Prop problems in The North Channel Ontario Ca

[Kjh]

A few days ago The Puddle Duck ,a Ranger 29 , clipped a rock in the North Channel Ontario and suffered a badly damaged Prop .
Herein lies two valuable lessons .First we were very lucky to have subscribed to C-Tow ( www.C-Tow.ca ) which is a Canadian organization similar to BoatUS in that it provides emergency towing services . Our incident occurred on a Sunday in a rather remote area and thanks to C-Tow and their local representative Fogal's of Manitoulin we were soon rescued and secured in Gore Bay Town Marina . With the help of Lefroy Harbour Resorts in Lake Simcoe our Ranger Dealer and Norm Fogal we were able to get a new prop delivered and installed in two and a half business days .
Second lesson - when you have a Ranger Tug with a clam shell raw water intake under tow be sure to shut the engine cooling sea cock .Water can be forced through the intake and without water and exhaust pressure in the system can find it's way into the cylinders .On docking the first thing Norm Fogal did was to check the engine for water and pulled the drain plugs before starting it.Good thing he did !
Yes there are rocks in The North Channel but the boating is well worth the risk !

 

[baz]

Thanks... That's a good tip about closing the raw water through hull valve when being towed. Thanks again for sharing that snippet. Take care. 🙂

 

[Spacetrucker]

Time to make a good ck list for towing, stoping, and anything else that comes up.we do a 10 point ck, in an, pm, night and towing, then ck for closing down the boat. But at night we rally ck all be for bed. Some time water can com in on the intake side, we turn them off to. Color marked on all helm wheel. And fuse panel to. Hope you look at the bearings on the in and out for no leaks or out of ailment shaft? Please ck them soon, very important to ck after prop replace hitting rock or any outher things. Fly high and fun

 

[knotflying]

I am surprised that the water pressure would be strong enough to get passed an impeller that is not turning.

 

[trailertrawlerkismet]

It was good to see and Jean in the North Channel. I sure hope the prop problem doesn't keep you from coming back to the North Channel again. Thanks for sharing the tip on closing the engine thru hull while under tow. Mike makes a good point to ponder....for our R27 we have a generator and while we cruise it is hardly ever running, I never close the thru hull and I've never been concerned about water getting into the engine. I would guess it is because it does not have a clam shell fitting to scoop up water but simply a round hole to suck water up into. Maybe the clam shell provides way to much force? Any more thoughts on this?

Jim

 

[Irish Mist]

Jim
I think it has to do with the size of engine vs amount of cooling needed while going at high speeds in the tug . The shape of the pickup assists the impeller move more water.. The generator not so much.