[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by THEFERMANATOR

Coming from somebody who grew up boating around nothing but rocks, oysters, and tree stumps, you will NEVER see a stainless prop on my boat if I'm boating anywhere NEAR those areas. As my dad told me, aluminum props are cheaper than prop shafts, and it's not hard to change a prop and be back under way. Yeah that stainless prop may survive the hit, but how about your prop shaft? I personally would much rather tear up a $100 prop than an expensive prop shaft AND prop. That said, I've found MICHIGAN WHEEL to have some TOUGH aluminum props that can take some serious abuse, and many times they will just bend instead of breaking. Hammer it out when you get home, and you've got a great spare prop. Yes, I have a $500 powertech scd4 stainless prop for my skiff, but it stays under the bow when I'm flats fishing, and my $90 4 blade solas prop is bolted on for rock duty.

Maybe, but around here we don't have the flats like you guys do. About the closest we come is the shoaling that occurs in Barnegat Bay all the time and for the most part it's all sand with an occasional shell tossed into the mix for good measure. Honestly in the Hackensack River I've hit quite a few submerged logs and pilings and by all accounts my prop shaft is still fine. Of course I'm usually going comparatively slow...(10mph or so) so maybe that has something to do with it. But that being said, I totally agree that an alum prop is much cheaper to replace than a SS and if you're boating in areas where there's lots of rocks then it just makes good (economical) sense to use an aluminum prop.