[Fr. Frank]

Thanks for the explanation! One more question. Which size hydro-shield do you run (or recommend?)

I run a medium sized HydroShield on my 90. I used to run a large on my V6 Mercury, and I ran a medium on my 115 Mercury I6.

And no, Gillie, I don't think these things would protect a manatee. Most manatee traumatic injuries and deaths are not caused by being cut by the prop, but by being struck by the lower unit, breaking bones and even spines. It's like hitting a manatee with a 4000 lb club traveling 30-50 mph. That's why they have the speed zones, instead of just requiring propeller cages.

When I was a kid, I swam with and played with manatees almost every week. My brother and I were two of the kids filmed by Philippe Cousteau swimming with and scrubbing manatees by the boat locks in the Palm Beach Canal, between Lake Worth and West Palm Beach, FL, back in the 60's. If you scrubbed their bellies with a stout scrub brush, they would let you ride them for while

There used to be a marina there between Dixie and Federal/Olive highways called Lake Worth Yacht Basin, of which my grandfather was part-owner. Back then both the Dixie and Federal bridges were drawbridges.