Heading to Key West

Michael T

You guys need to retire LOL....Steve, I thought you were going to Florida to relax a bit???????

rasbury

Then you did not stay long enough! Can't enjoy the boat sitting on the lift!! What then was the "risky" part you mentioned above"?

Michael T

Ras, you know Steve will never tell us that......we'll just to all have to use our imaginations. Come on Ras - this IS Steve you're talking about after all?!

Handymans342

MT paaaleasse The risky part was going down, middle of ocean, waves and current bad enough to twist the 342 around like it was nothing. MT, I moved to FL to be where I wanted to be when retirement gets near in 10 years!!!

Michael T

I'm just jealous Steve, beautiful house on a canal, boat lift and a diesel. Well, two out of three ain't bad.....LOL

Handymans342

Yeah well I must have hit a rock and took off 2 inches of skeg and a very slight bent prop

MarkB

You've lost 2" off your skeg and bent your prop?  You surely would have felt that in performance on the way back, wouldn't you have?

Handymans342

I did feel a slight vibration. Didnt notice any handling. we did hear a loud thump going out the canals but we saw a large piece of wood floating and thought we bumped that

Michael T

Mark, its a diesel..."shake rattle and roll" how would Steve know if he hit something? LOL

Bigger question is - what was he using for a GPS?????

Oh man, this is becoming way too much fun. I can hardly wait for Handy's trip to Cuba, THAT'S going to be AWESOME!!!!! :-)

Handymans342

MT, paaleasse I have 2 GPS and soon to have the most advanced one on the market. 

Michael T

.....yeah, Steve it looks like that's a good idea! You know, you do have to look at it once in a while, right?

Handymans342

By the way, according to the previous owner, these were Jasper lower unit rebuilds. Maybe it just fell off. 

TonyWalker

Ooooh!  Ouch!

Handymans342

Actually MT, I used the compass most of the way

TonyWalker

Just head for the cumulus clouds in the distance.  They form over Key West.  If the conditions are correct and they are present, that is all you need.

Michael T

Holy cr*p, that's real mean and just after your awesome painting of the drives! Steve, what do you think got it, coral?

Handymans342

Maybe a rock in the canal heading out of Cape Coral

Cableguy Greg

Looks like your drive got into a fight with a gator and lost. Ouch!

randy56

Handy it was worth it , story's to tell.  Better than staying  on the couch, and I thought you were retired.

halifax212

Safe return Handy. You're livin the dream

rasbury

OucH! That is what has be backed off but really, it can happen anywhere....You'd think that prop/propshaft took a heck of a wack....

Dream_Inn

Well, maybe someone on here knows of a good place in your area that can do the repair on that.  Good thing it didn't do more damage than that.  I'd check the transom area as well because it probably gave a bit of impact there.

Good luck and keep us updated with any repairs.

Liberty44140

@Dream_Inn, definitely good to check the transom but wouldn't the I/O kick itself up on the trim cylinders before any major stress is put on the transom? I know back in my days of teaching sailing from Whalers with outboards we hit sunk logs periodically after storms and every time the outboard would move up on the trim upon impact. Trimmed it back down to where it was and off we went. 

zaverin1

They do kick but not enough to prevent major damage like his skeg.
main thing here is to fix the prop to stop the slight vibration,
check the prop hub connection,
look for any stress cracks in the lower case. Check gear lube for water.
then during haul out throw a indicator on the prop shaft and check for runout.
dont put skeg guards. They are junk and only for looks.
have a valid marine guy weld up your skeg or order a new skeg and have it welded.
profesional guys will do it with no damage to seals or the case.

aero3113

I had mine welded last fall. The guy came to the house and did a great job. (The pics got out of sequence for some reason).

Handymans342

The welder can't get close enough to my boat. I may just have to haul it out again

zaverin1

Best way to go
skeg guards are junk and you still have to drill to install them. So if there is nothing there how do you mount it lol.
plus guards are stainless and drives are Allum. Bad all around. Get a new one put on.
i had one on my sea Ray years ago and they do look cool with stainless props but when I nailed a rock it caused even more damage.

Michael T

That's the disadvantage of SS props, a hard strike can bend the prop shaft. I'd check the run out Steve as it looks like the props took a hit too!

Handymans342

You would think I would have noticed some serious noise

Michael T

I bent a prop shaft once and didn't hear noise but I did feel a vibration. You're probably okay as your prop's "ears" weren't bent like mine, they just seem to be shaved a bit!