Outboard frozen like a popsicle

[Deeper]

First of all, what's done is done, it wasn't my fault, so don't get on my case about this...:Cry:

With my 14ft aluminum boat on the trailer, my 20hp Yamaha was in a large garbage pail of water, submerged to about regular operating depth. Long story short... I found out today that it was still in the water, except that the water has frozen solid. So, it's like a giant popsicle with my outboard as the stick.

Ok, you can stop laughing now. Tomorrow I'm going to cut off the garbage can and break away the ice. What kind of damage can I expect, or what am I going to need to check? (especially any internal damage that's not obvious by looking at it).

 

[Bob_VT]

Look for signs of swelling and cracking in the heads and water passages and really..... you might be fine since the water is not truesly contained and may have drained back from the motor.

AND

IF there is a chance that you will get a warm up in weather......... just let it defrost and melt away. We are early in the Winter season and the weather does flucuate

 

[robert graham]

I doubt there's any damage from the freezing but you might damage something trying to crack/break away the ice....might be best to thaw it out slowly with warm water, warm air/heater or just natural thawing(if that's going to happen any time soon).....maybe a portable electric or kerosene heater would do the job....

 

[Deeper]

Thanks. I feel a little better knowing there might be some hope that everything's ok. I'll take it easy de-icing it and hope for the best.

 

[Deeper]

Ok, got all the ice off. There's no visible damage on the outside. I started it and everything seemed fine. Put in in gear forward and backward and everything seemed ok. (motor is in a garbage pail full of water, not a lake). Am I lucky or might there still be some potential damage inside? If so, how would I check?

 

[Fun Times]

Am I lucky or might there still be some potential damage inside? If so, how would I check?

You're probably going to find everything is in good shape but one thing you'll want to do just to be sure is check (or change) the gear oil looking for signs of water after each outing till you're sure all is fine.

Was the prop installed? How did the inner/outer gear housing look where the bearing carrier resides? Looking for cracks since the inner part normally holds standing water.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=...earing+carrier