Please help me recover from a bad day

[PSS-Mag]

Re: Please help me recover from a bad day

You don't row a boat like that. It's not a row boat.

I keep paddles in all my boats just for that (and it's required by law). The tri hull I have is alot harder to move through the water than his is. But if the prop/lower unit can touch, then it's shallow enough that I can use a paddle to push off and get away from it. Beats getting out and swimming.

 

[PSS-Mag]

Re: Please help me recover from a bad day

Also I would be very caution about trying to bend it back with any hammer. You don't know where you have weakened the lower unit when you hit. You cold bust your gear housing, or your gimbal, gimbal ring, transom assembly, anything.
Thats just not a very controlled method and cast anything is to unpredictable....

If you've got something behind it and hit it, that thing behind it is a fulcrum point. You just made your lower unit into a lever, the force from the blow goes to the top of the outdrive too and is multiplied by the fulcrum.

Best not to try it unless your an experienced machinest/welder with a set up to weld cast aluminum ... I am experienced, and have a couple of welders, but I'm not set up to weld cast aluminum, even if I was, then I still wouldn't do it because of the high risk.

 

[cbavier]

Re: Please help me recover from a bad day

I keep paddles in all my boats just for that (and it's required by law). The tri hull I have is alot harder to move through the water than his is. But if the prop/lower unit can touch, then it's shallow enough that I can use a paddle to push off and get away from it. Beats getting out and swimming.

Same here. I keep an oar in my boat just for that. To push off. (and it's required by law). But your not going to row my boat. Not even ten feet. There are no oar locks. And he isn't going to row his either. The problem is and he learned . He came in too fast. That much weight moving at even troll is tremendous. The rule is not to come in any faster than you want to hit the dock or anything else. We all have came in too fast before. Unfortunately he learned the hard way and that can be a lesson to any other newby's. Slow, Slow, Slow and even sometimes that is too fast. A good way to learn how fast is to practice out in the lake. Slow down just as you would for the approach to the dock and then kill the motor and see how far you keep going just from momentum. A few practices and it will finally come to you. Practice always makes perfect and then the wind or current or some other obstacle will pop up and you have to compensate and or start over. However don't kill the motor coming into the actual dock use neutral and forward and remember you always have reverse. Just come in slow really slow. A boat hook also is a very handle tool to have handy.

 

[QC]

Re: Please help me recover from a bad day

Well I have used the method with an anvil type thing and a hammer a number of times, but on aluminum propellers. Weird angles, curves, curls etc. It works for me. Moderation is the key, definitely don't hit it hard.

I would also suggest that the force on the Gimbal ring and the rest of the drive from even a 3.0, that is transmitted to a propeller at twice engine torque (2:1 ratio) hanging on the end of it, at all steering angles and trim etc. etc, makes my concern about a little banging, even hitting the bottom, or trailering trimmed out over speed bumps at high speed . . . negligible . . . Yes, cast aluminum can easily be broken, sse my propeller comment.

 

[dave11]

Re: Please help me recover from a bad day

If you are going to try to straighten the skeg, I would use a press or a vise. I wouldn't risk causing more damage by using impact force.

 

[NSBCraig]

Re: Please help me recover from a bad day

You don't row a boat like that. It's not a row boat.

Whatever I've paddled in larger boats. Every boat should have two not one cause that's just silly. Put one guy on each side and you'll move any boat as long as your not fighting wind and current.

 

[joed]

Re: Please help me recover from a bad day

I see you are in Rochester. There is a place in Buffalo called Peir Propeller. They are right under the Grand island bridge on the Niagara river. They can rebuild that prop and repair the skeg. Probably cheaper than buying a new prop.

 

[sidechoke67]

Re: Please help me recover from a bad day

Quick follow-up: I got a new prop, and took the boat out again this past weekend. The boat ran great; I could not feel any effects from the bent skeg - no pulling at all. So, I'm just going to leave the skeg alone. Ordered the prop from iboats, and it arrived 3 days later. I was really happy with their service.

I got one estimate for the gelcoat repair for $600 - $750. The shop estimated it would take 8 - 10 hours. That was higher than I was thinking - I will probably try to fix it myself later in the season. For now, I put a piece of white duct tape over it to keep it dry until I figure out whether to try it myself or not.

Thanks again for all the help! You all would have laughed if you saw my ultra conservative approach to the dock after my 2nd time out. I put it in neutral and started drifting toward the dock when I was 1/4 mile away...and a 1/2 hour later, we arrived at the dock.

 

[11dingleberies]

Re: Please help me recover from a bad day

1 skeggard
1 prop
and you should be good to go. The same exact thing happened to me. lucky for me it was a used boat I may have broken down and started crying if it were new. I couldn't sleep until i fixed the darn thing and ran it again. it's been 3 months and all is fine.
Experince is how you avoid mistakes and you get experince from making mistakes.

 

[shorts&chanclas]

Re: Please help me recover from a bad day

Dont throw it away...you earned yourself a keepsake! take that chewed up prop and mount it on a plaque like a big game trophy in your garage or boat house. Makes for great conversation over cold beer.

PS: sorry to read the story. I'm with ya. My first boat got a new lower unit and stainless prop compliments of a rock ledge. Get yourself back on the water as soon as you can. Its the best way to put it behind you.