CSY, Propeller Protection via Cable

Years ago, I passed this information along to Dave Covert to use on the original CSY site. I understand several others have come up with a variation of this as well as other solutions, but I thought the concept valid enough to re post it here. Fish or Crab Traps lines can ruin your day...or night, by getting caught on your prop while you are sailing, or worse yet, motoring along. This is a project that helps reduce the number of occurrences drastically.

The Forward End: Two 1 1/2"x3/8" SS straps bent slightly for alignment after the keel to accept turnbuckle. While I used stainless steel for straps and bolts, bronze would be an excellent alternative. Several bolts were run thru keel to create sandwich and bedded in 3M's 5200. After end is drilled to accept a bolt for connection to the turnbuckle. Straightforward construction (simple/cheap) at any local machine shop.

Skeg End: slightly more involved, but with a tape measure and a stool to sit on, the concept evolved. The idea was to create a Horizontal attachment point for the Aft end of the Cable coming from the Aft lower end of the Keel. The plate/attachment point was also to extend back under the Rudder to protect the rudder itself, from catching an anchor line or fish/crab trap. (You might note the RED between the skeg and rudder. What you are seeing is the a 5" wide fiberglass cover that screws into both side of the aft end of the skeg and covers the Gap between the rudder and skeg. It improves the flow of water creating less drag.)The metal assembly (black)has to be mounted to the skeg somehow and I chose to attach it to the aft end of the skeg by having it welded up as shown, including the reinforcing gussets. This attachment could have been bored through the sides of the skeg near the bottom with some kind of strap extending around the backside of the lower skeg for the support. Anything that works is OK.

The ideas is just to firmly attach a cable (I used 1/4" SS 1x19, 316 grade rigging wire with a STAYLOC fitting on the aft end and a turnbuckle on the front end. I also protected the cable somewhat by covering it with flexible gray PVC. the cover for the turnbuckle was made of various plumbing components of PVS, found at the local Home Depot outlet with the idea of covering the turnbuckle with a housing that was able to be painted with anti-fouling paint as well as opened for disassembly or adjustment of the turnbuckle.)"