Simple prop guard for skeg-hung rudder?
 

We're up on the hard preparing for the summer season, and just saw a
cruising boat with a lightweight steel cable connecting the aft bottom
corner of her keel to the forward bottom corner of her skeg (on which
the rudder is hung). This is clearly to prevent lines from lobster
pots or nets from sliding up behind the keel and fouling on the prop.
It seems like a great idea, but if it's good and so easy, why doesn't
everybody have it?

In short, what am I missing here?

I would think that the cable would be one more thing the float line could
get wrapped around, but maybe snagging the cable twice is better than
snagging the prop once.

"Akka" wrote in message
ups.com...
We're up on the hard preparing for the summer season, and just saw a
cruising boat with a lightweight steel cable connecting the aft bottom
corner of her keel to the forward bottom corner of her skeg (on which
the rudder is hung). This is clearly to prevent lines from lobster
pots or nets from sliding up behind the keel and fouling on the prop.
It seems like a great idea, but if it's good and so easy, why doesn't
everybody have it?

In short, what am I missing here?

The problem with that system is hauling the boat. Most Travel lifts would
want to carry the hull strap somewhere between the skeg and the keel, thus a
diver has to go below to disconnect the cable.
I solved this problem on my Nic 35 by using a line (thin stayset X) instead.
Before I haul, I clip the line from the dock using a limb cutter.
BTW, the line works great. I single hand a lot in LIS Block Island Sound and
the rest of New England where lobster pots abound. I have hear the line
singing like a violin bow as we ride over the lobster line.



--
Dennis Gibbons
dkgibbons at optonline dot net
CB 35-207
Dark Lady

"Akka" wrote in message
ups.com...
We're up on the hard preparing for the summer season, and just saw a
cruising boat with a lightweight steel cable connecting the aft bottom
corner of her keel to the forward bottom corner of her skeg (on which
the rudder is hung). This is clearly to prevent lines from lobster
pots or nets from sliding up behind the keel and fouling on the prop.
It seems like a great idea, but if it's good and so easy, why doesn't
everybody have it?

In short, what am I missing here?