"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:17:49 -0700 (PDT), "Robert M. Gary"
wrote:

I was at West Marine today and picked up a Quicksilver prop (it turns
out mine cannot be fixed). The guy at the counter told me that
Quicksilver is the OEM line of props for Merc. It looks very similar
to the original prop except it does say QuickSilver on the side (the
original does not). I decided to stay with the Aluminum prop figuring
that hitting a steal prop could case a lot of damage. I"m thinking the
soft Al prop took most of the impact.
I'm hoping it fits. I didn't buy the hub kit because it looks the same
as the original so I'll try to save $40 and reuse the original.

Unless you spun the hub, which is highly unlikely based on your
descripton of what happened, that prop is repairable - no aluminum
prop is unrepairable. I've had props that were worse than that after
getting up close and personal with Hackett's Reef and they were
repaired and back in use in a week.

You need to find a prop shop, or a marina who can send it out for
repair. If you talked to West Marine, you were likely talking to
summer help who may or may not have sufficient experience to even know
if the prop can be fixed or not.

A spun hub can be fixed. It's just not worth fixing a prop that needs both
the hub and a lot of welding. He should be able to get a marina to send it
out for repair. If it can't be fixed he shouldn't be charged.