Hey Tom,

... running a taut length of Amsteel rope between the trailing edge of my keel, and the bottom of my rudder...

It's not a bulletproof setup, however, as I found out a few years ago down in the Florida Keys...

I was motoring along thru a minefield of crab pots in Florida Bay, which can be much harder to spot than your floats up in Maine... Suddenly, I noticed a drastic reduction in speed... (grin)

What had happened, was I had run over a float line, and my 'protector' had done its job keeping the line away from the prop, but the float had popped up on the OPPOSITE side of the rudder, thus creating a very effective mini 'wrap' around the Amsteel at the bottom of the rudder. Due to the depth below the surface, it was a real challenge to try to free it using a boat pole, or the hook knife... I could have cut it away, but there happened to be a couple of crab boats not too far away, and doing so might easily be grounds for getting shot down there... (grin)

Fortunately, it was a nice hot day, stopping the boat and diving down to free it was a good excuse to take a quick swim, anyway...

It's still a worthwhile idea, but not without its drawbacks... On an offshore passage, for instance, it could easily catch and hold some grass or Sargasso weed that might otherwise simply slide off the bottom of the rudder, otherwise...

Frankly, I don't know why more folks don't simply head for Nova Scotia, instead... (grin)

best regards,

Jon