Last September while on holiday in Queensland I faced the problem of a broken prop on my Minn Kota. It accidently hit the bottom of the boat and sheared off one blade, leaving the motor useless.

Upon my return I investigated my options, preferring not to use another Minn Kota prop as they appeared to be too brittle and I didn't want a repeat of my holiday experience. Another reason to look around was the fact that the fine pitch on the prop didn't give me much maneuverability in windy conditions. I would have to use at least speed setting 3 on the motor (a 40lb transom mount Endura) before the boat would begin to move.

Finally I spoke to Peter at Kipawa Propellers in Queensland (you may have seen them advertised in fishing magazines recently), and he sent me one of his props to try out.

The Kipawa propeller is a 3 blade design and is made out of a different plastic to the Minn Kotas. Pete assured me that it was tougher than the Minn Kotas and that there were no reported breakages. It certainly looked and felt stronger. Also, the prop had a coarser pitch which meant more thrust.

Kipawa claim their prop improves navigability, increases speed and increases the distance travelled per battery charge.

The prop was easy to fit to my Minn Kota, with a new pin, washer and nyloc nut supplied and no additional hardware required.

On the water the prop performed very well. At the lowest speed on my motor the boat started moving straight away and at the highest setting we were hurtling along. In windy conditions the lowest speed was enough to start the boat moving and we were able to maneuver a lot better with such instant thrust.

I have yet to test the weedless capabilities of the prop, but I don't believe any prop can be truly weedless, having fouled up my Minn Kota prop on several occasions.

One thing stands in the way of this being a great propeller - the price ($135) - twice the price of the Minn Kotas. But if you are concerned about breaking props or require more thrust to move a larger boat then this outweighs the cost.

One problem for removeable transom-mount electrics is the fact that you can't just lay the motor down when you take it off the boat as the motor will sit on the blades and possibly distort them. I had to build a cradle (easily done out of a couple of pieces of wood) to sit the motor in so that the blades aren't touching anything. Of course if you don't store your motor lying down, or have a permanently mounted electric then this wouldn't be an issue.

All in all I'm glad I purchased the Kipawa. I have more thrust, my boat now responds a lot better and I believe I will find it more durable than a Minn Kota prop.

Kipawa propellers can be found on the web here.