This is my 2nd H27, and in the crab pot infested waters of the Chesapeake I've found myself guiltily dreaming of a Pacific Seacraft or Island Packet full keeled boat with an enclosed prop.
The H27 has a uniquely configured Rudder/Prop setup, where the two are so close together that crap pot buoys cannot clear the space when a line gets run over and pulled through. It seems to happen to me when I sail or power, so I had to think of something other than a new boat, since I love and enjoy her so much. I really expend a lot of attention and focus attempting to miss these crab pots, but I seem to fail on 70% of my trips. Same old thing- my speed inexplicably drops from 5.5kts to 2.6kts. Ugh, not again!
Here's what I devised- A steel line attached to the hull and the base of the rudder. It has enough slack to handle left/right excursion of the rudder, and was made fairly light to minimize drag and serve the function of allowing the crab pot lines to pass by the prop and rudder. The tension shouldn't be much more than is caused by the bouyancy of the crab pot float, hopefully. Some transom eyes and screws, some 3M 5200, some 1/16 SS wire rope, and some SS crimp lugs (had to find online). Total cost was about $40. I'm actually going to upsize the line to 5/32, bottom paint it, and install heat shrink over the crimps to reduce the snag factor.
I hope this alleviates someone else's frustrations.I had spent so much time unsnagging lines I was on the verge of giving up on these waters. That includes the less that fun trips over the side. Hope this helps someone.
The H27 has a uniquely configured Rudder/Prop setup, where the two are so close together that crap pot buoys cannot clear the space when a line gets run over and pulled through. It seems to happen to me when I sail or power, so I had to think of something other than a new boat, since I love and enjoy her so much. I really expend a lot of attention and focus attempting to miss these crab pots, but I seem to fail on 70% of my trips. Same old thing- my speed inexplicably drops from 5.5kts to 2.6kts. Ugh, not again!
Here's what I devised- A steel line attached to the hull and the base of the rudder. It has enough slack to handle left/right excursion of the rudder, and was made fairly light to minimize drag and serve the function of allowing the crab pot lines to pass by the prop and rudder. The tension shouldn't be much more than is caused by the bouyancy of the crab pot float, hopefully. Some transom eyes and screws, some 3M 5200, some 1/16 SS wire rope, and some SS crimp lugs (had to find online). Total cost was about $40. I'm actually going to upsize the line to 5/32, bottom paint it, and install heat shrink over the crimps to reduce the snag factor.
I hope this alleviates someone else's frustrations.I had spent so much time unsnagging lines I was on the verge of giving up on these waters. That includes the less that fun trips over the side. Hope this helps someone.
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