Need your EYES/Help.

[C0ps]

First time out on the water this past weekend and after about 1/2 mile out I felt the engine starting to become under load. sure enough it stalled. It started right up, and put into gear and stalled again. It was a challenge to get it back to the marina to say the least
When I finally did get it back, I raised the engine and took this picture. Can anyone please tell me you see what I see?

audi a4 1.8 t 0 60

[km1125]

Hard to tell from that pic, but is that a small rope or fishing line between the prop and the gearcase?

[Phrancus]

ah, nou I understand how I'm looking at it..... well, that extra ring is not familiar to me (and I recently mounted the DuoProps.

If it is a fishing line it should have been cut off by the wire cutter but this looks like its too much or too thick a wire. Good news is that you can remove the props while in the water (if you know the steps too take, can swim/snorkle/dive and not drop stuff)
Bad news is that the cutters are there to protect the seal between the prop axle and the housing: if that gasket is damaged, the risk is water in the drive gearbox and that is not a good thing.

Now the question you didn't ask is the assumption that the gearbox/drive may slow down the engine?

To test that, you - afaik - will have to disconnect it from the engine and that you can only do when out of the water, bellow open, pull out drive shaft and so on. Not a ten minute job either.

On the other hand; your description sounds very likely for a wire/cable pickup underway and a big struggle for the engine to turn the shaft.

looks like you're in for a dip with a wrench on a rope.

It's not that hard, one nut a the end. remove stuff sequentially, big nut with a big screwdriver and a hammer, remove other prop and there you are. Hopefully you had them removed recently as your props look very clean?

from your picture I would expect you can back her up to shallow shore and do the job standing in the water and not loosing too many parts (bring a net-bag)