prop comes out of water of rough days

[David B.]

Hey everybody, I got a new question. my trolling motor has a 54" shaft on my 18' seapro. on rough days the prop will come out of the water, it doesn't happen often, it has to be pretty rough out and still doesn't really stop me from using it. so my question is, If I buy a new TM should I go with a 60" shaft, it would take bending bow rails and stuff to get it to fit in the boat, I would think there may be a good chance it would still come out of the water (only 6 more inches). What do you all think? I hate even asking questions like this but when you spend 1400 on a TM you want to make sure you make the right choice. thanks

 

[Teamster]

Re: prop comes out of water of rough days

I think I would get the 60 inch shaft,..

And lose the bow rails if I needed too,...................

 

[Teamster]

Re: prop comes out of water of rough days

I think I would get the 60 inch shaft,..

And lose the bow rails if I needed too,...................

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: prop comes out of water of rough days

the 54 is dropped all the way down (some have a adjustment bracket to shorten the trolling motor).

 

[bassman284]

Re: prop comes out of water of rough days

Well, different ways of looking at it. I'm going to assume you already have it dropped as low as you can. (If not, say so.)

Since it only comes out of the water under extreme conditions, I would be very reluctant to alter my boat significantly for the longer shaft. And you need to be sure that the additional 6 inches will actually be enough to prevent this from happening.

For example, I have a 54" shaft on mine and could drop it another 6 or 7 inches. I generally don't go out on days windy enough to bring the TM out of the water, but I have, and I'm not entirely sure that extra 6 or 7 inches would have prevented it altogether. You just have to decide how much this is inconveniencing you compared to the inconvenience of altering your boat.

 

[David B.]

Re: prop comes out of water of rough days

yeah I think I may just stick with a 54", I wish there was some way I could test a 60" out, but I may end up regretting buying one, I had my old 54" for 8 years so I suppose the prop coming out of the water at times doesn't harm it in any way. thanks everyone!