About Us

Our History

Black Dog Propellers started in March of 1995 at Solomons Island, when the first-ever Prop Scan machine was imported into the U.S. from Australia. Also, at that time the company hired Gene Thomas to be a propeller repair technician. The business grew significantly and ordered another Prop Scan machine and sent Gene to Australia for training. Gene graduated from Advanced Propeller School at Propeller Dynamics in Australia on February 14, 1997, and another technician was hired by the name of Tim Murray.

In May 1997 Black Dog moved from Solomons to Kent Island, Stevensville into a brand new, expanded facility. As the business continued to grow so did the need for an additional Prop Scan trained technician, and Tim was sent to Australia for training. Tim graduated from Advanced Propeller School on March 20, 1998.

The business changed ownership in July 1998 and remains under that same ownership today. There have been some very significant changes along the way. In 2001 the company conceptualized a piece of scanning equipment and Terry Ryan of Propeller Dynamics built the equipment. It is a RBSMA (rotating beam suspended measuring assembly), one of its kind in the world. The RBSMA doubles the efficiency of working on bigger propellers 50” and up since the propeller remains stationary -- the RBSMA is moved into place to measure the propeller.

In 2002 the company moved into a its current location, a state-of-the-art 4,200 square foot facility with five overhead cranes/lifts, and purchased a Dynamics Research soft bearing dynamic balancer.

In 2005, in conjunction with Veem Engineering Group, Black Dog Propellers signed an exclusive supply agreement with Viking Yacht Company. To this day Black Dog and Veem supply all propellers to Viking Yachts.

Experience counts, and we have over 37 combined years of Prop Scan experience in the shop. We’ve learned never to say never, and there’s not much we haven’t seen as far as repairing props goes.