Rudder line in the prop

[RRice]

I would like some help if anyone can assist. I had the boat in reverse and caught the rudder line with the prop. The motor stopped imediatly. I cut the line and was able to restart the motor, a Yamaha 60hp. Fortunately I was within 200 yards of my slip, so I returned the boat there. I was able to use both forward and reverse. I was wondering if anyone had experianced this and if there was anything I can exoect as far as damage to motor or boat. I appreciate any help. Thank you.

[waternwaves]

At a low RPM, direct injection outboards, (most new outboards) will not fire more than one cylinder after the shaft stopping. The crank position sensor precludes subsequent hammering. Add thre is a little bit of give(slip) with a rope wound round the blade or wrapped between hub and lower unit.

I have fouled the prop at idle on my Nissan 50 several times ( in shallow water weeds, kelp, and even once in a chunk of semi submerged fishing net that was unseen) So my gut belief would be: at low rpm, it is survivable, no subsequent oil leaks, nor detectable change in prop operation, and the hub when pulled showed no excessive sign of shear on the mount.

But I would would worry at anything over 1500 RPM. I cant find a diagram of the Yamaha , and you did not identify if you have a 2 smoke or a 4 poke outboard....

The 2 smoke valving has no interference with the piston anyway, and I somehow doubt the 4 poke has interference valving, since, if I recall none of their larger engines had interference valve timing.


Good luck

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[RRice]

Thank you for your response. This is the tone we are hearing. More info-- We have a four stroke 60 hp Yamaha. It's the first day back in the water (our boat slip) since all of our Florida hurricanes. The engine totally cut out when the rudder rope wrapped around the prop to lower unit connect area-while the engine was in reverse. The shifting is making a hard sound after- the- fact, however, we were not running a high rpm what so ever at the time it happened. No oil residue was detected. When we cut the rope away and were able to get the boat back to our slip it had not run for more than 3-4 minutes. Would you trust it to go out and leave the slip again?
Thanks for your help--'RIsland' Neptune Beach Florida.

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

So how did the rope get in the prop in the first place? Even with my rudder ropes un-cleated they do not reach the prop at any point. Perhaps your's are too long. The continuous loop effect uses up a lot of slack.

[Sloop John B]

If the line is dropped altogether it's almost sure to foul the prop.

I 'inserted' a bungee cord on the down pull portion, to help getting over stuff I banged into, without shortening the line.

This extra 'slack' allowed the rudder line to grab a blade, stop the motor, and lock my helm hard to port.

The rudder line is either pulling the rudder down or hoisting it into the air. The portion not being used has to be brought in and looped around the cleat.

[Dan B]

I gave up on the continuous loop.

For the pull-up line: I added a large shackle and block. Pulls up real easy now.

For the hold-down line: Separate line - all bungee.

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

Neither of mine has enough slack to reach the prop even when left loose in either position.