

[deblen]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JImiuemabIY

Get one of these pole mounted knives too

http://www.sailorssolutions.com/inde...ails&Item=CH01

[nitpik]

I have a very long, full keel (41' schooner), with a short shaft and prop in a well-protected opening about a foot above the bottom of the keel. After only one trip down the ICW, across the Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico, then to the Bahamas and finally up to New England, I will NOT take any major trip again without installing a good line-cutter!
So, no offence intended, but your wife is very wrong on this one.
IMHO, GET a LINE-CUTTER!

( sorry, I don't yet have any valid opinion on which one to get - maybe you can direct me after you get yours! - please report back)

[jreiter190]

Tell your wife that, unless she agrees to install the spurs, SHE gets to dive on the shaft if it gets snarled. Buy the expensive ones.no offense intended

[deblen]

Floating balls of rope,netting & plastic tarps are not uncommon everywhere,as well as fixed fishing gear.
When you wrap a mess of this around your prop,it commonly stalls the engine-sometimes from cruising RPM to zero almost instantly.
Tore my engine mounts apart.
Can also snap a shaft,coupling,drivesaver,etc-whatever is the weakest link.

Not worth the risk IMHO

[deblen]

Panbo: The Marine Electronics Hub: Shaft Razor long test, with a look at the competition

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by MapleSugarMan

My wife and I plan on cruising in the Caribbean this fall, and we are debating: Are prop shaftline cutters a good safety investment or a waste of money?

I've seen a new model that combines a zinc anode with a cutter blade for about $50--about double what a regular zinc anode would cost and way, way less than Spurs or some other brands of cutters. I think we need the cutter; my wife thinks we don't.

Please help us decide. Let us know what you think.

Thanks!

If your plans take anyplace in the southern Keys close inshore buy one.

[SVJennie]

I concur with Barnakiel with regards to keel/prop shaft location. There is also another angle, do you want the line that the device cuts to be part of your running rigging that got washed overboard?
My boat has a full keel with a prop aperture. Although I have owned and randomly used a Spurs cutter, I am hesitant to install it again. I have a low horsepower engine and my prop shaft is not directly connected to the transmission, i.e., goes thru a CV joint and a thrust bearing. Accordingly, if and when my prop gets fowled, the engine stops right now, thus making it easier to remove any caught line. That being said, after some weather the tail of the Genoa sheet went overboard, and when I started the engine to inspect an unknown anchorage, the engine cut out. Ultimately, the anchorage was untenable, and a couple of days later during better conditions, I went for a swim and removed the undamaged Genoa sheet.

[Kayoko Monk 33]

25 yrs ago while traveling the ICW in 46ft sailboat, Ocean City Maryland my prop picked up an old anchor line, anchor apparently still attached to one end while the other threaded itself perfectly around the prop shaft and jacking it out of the flange past the set screws, they had been drill pointed. It felt as if the boat had found nuetral??? until I did a 180 spin at light speed then stopped dead, stern to the current, steering jerked hard over and I was kiting back and forth??? I stabilized rudder, I used a large home made "treble hook" to snag the line, hand winched it onboard managed to cleat it to a stern cleat. Odd thing was it was only by chance that I had placed a spare hose clamp on the 1" prop shaft a month earlier on a lark, I had it in my hand, I had a screwdriver, why not. I was effectively anchored in the current by my prop shaft and the hose clamp held until the CG sent an engineer, (I am an engineer I had asked for a tow), then CG called for a commercial diver.Took me a minute to figure it all out, until I saw the flange turning, shaft was still and the hose clamp hard against stuffing box. 180 degree spin was the clue. It was all underwater so no visual clues. One minute hauling against 5 knot current, next whew, hold on?? CG called for a diver who side tied. The diver was powerfully drunk and CG had no idea of his condition, I would NOT allow diver to dive in current, he wanted to, I feared he would drown in current. I had to wait to cut line as both ends went straight down under the boat to prop area until I felt diver was in gear and ready, my gal was in the bilges area with a tapered wooden bung and insructions. I wished I had a line cutter that day. $200.00 for diver.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by SVJennie

................That being said, after some weather the tail of the Genoa sheet went overboard, ..........

In previous discussions about this issue, this comes up time & time again.

In most cases, I have read where other posters have asked: "Unless the sheet came loose from the clew of the sail and/or the jib fairleads, how can this happen?"

I keep both of our sheets around the winches at all times, and neither of mine could possibly reach the prop even if I deliberately tossed them overboard.

Could you help explain?

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

In previous discussions about this issue, this comes up time & time again.

In most cases, I have read where other posters have asked: "Unless the sheet came loose from the clew of the sail and/or the jib fairleads, how can this happen?"

I keep both of our sheets around the winches at all times, and neither of mine could possibly reach the prop even if I deliberately tossed them overboard.

Could you help explain?

You asked my question.