removing fishing line from propeller shaft???

[sailors hornpipe]

i bought a 1992 180 nitro fish and ski with 1992 150hp johnson evinrude/ i have amechanic friend who comes over and is evaluating it for things to fix- it hasnt been in the water yet only had it 3 1/2 weeks / he took the after market prop lock off and said to throw it in the lake as it is a pain to deal with - i bought an original prop nut kit from a local dealer and am waiting for mech friend to install at his request- i am not mechanically disabled but do not know much about boats so to protect my investment and to keep from screwing anything up before i get it in the water im am letting him call the shots- any way with the prop lock and nut off -the ss propeller was just hanging on there and i pulled it off to bring in the house to prevent theft- when i did this i noticed alot of old fishing line tangled around the propeller shaft - i read somewhere in this forum that as maintenance you should remove this old fishing line - so i did -pulled it out slowly and carefully with needle nose pliers - just got off the phone with mechanic friend and told him about removing the old line - he was kind of agitated that i had done so- he said that i should have left it alone because sometimes the line could become entangled in the seals and now that it is removed- he will never know if it was in the seals and that could be a problem later on - any comments or advice on this subject by you old salts? i thought i was doing some good but now am worried!

 

[lncoop]

Re: removing fishing line from propeller shaft???

His concern was probably that the line could have cut the prop shaft seal, which is a fairly common problem. However, since it's a new to you rig you'll probably want to have the lower unit serviced and pressure tested any way. If there are any seal issues they'll be discovered then. Don't sweat it.

 

[Fireman431]

Re: removing fishing line from propeller shaft???

As long as the mechanic was working on it, have him replace the prop shaft seal anyway. I would get mine done annually just because it was part of the maintenance. I would assume he is replacing the raw water impeller, filter(s), and a tune up as well?