Wing Dam Carnage

[harringtondav]

Heading to the metal buyer today. These have been sitting under my workbench since 2008. We boat on the upper Mississippi river with its many wing dams. This one prop eater extends to the channel with a 30' gap close to the bank. The gap is on a shortcut, but this day I was disoriented in the wind chop. Wham!
I've kept the lower case since I have an aluminum welder and thought I could repair it and get by in a pinch if I piled up again. ....I've moved to VP, so it's now officially junk.

 

[JASinIL2006]

I’ve clipped a wing dam on pool 19. Same thing as you, wind and current caused me to lose track of where I was. Luckily, I only bent my prop a bit.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Ouch....... I havnt hit a wing dam, however have found the only rock in Sand Bay WI....... similar results.

 

[harringtondav]

I’ve clipped a wing dam on pool 19. Same thing as you, wind and current caused me to lose track of where I was. Luckily, I only bent my prop a bit.

The bullet nose had a dent that leaked the lube. ...prop shaft was bent.
A few years after this I hit a large submerged log in deep water. Another bent prop shaft. So now I mostly use aluminum props. They tend to sacrifice themselves and keep the prop shaft straight.

 

[airshot]

The bullet nose had a dent that leaked the lube. ...prop shaft was bent.
A few years after this I hit a large submerged log in deep water. Another bent prop shaft. So now I mostly use aluminum props. They tend to sacrifice themselves and keep the prop shaft straight.

Yep...whenever tou add strength in one area, the next weakest area will surely fail. I just stick with aluminum props and live with them, never had a damaged LU but many props have sacrificed themselves !!! Much cheaper/ easier repair !!