Propeller Strikes! That’s an easy one! Over the course of the loop, we had four propeller strikes on submerged “stuff” (railroad tie, fishnet, log, something in a river we never saw) and one big event when we hit the rock in Canada and tore up both props. The rock strike was arguably avoidable, but the others we never saw until after the event. We met many other boaters who had had similar issues. Our advice is to keep your eyes open. If you travel with other boats (especially in the rivers), call out debris on the radio to help each other avoid them. Carry spare propellers. There is usually a place within a day’s limping cruise to get hauled out and swap your propellers. However, propeller repair shops can be quite a distance and can take days to complete the repair. Before we had our spare props, we were told we might have to wait 8 weeks to get a replacement prop!

The second Loop was a bit better. We only had to swap props once! Woo-Hoo!

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