If you own a boat with an outboard motor or sterndrive and hit something underwater with your lower unit and boat props a wide range of damage can occur. It also depends on what the propeller is made out of as to how much damage you have.
Boat props made of a composite material should not cause any damage the lower unit or prop shaft. They have solid hubs that break away from the shaft and go sink to the bottom or the blades will fray or break away saving you from lower unit damage. Composite propellers are not repairable.
Aluminum boat props even though they are a harder material than the composites, they also should not cause any other damage to your drive system if you hit something. The blades on the aluminum props will give way and the hubs might spin but the propeller will stay on the prop shaft. Aluminum propellers are repairable, they can be welded on and reshaped to original size and the hubs can be replaced.
With Stainless steel propellers you need to be more careful. You might possibly damage your lower unit and propeller shaft if you hit something because stainless steel boat propellers are about five to seven times stronger than aluminum boat props so there is very little give to them. The most common damage you might have is a bent propeller shaft. That could be expensive to fix. The hubs in these props should spin on impact and save you from a major repair but not every the time. They can be welded on and repaired and the hub can be replaced.
The good news is there is an easy way to avoid any damage at all. Just don’t hit anything. If you need to replace your boat prop please check out the low priced boat propellers on our website or call us at 1-800-573-5533
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