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Good Samaritin Screwed

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lscott

Member
Well we took our boat out last night for a quick trip around the lake after having the impellor changed. All went well until we came across a boater with smoke coming from his engine. We stopped to give assistance. The man had his fire extinguisher ready, doghouse open seems there was no real fire just a severly overheated engine. We towed him 4 miles to where he put in. All went well until we got near the dock. A moroon couldnt wait and cut us off as we approached the dock. I cut power and drifted until we could appraoch. I drifted too close to the shore and when I applied power to bring both boats parrallal to the dock I hit rip-rap with my prop.
My engine stopped. I restarted and got the disabled boat to the dock.
I started to make my way 7 miles to where I put in but had severe vibration I raised my drive up one blade of my 3 blade SS prop is bent 90 degrees. We idled all the way across the lake to pull our boat out after dark.

Can a SS prop that has a bent blade, no nicks or other damage be salvaged or should I just trash it nd replace it? Should I have the outdrive inspected since the engine stopped witht he impact? We were lust above idle speed when this occured?
 
This is why I prefer aluminum over SS:
The bent prop cpould be the least of your worries. All the force it took to bend that chunk of metal also got sent into your outdrive. Don't be surprised if there is severe damage to the gears, bearing, shafts, etc. If you're lucky, the prop hub slipped, but based on the fact that the engine stopped, the hub probably didn't slip much.
The good news is, you weren't really cranking it when it hit. So you might of got off easy.
Take the prop to a good repair shop and they will be able to tell you what the best course for the prop is.
For the rest of the propulsion train, I would first run the engine with the boat on the trailor and make sure there's nothing gross, then put another prop on and go for slow to moderate run before letting it rip. If there is damage, call your insurance company and see what they will cover. Groundings and collisions ought to be included.
And find that other guy and beat his ass.
 
I'd pull the prop first and check the prop shaft to see if it is bent before running it. A dial indicator is best but a metal straight edge and a good eye or a set of feeler gauges would be adequate.

Like troy said, just off idle speed shouldn't do much damage but one never knows.
 
That kind of underwater damage is covered by insurance. But before you loose your boat for a month in a busy shop,(GOOD shops are busy)
1-Remove prop put a dial indicator on the prop shaft. If it is out .005 or more check the book to see what is the limit.
2- Drain the lower unit thru some fine cloth to see if any pieces come out. A little on the drain magnet is usual. (Cheese cloth or old nylons).
You ran it long enough for any thing to work to the bottom.
3- If all is well, go get a aluminum prop and consider yourself lucky.
Moondrifter
 
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