Some things you learn the hard way!

[Chad Flaugher]

So during our vacation at Glendo Wyoming, I beached our boat in the soft sand with the out drive down and the bow tied to a tree during perfect calm weather. Ate a quick dinner 100 yards away through a cottonwood forest, and returned for an evening boat ride to find that the wind had come up severely and it was unnoticed because of the forest! Huge waves were slaming the boat into the sand. We got it turned and anchored out with the drive back in the up position, but the damage was done! It stripped all six lag bolts that hold the motor mounts to the stringers on the back two motor mounts! The boat is a 1974 Cobalt, OMC ford 302 190hp with a stringer outdrive, and a tri-hull.

I think I can get a drill in there to widen the motor mount holes to go up a size in the lag bolts, but any other ideas or suggestions? Lesson learned, NEVER leave the outdrive down when beached!

 

[southkogs]

Yeouch! That's a painful lesson.

You may wanna' do some checking and make sure you didn't get much debris up in the water intake. Might check the propshaft and make sure it's not bent too.

 

[Chad Flaugher]

Yeouch! That's a painful lesson.

You may wanna' do some checking and make sure you didn't get much debris up in the water intake. Might check the propshaft and make sure it's not bent too.

All good there thank goodness! We were able to limp across the lake the next morning and all performed fine. Now it's just down to making proper repairs.

 

[Redrig]

Ouch that sucks ! Was there other damage to the motor mounts ? I would expect there was all kinds of stress on the mounts before the bolts finally gave way . I would take a very good look at the wooden boxes that make the mounts and make sure they didnt flex and crack or something like that . Those are very important with an OMC stringer .

 

[Chad Flaugher]

Nothing else went bad.... I ended up mixing a two part marine epoxy up, and added some 1/4" dowels coated heavily in the epoxy into the stripped holes. Two each did the trick, and it seemed to tighten down nicely. I found the keys on the floor, and the ignition in the on position. Battery was completely dead. Charged it up and now it cranks but won't fire. :facepalm: Thinking I may have fried my brand new coil. Always something!