Had a Mishap....

krazykatz911

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Aug 21, 2010
Messages
123
Hello Everyone. Have a 2005 Stingray 195, with 4.3litrer and volvo penta sx-m drive single prop. Took family out to a new lake. Unfortunately the ramp was full of really impatient people that barrel down on each other. While your trying to put in, people are backing down with their boat already... or coming up close to you from behind trying to get in. Very scary to say the least.

Anyway, when we were trying to pull out of water, Had the trailer backed in water.... someone decided to back down on the side of me to put in, so it cramped space and came really close to my truck and trailer. Then about a 14 year old girl was right up behind me with a 28 foot pontoon almost hitting me, so I had absolutely no room to maneuver to get on trailer, so I decided to keep at or slightly above idle and pulled a hard right to get out of the way of everyone and try to make another attempt.

Well, I hit rocks on the bottom. The loud crunches and vibration when it hit made me sick.... Aghhhh.

Then when I pulled on the trailer, I put the drive to full up position, with the engine still running..... Not thinking straight. It was full up for about 30 seconds, before I realized and put the drive full down again.

Anyway.... the prop got torn up really bad. (Aluminum), and it spun on the insert/hub. The skeg is still straight but bottom edge was gouged about 1/16 off? Then the side of the lower unit had about a 12" gouge that was not bad except for the very end of gouge where it is a dent/gouge that is about the size of dime.

When I got home, I used a file and made the skeg look better, and I used a sander to sand the gouge on the side of the lower unit. (the gouge is located parallel to output shaft on the tube part). (looks a lot better but still there)

My questions are this:

1: Do you think I did any damage running the motor with drive in full tilt (idle not in gear) for 30 seconds?
2: Do you think I damaged the drive? Or do you think the aluminum prop and hub that spun took the impact? (again prob had motor 800rpm)
3: I ordered a Skeg guard (even though 99% of my skeg is there and looks good) Is this a good idea or bad idea? Nervous about drilling holes.
4: When skeg guard is installed, does it still allow the oil to be drained out of lower unit, and does it get all behind the skeg guard?


Thank you all!
 
Last edited:

tpenfield

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 18, 2011
Messages
17,624
Sorry to hear about your mishap. Aren't ramps fun?

In answer to your questions, and keep in mind that these are just opinions . . .

#1 no
#2 no, but you should check the propeller shaft to see if it is still 'true' as it rotates.
#3 no all that necessary, your choice . . . , usually it means the skeg has broken off. Does not sound like you really did much to the skeg
4# you should be able to drain the oil, . . . stuff will get in behind the skeg guard.
 

redneck joe

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 18, 2009
Messages
10,201
1. check the impeller - that should be the only thing to worry about
2. no, the prop took care of you
3. at 99% you are fine lots of people run with less. Your call on the guard
4. yes to first part but not sure of what you are asking on the second half of the question
 

krazykatz911

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Aug 21, 2010
Messages
123
Thank you so much guys. I will double check the shaft. I was worried I damaged the u-joints or gimble with raising the drive full trailer mode, even for the 30 seconds. Whew.. I hope to get it back out on a lake this weekend to see how it goes.

The gouge in the side of the "tube" of the lower drive, I read some people use PC-7 epoxy to fill, and sand down/paint? I may try that..
 

phillyg

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jul 26, 2007
Messages
209
1. No 2. No (drive). Yes (prop). 3. Not necessary. 4. Not sure.
 

jkust

Rear Admiral
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
4,942
Sorry to hear about your incident but glad to hear you had an aluminum prop. Given the 99% situation, I wouldn't rush to add the guard as I am against drilling the necessary holes unless you are covering up a lot of damage. Thinking a brief 30 seconds and you will be just fine.
 

krazykatz911

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Aug 21, 2010
Messages
123
I got the PC-7 epoxy in today. Sanded down the gouges in "bullet" and filled it in. Will sand, prime and paint tomorrow. This PC-7 looks like great stuff. Went on great!
 

krazykatz911

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Aug 21, 2010
Messages
123
Happy to report, filled gouge in with PC-7, sanded, primed and painted. Looks great, cannot tell anything ever happened. Installed Skeg guard, and took boat out on lake today. Everything is awesome!!! No issues at all. Thanks for the help everyone!
 

Walt T

Lieutenant
Joined
Mar 16, 2002
Messages
1,369
Pbbbbbtttt that's nothing. Next time gun it while approaching the trailer and slam into the trailer breaking the bow stop and hitting the truck tailgate. Or put the boat on the trailer completely off to one side and argue with the spouse about it very loudly. Or float off the trailer and then try to start while floating all over blocking the entire ramp bringing operations to a halt while you crank and crank until battery finally goes dead then yell out "Hey can somebody come over here and jump start me?" Then one fool goes over (The entire ramp is now blocked by these two boneheads god forbid the fool tow him out of the way) and pulls up alongside they tie up together and turns out nobody has jumper cables so they decide to paddle with skis over to yet another fool who has already pulled his trailer up out of the water and has begun readying his boat for travel (god forbid he pull up out of the way to the top of the ramp so someone else can use the ramp) and he says he has jumpers so they paddle over to the ramp and the third fool backs his boat into the water and hands off his jumper cables to the two fools who promptly hook up one battery in reverse causing a partial meltdown of the jumpers and battery on the original fools boat because he had put a red cable on negative and a black cable on positive and forgot that he had done that while the second fool had the smoke let out of his battery cable wiring causing him to grab a fire extinguisher and discover it is no good after having been in its bracket for the last 16 years so the third fool who backed his trailer back into the water grabs his extinguisher and tosses it to him but the extinguisher bounces off the gunwale and into the water leaving a nice big red gouge in the second fools boat but in the meanwhile the first fool grabs the jumpers and disconnects one and burning "Do not cross connect batteries" on the palm of his hand in the process so the smoke stops on second fools boat and then the blame game begins with first fool saying the jumpers were labelled wrong, second fool said your battery cables were hooked up backwards and the third fool is busy getting his dang boat out of the water 'cause he just realized he had taken the plug out when he pulled up out of the water.


Fix the prop and fuggetaboudit.
 

PalmettoBotr

Cadet
Joined
Aug 5, 2014
Messages
10
I agree with Walt. You're fortunate your prop was the fall guy. :rolleyes: But to Walt's post...that's hilarious!!! I sat here and guffawed out loud at those "fools". :D
Sometimes the people you see at the boat ramp are the craziest, funniest, most "mentally handicapped" people you see/meet. Be safe out there.
 

Lou C

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 10, 2002
Messages
11,802
Sounds like you got it all fixed up. Honestly I would not have a boat if I had to trailer. I keep mine on a salt water mooring and that adds to the maintenance, but really its about 5 hrs worth including the mid season short haul to clean the drive and repaint. Salt water boats need more work but its a lot less trouble than trailering and in fresh water keeping in the water would be easy. Just a cleaning maybe twice a season....
 
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