T&T: Spurs

[Milt Baker]

I've been using Spurs on two Grand Banks trawlers and a Nordhavn 47 for about 20 years and have found that they do the job.  Even though we spend most summers cruising Down East Maine in lobster pot country and have found it's impossible to avoid every one of the tens of thousands of lobster pots we cruise by, we've never had a pot warp wrapped around a propeller or shaft while underway--without exception, every one that's found it's way to the propeller shaft--typically two three each summer--has been neatly snipped.  

True, Spurs are expensive and require annual parts (zincs, "bearings", and silencers) and maintenance, and if not maintained properly they can become noisy with a cadence that'll drive you crazy (especially trying to sleep in an after cabin over the props), but personally I would not want to be without them.  YMMV.

--Milt Baker, Nordhavn 47 Bluewater, Southwest Harbor, ME


Warren wrote:

Someone asked Phil Eslinger if he had spurs on Flat Earth, but if he  
responded, I must have missed it. Gary's negative evidence for spurs  
is compelling. Have spurs worked well for other listees? Are there  
drawbacks to installing them?