Hi All

Couple of days ago, returning to the jetty in the semi-dark, 4 aboard,
full throttle, I passed through several large patches of seaweed (not
deliberately!). The first few didn't cause a problem, but I hit one
patch and the engine suddenly screamed its head off as if it had no
prop attached. Throttled back quickly, all seemed OK, so set off
again. Same thing happened a couple of minutes later, so I limped
home very carefully. Cleared a bit of weed from the outboard leg on
return, but otherwise no damage evident. Tested it the next day, and
she will pull her usual speed at full throttle, so no permanent harm
done, but I'd still like to know why.

Can the rubber bush on the prop slip to prevent damage but return to
full "grip" when the problem ends? I thought once it had done it's
job of protecting the gearbox it was finished.

Could it have been ventilation caused by the weed drawing air into the
prop area?

Happened to anyone else? Any thoughts welcome.

25hp long-shaft Johnson, approx 10 yrs old on semi-planing Ryds 17ft
dayboat.

Thanks

Ixion