Prop / rudder guard

There have been "a few" broken props and rudders due to submerged stuff in lakes and rivers so i thought i'd share this sollution with you.
It's a Norwegian boat manufacturer, Fjord, and i'd like to see wakeboat manufacturers attempt a practical security feature like this..
No idea if it'd inflict on the wake or boat performance tho..

Just thought i'd share

That would put a hurt on the prop guys cash flow. I'd put one on my boat if they were available

so this way when you hit something it cracks the gel and possibly the glass on the hull.......

i'd guess with a proper bar like this you'd slide over most stuff that otherwise would hit your prop/rudder head on..
Would depend on how well it was constructed around the forward point of attachment. Would have to be seriously strengthened that's for sure. I've seen boats run up on dry land with these guards and the only thing being damaged was the guard itself.

i'm all for it

So the prop repair guy might loss out but the rudder, fibergalss and prop guard repair guys would take up the slack.

If it aint broke dont fix it

I def. see how it could have advantages and disadvantages. It would help with logs and floating objects. If you really think about it, when you hit something you are moving slowly and just barely nick a rock but that is all it takes. Something like this would prevent 90% of prop damage IMO. If it had a designed weakness to it so that it brok away PRIOR to serious damage to the gelcoat it would work great.

The tracking fins actually do a good job of knocking stuff down. I hit a rail road tie on my old nautique and it bent the front fin up like a J and it knocked it clear of the prop. I got lucky with no gelcoat damage and it only cost me $65. I have also heard small debre hit the fins and clear the prop.

I am looking at getting an X2 and I don't like that they don't have tracking fins.

hey kev, can you beach it with tracking fins?

A hard impact here will bend the guard damage the prop damage the fiberglass and bend the rudder shaft. Plus the prop would not be able to turn so you could not even limp to shore.

Sure why not the fins are in the middle of the boat. I am not a big fan of beaching any boat but I have done it with boats that had fins

A hard enough impact to bent the protector would have damaged everything you just listed anyway. But think about all of the non severe impacts where you just barley hit but it still destroyed your prop.

Sorry I disagree I have seen rudders bent or even snapped off and nothing else damaged I have also seen the prop trashed and the rudder without a mark.
I would also think that the water would be disturbed in front of the prop and rudder causing cavitation.

I just see much more of a down side

IMHO

You guys can argue about anything. There are pros and cons to everything. Everyone has different conditions. For me this would kick ass! Everytime we had damage to the prop was from idle speed and hit a rock or something small around the canal or base area of a slider. For those of you running over downed trees I am sure you have other things that would work better.

IF you think it is bad now wait a couple months

? huh what happens a couple months? Mid life crisis appointment?

Way to late for that

What usually happens the colder it gets there is less boarding going on. This leads to more posting, this leads to more arguing.

Of course we could argue about that if you want

(Message edited by krbaugh on October 06, 2007)

lol, I would not call it arguing persay. Simple debating and I am a master debator