or...
McGuiver VS the Marine "professional"
aka what you do when the guy at the boat yard wants to charge you $100 to borrow his $60 tool

Earlier this year I decided to finally get rid of my ridiculously underpowered, prop-walking-machine, 11' Campbell Sailer

.. for a nice 13' feathering J-Prop (like a MaxProp but better, with an external pitch adjustment)

The problem was that the old Campbell prop was stuck and would not come off - not by hammering nor by any other direct/violent/brute-force technique.

Clever me, anticipating such unforseen difficulties, I had elected to haul-out at Granville Island, counting on the plethora of local marine professionals to help me out of exactly this type of situations.

After a couple of hours of unsuccessful banging, proding and cursing, I finally decided to go and hire some professional help.

The conversation with the excellent gentleman from Blue Ocean Yacht Services went something like this:
- I was told to talk to you about removing my old prop
- It's too late, I don't feel like working
- What do I need to remove it myself?
- You need a prop puller
- Never heard of one before.. Do you have one?
- Of course
- Great, so it would only take you a couple of minutes
- Perhaps, but it is Friday and I don't feel like it
- Can I borrow this "puller" of yours?
- No, but I will rent it to you for $100
- Ha ha, very funny. Really, how much do you want to help me out?
- It is Friday and everything will be closed soon, so you really need my help, so I want $100 to rent you the tool
- That seems a bit steep
- Well, brain surgery is not cheap either..

Right.. so the weekend is upon us, there is no one else on hand and I 'll be keel-hauled if I pay this dude $100 to use his stupid tool for ten minutes.

What to do?
Well, I know little of brain surgery but I can surf with the best of them: Google to the rescue! Let's see... "propeller puller".. search...

Hey, look, this is basically nothing more than a couple of screw clamps that pull the prop against its shaft. I so happen to have some old clamps in the garage... swing by Canadian Tire, get a couple of extra $10 clamps, just in case... bingo!
The $20 propeller puller:

Get a piece of old pipe from the boatyard garbage heap, turn those screws a bit easier.. and another old clamp to hold the whole contraption together...

... turn, turn, a bit more... bam! prop is off..

McGuiver wins again.