On a recent night sailing trip, we were happily going along at 5 kts
when suddenly, she slowed down a lot for a few seconds and then
suddenly jumped forward and we heard a loud pop from below and the
tiller swung sideways. Based on what we had seen in the daylight, we
think we probably hit a crabtrap line.
Normally hitting a trap float head on they simply slide past and they
stay away from the prop but in this case I think the line caught on my
large exposed rudder and we dragged the whole thing until it slid off
the sloping rudder that has some barnacles on its leading edge. The
barnacles may have sliced the line.
I propose to install a seratted line cutter made from Beryllium -
Copper on the leading edge of rudders. I'd use this material because
the copper would keep growth off and the use of the Beryllium copper
would insure it kept a good edge (it is much harder than copper and is
often used to make non-ferrous springs).
How often is snagging such line a problem for other sailors?