Every sail boater knows that the propeller, unless it is one of the those expensive folding or feathering types presents a lot of drag and can slow the boat down a fair bit. One way to reduce the amount of drag that the propeller exerts on the boat is to align the prop up and down so that it is as far as possible in line with the keel. Aligning the prop up and down is easily done when the boat is hauled out of the water otherwise you may want to don the mask and snorkel and swim under the boat while anchored and rotate the prop until it is facing up and down. Then on the inside of the boat put a mark on the shaft with a permanent sharpie pen as I have done here. Then next time after shutting down the engine you can rotate the shaft by hand before putting the engine in reverse to lock the shaft. With the prop hiding behind the keel you will gain a bit more boat speed.
I should add that this technique only works with two bladed props as for obvious reasons it is is impossible to get a three bladed prop to line up with a keel.
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