If you have damaged your aluminum propeller by hitting some kind of submerged object you should not run your boat much at with that propeller because a damaged boat prop is not balanced and true any more and can cause undo wear on the drive systems seals and bearings. You can get it repaired if it not in too bad of shape at a cost of a little less than a new prop in most cases. Propeller repair shops can be found in your local yellow pages or on-line if they have a walk in business or you can send your propeller in to them from boat dealers, boating supply shops and boat repair shops.
The first thing a propeller repair shop does to your prop when they get it is to sand blast off all the old paint and crusty buildup so they can start to work on it. Once they have sand blasted the boat prop down to bare aluminum they read the part number and or the size stamped on the propeller so they know what the pitch size should be. Then they put it in a pitchometer to determine how far off the damaged blades are from a new prop is pitch wise.
The boat propeller is then taken over to a bench where the blades are set on top of a pitch block which is a block of metal the has the exact blade configuration the propeller should have stamped in the block. The repair person then uses various types of hammers to actually bang the propeller up against the pitch block to until it is back to it’s original blade shape. This is done to all the blades one at a time.
The boat propeller is then put back into the pitchometer and measured for accuracy. If it is off a little the pitch block is used again and then re-measured until it is right.
When the propeller is back to it’s original shape, the edges might be missing aluminum and in need of new metal to be welded on to the blades. New aluminum is then welded on to the blades and then grinded down to the correct shape.
The boat prop is then tested for balance. Metal is ground off the back side of the heavier blade or blades until all blades are all uniform. The blade edges are then grinded to make a clean edge with no burring on them. The repair is now done and the boat propeller is then painted and ready for use again.
When all else fails we at Dan’s Discount Boat Propellers have all the best boat prop brands, give us a call – I know we can help you get a new boat propeller that might outperform a repaired prop.
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