WOW that didn't take long, prop carnage!

BellevilleMXZ

Buy a boat they said.....It'll be fun they said.......BreakOutAnotherThousand  I say......lol   Second trip out!!

Did this at the entrance to the Trent, Just by the first bridge. Worst part is, no idea why,,,,,,, GPS says 11ft + there. Unless I missed something, which is  entirely possible, I'm gonna have to ask around. This is gonna suck $$$$$ :-(    Part that makes me mad is, booked Monday off, and planned an all day trip with the wife. Going to see if can pull them in the morn, and find some.

Michael T

Hey, BMXZ  Welcome to the club! You are now an OFFICIAL member! I think I may have mentioned to you in an earlier post that you live in a beautiful part of the St. Lawrence area to boat but also a VERY unforgiving one. EVERY time we boat in your area the Admiral and I review the paper charts where we are going to go to have a comparison (in our minds) for the GPS readings that we will see. Often the Admiral will glance at the paper chart as we are going along while I watch the gps particularly if we are entering an unfamiliar area, a restricted area, bridge area, harbour mouth or marina entrance. Up your way getting even a little outside the marked channel can be costly. I know of many areas in your "neck of the woods"  that have shoals, rocks or sandbars 2 feet deep - right outside the channel markers. BTW don't despair. Many years ago I was taking my late wife for the first ride in a brand new boat. It had about 30 minutes on it. I hit a rock, killed the prop and took 2 inches of the bottom of the skeg. That Admiral had a great sense of humour and said "So, you say that this boating sport that we are undertaking will be less costly than a golf or tennis membership?". Oh Yeah! Oh Yeah!.....but what fun :-)

BellevilleMXZ

 Yeah I'm going to have to be more careful even though I thought I was. We came up the center close to the second bridge. Swung around, and came down the west side.....not close to shore mind you. There are 3 spots you where you can come under the first bridge, and came through most western one. Hit something just as came under the bridge. By GPS, lots of depth there, so makes no sense. There are day docks right close to there. Thanks Michael, your story bought a smile to my face. D

Lobodemar

Get them rebuilt lot costly than buying new

LaRea

I feel your pain.  On the Potomac, most of the seabed is no more dangerous than chocolate pudding.  Still, there's one sand bar, and my outdrives found it.

(See how I blame it on the outdrives ... learn from a master.)

aero3113

Looks like you might have hit a log, I don't see any jagged edges from hitting rocks.

Gregg

Fell your woos  BM I had our boat for 30 min last year,and had a friend bring it home and hit a GRANTIE fish as they call it.Hmmm took out lower unit and props.And to top it off as it was backed into our new covered slip took out the vhf ant which hit our gps. And that was our first trip in our new boat. And to top that did not do a ins claim.

Gregg

P S your props look good. They can be repaired.We kept ours to remind us not to allow anyone to drive our boat.lol 

Cableguy Greg

Sorry to see that. I would make fast friends with some of the other locals to find out where the channel is at. I don't trust my GPS 100%. Where I boat at, along the south bank of the Allegheny River, there are a couple of sunken barges. The channel is marked to keep away from them, but I see boaters running right where they are at all the time. If I get a chance to talk to a boater that is running in that area, I warn them about it.

I would take the props to a good prop shop. They will be able tell you if they can be repaired. If you want to have that trip with the wife, unfortunately you are going to have to purchase a new set.

Handymans342

Take the opportunity to go to a 4/3 blade prop

Cableguy Greg

Handymans342 said:

Take the opportunity to go to a 4/3 blade prop

Agree 100%!!!

BellevilleMXZ

Wow you all make me feel better, guess I'm really in the club now. Going to have a closer look and see if I can get props off, to see how front one looks, want to try and salvage Mondays trip.

BellevilleMXZ

Handymans342 said:

Take the opportunity to go to a 4/3 blade prop

How do I know what combo to get?

aero3113

Were you going in reverse when it happened?

BellevilleMXZ

no

Black_Diamond

Front prop looks undamaged?  If so, you likely found a log as noted. That a B--III drive?  If so, poor chance to fix that prop, cast/forged SS. You'll spend more trying to fix it than just replacing it. No bending the blades back. 

BellevilleMXZ

Front has one small ding, No its a Volvo DP. Not even gonna try and fix rear, I don't want that one back, its bad.

BellevilleMXZ

Don't think was log, looks to be marks from rock,......scratches, almost white marks?

Lobodemar

Dont throw away your props have them rebuilt 

Lobodemar

What type prop F5 or F6

BellevilleMXZ

f3

MarkB

Banging up stainless props puts a lot of strain on the drive. Maybe AL can chime in but I've heard you should get the drive inspected when that happens. 

Also don't trust the gps. It is accurate to about a 3m radius. That's 20 ft diameter. So that's how much area you could be off by,  10ft to starboard or 10ft to port.  Poor satellite tracking can lead to even larger errors. For tricky water you need to go slow and observe the charts and water. 

The shoales can come up quick so you really need to learn the area. No electronic device will help you 100%.

BellevilleMXZ

Ya going to have to get some charts....expensive lesson. Got props off, front wasn't bad at all, small ding....., rear can be fixed they say.

Dan4754

Am I missing something?  I see mention of GPS and charts but not a depth finder. My OEM sounder is pretty effective and the NAVMAN I added can be adjusted to search forward so I can anticipate problems. It even will show individual debris to a certain extent.

BellevilleMXZ

This has to have been an individual rock, etc, gps and chart shows 10-11ft.....that said I WAS slightly out of marked channel, so my bad.

Dream_Inn

Wow, I've never a SS prop so damaged!  Hopefully everything else is ok.  Don't feel bad, I'm getting ready to post a real doozy of a new topic.  Today absolutely sucked!!!

Michael T

@dan, a forward scanning depth finder is not bad but a standard depth finder is referred to an "oh sh*t gauge" by we older guys because you hardly have time to say sh*t before you strike something using one. Regarding drive damage, hopefully not but a simple gauge can give you a run out reading of the shaft to see if it was bent. Hopefully not! @DI - First, I hope the "today absolutely sucks" does not mean anything bad for you or  your family and second, I hope that you don't have bad news regarding the fate of the Rinker brand!

MarkB

Dan, where he boats the rock shoals come up way too fast to have time to react to the depth finder. You just have to be strict and stay in marked areas and if unsure you need a spotter to keep watch (the water is crystal clear). 

MarkB

Belleville. I forgot to say you might want to check whether you can claim this on insurance particularly if you might have hit a log. 

BellevilleMXZ

Yes I could probably claim it, but now sure if I want to after only having ins. for a little over a week! I'll write it off as lesson.

mattie

Hope that doesn't cut into your sled budget. Boating is winding up real quick anyway. As long as the outdrive is still good......back prop will make an excellent doorstop in your garage, polish it up!