I am considering a Maxiprop (and yes, they are expensive... I can buy a set of sails for nearly the same price).

I contacted them a while back and got a quote for my boat. I was originally considering that prop to improve my backing ability and reduce prop walk... which on my boat is tremendous. I actually tend to leave the slip or fuel dock or where ever by hand, pushing the boat out, and jumping on at the next to last minute. If I get up a bit of movement, then I can use the tiller to control the backing and apply a touch of motor to keep it going.

If I try to back out using the motor without getting that water flow past the rudder first, the boat just spins hard to port... which is fine, if I ever need to spin to port backwards, from a dead stop.

Backing down any distance requires that I do it in bursts and depend on momentum.

I may not get the Maxiprop, but I still want the shaft brake so I don't wear down my Yanmar transmission... which I figure is probably somewhere near a price of a Maxiprop... no doubt. GRIN