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The following article appears in the February 1999 Flying magazine's Owner/Operator section.
Anti-Abrasion Guard
Prop-Guard, an anti-abrasion boot to protect propellers, is a classic case of necessity being the mother of invention. Steve Lissberger, who runs a flight school and maintenance shop in Cortland, New York, had a customer with a Cessna 172 whose prop had suffered stone damage and lost all its paint in 100 hours.
Lissberger began to think there ought to be something easily replaceable that could be put on the prop's leading edge to protect it. After seven years of experimenting and testing various products on the flight school's airplanes, Lissberger came up with Prop-Guard, a clear polyurethane tape that installs in 20 minutes and prevents the constant erosion process to which propellers are exposed.
The tape is thin and does not affect the aerodynamics of the prop; as Lissberger explains, "It's a polyurethane film, so it's really no different from paint except it uses an adhesive and doesn't dry onto the prop." Lissberger has an STC and PMA approval for Prop-Guard, which he sells in kits for $59.99. The kits, which can be owner-installed, contain an accelerator (to be used on painted props to make the adhesive bite into the paint), a lint-free application cloth, and enough tape to have extra for splices if ever needed.
The transparent anti-abrasion boot is four inches wide, and a line down the center makes it easy to install along the prop's leading edge with two inches on either side. Lissberger said that on a prop getting normal use, the boot should last five to six years.
The kits come in two versions, one for fixed-pitch and one for constant-speed propeller systems (the constant-speed kit contains sufficient tape for a three-blade prop), and are being distributed by McFarlane Aviation (800/544-8594 or 785/594-2741). For more information, call Prop-Guard at 888/776-7482 or 607/953-0733.
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