River grass

[proudmary]

Anybody have any good ideas on how to keep river grass from wrapping around your prop and slowing you down. Spent some time on the river last evening and was stopping every 30 minutes to pull all the grass off the prop. Maybe if I had been running WOT the prop would have cut off the majority, but the wife and I were just out for a slow dinner cruise and the grass became the main course! Is there any sort of guard or deflector to mount around the prop? The grass becomes a real problem this time of year. Its been growing all summer and is now protruding above the water in places.

 

[Dragboatdad]

Re: River grass

I guess you could try putting it in reverse once in awhile. I don't know of a permanent solution.

 

[WaterDR]

Re: River grass

You just need to stay out of it. Trimming the motor up high might help if you are going slow.

 

[MinUph]

Re: River grass

We run into this quite often this year. Putting it in reverse is the only thing I know to clear it. No need to manually clean off the prop, let it do it for you. If you find a guard let us know.

 

[steelespike]

Re: River grass

There are props regarded as semi weedless And a ss prop might cut through some.
Watch motor temp ; weeds can mess up cooling.

 

[5150abf]

Re: River grass

The weeds are horrible this year, they say it is because of the higher than normal temps, lack of rain and our friend the Zebra Mussel, they filter the water so it is clearer and allows more sunlight deeper helping to create a bumper crop of weeds.

The only thing you can do is stay out of them, any kind of gaurd woudl disturb the water and cause cavitation or collect weeds itself.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: River grass

Not a whole lot you can do other than try to avoid it, trim up the motor, or use the old REV trick. Although, they do make "chopper" props that are designed to cut through weeds and the like, but I'm not sure of the price, or if they would work on a pontoon. Of course you could always get a couple of these guys like we use down here to help keep things clear.