3 Reasons You Should Never Run Your Boat With a Bent Propeller
While a bent boat propeller may seem like something that can wait until your next haul out, running your boat with a bent propeller could result in major problems. Besides unwanted vibration and reduced performance, it could cause serious damage to other parts of your boat.
By taking the risk and running your boat with a bent or unbalanced propeller, you may be putting yourself in dangerous situations that could have been easily avoided. Here are a few things you should know about the risks of running a boat with a bent propeller.
3 Reasons You Should Never Run Your Boat with a Bent Propeller
1. Unwanted Vibration
Propellers are designed to be perfectly balanced. The smallest bend will throw the propeller out of balance, creating an unwanted vibration. The vibration will make the ride uncomfortable and the experience less enjoyable. Even if there are no visible bends on the propellers' blades, if your propellers have even slightly touched sand or mud, they could have been thrown out of balance.
Repairing and balancing your propellers allows you to enjoy your boat with a smooth ride and peace of mind.
2. Decreased Boat Performance
Aside from unwanted vibration and an uncomfortable ride, your boat will not perform as well when the propellers are out of balance. Your boat’s engines may fail to reach their ideal RPM, resulting in reduced performance. You may suddenly notice that certain aspects of the boat’s performance, such fuel efficiency and speed, are now negatively affected. In turn your fuel expenditure may go up with each trip.
3. Cause Serious Damage to Your Vessel
Having a bent propeller can cause damage to other parts of your boat, including the engine, drive shaft, cutlass bearing, and transmission. The cost of repair, on top of your propeller repair could be tens of thousands of dollars. If you can’t turn your engines up to full RPM, the motors could overload and burn up resulting in very costly repairs. The slightest vibration (even the ones you don’t feel) could wear out your boat’s cutlass bearings, crack your drive shafts, or result in loose propeller nuts and one or both propellers could fall off, even with a cotter pin, as they can be overpowered.
Propeller repair is relatively inexpensive compared to the other repair costs that can arise when the problem is not promptly addressed.
Palm Beach Underwater Services specializes in underwater propeller removal and installation on vessels up to 130 ft. Our divers are among the most experienced underwater propeller mechanics in South Florida.
Contact us for an underwater visual propeller inspection with photos and video. After diagnosing the issue, we can remove the propellers right there at your boat slip, transport them for repair, and reinstall them underwater with a fast turnaround. This includes scanning, reconditioning, speed balancing, and Propspeed application.
Let us help you avoid a costly haul out and expensive yard time.
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