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Damage to engine casing

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rosscog

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"hey guys, i was hoping someon

"hey guys, i was hoping someone could help me out with some advice on my mercruiser 3ltr alpha 1 leg.
while out boating on the weekend we felt and heard what sounded like hitting a rock, upon recovering the boat onto the trailer and having a look around back at the engine we saw that we have done some damage to the engine casing, we have chipped a piece of the very bottom tip of the engine off, supposidly this would be called the rudder but it is all one piece of the bottom section of the engine which contains the prop shaft etc and is all cast and would probably cost a fortune to replace, the missing piece is probably about 1 inch, could this be repaired and will it make any difference to performance anyway.
The engine is only three months old so is a bit annoying, there was also prop damage but i am less concerned about that as i can pick up another one relativly cheap.

any advice would be great, thanks, ross..."
 
You could try building it back

You could try building it back out with some good strong epoxy and then sanding it to shape or a better fix would be to build it out with beads of weld and grinding to shape. in the case of welding use caution to avoid to much heat causing warpage of critical areas near bearings and shafts.
 
"Ross, had the same problem so

"Ross, had the same problem some time ago. The best way to repare it is to take out the bottom part of the stern drive and have it rebuilt by welding and grinding=sanding=painting afterwards.
You should take it apart becasue the aluminum being such a good heat conductor will get hot allover and this might affect the shaft gaskets."
 
Your larger problem may be a b

Your larger problem may be a bent prop shaft. If you spin the prop and look at the center of the shaft and you can visually see "run out" then its junk. If its good you can have a welder add piece of aluminum and he should be able to reshape it with his grinder. After that you can prime it with zinc chromate primer and black laquer. Good luck. Around here a my welder gets 75 to 125 dollars to add metal to an outdrive.
 
"thanks for your replies, all

"thanks for your replies, all very helpfull.

Do any of you know if the damage will actually effect the performance of the boat, its on the rear face of the rudder and so is not the face that directs or comes into contact first with the water.

I was wondereing if i could just tidy up the edge with a file then spray it to protect against corrosion to save money, thanks, ross..."
 
"Its difficult to measure how

"Its difficult to measure how much it will affect, specially not knowing the extent of the damage. However the it is very likely that it won't affect significantly the performance of your boat.

What I wouldn't do if I was you is tidy up by filling away so much material as to change the geometry of the blade. I would yes take away the burs and when the right moment comes rebuild it by welding and repainting."
 
"I'm with Federico. If you

"I'm with Federico. If you want to give it a go as is, touch up the exposed metal with chromate primer and finish with a mathing outer color.
See if you notice any obvious play or wobbling in the shaft. Keep an eye on the gear oil for any excessive water intrusion."
 
"Hello Ross.
The part your r

"Hello Ross.
The part your referring to is called a skeg. It is not a rudder and has nothing to do with your boats performance. Just grind is smooth on the broken edge. It is there only to protect your propeller. If you feel that you want to have the complete skeg on your drive, there are skeg kits available for repair. The less expensive skegs need to be welded on and would require cutting down your skeg and welding on a new one. Then theres the expensive alternative made by skeggaurd which fits over the old one. about 35.00 for the first and about $125.00 for the skeggaurd.
Gabriel Acher - Dania Marine Corp.
supplier of marine engines and parts world wide
(954) 927-2999 [email protected]"
 
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