Hello. I am brand new to boating. I recently purchased an 18' dual console with a 125 HP Mercury 2 Stroke outboard motor. Apologies for the long post, but want to be clear in my info and request...
The boat is in a small slip on a small lake. On my first trip out all went well until docking at the slip. It's shallow, and I trimmed up, but it wasn't enough. In focusing more on not hitting the dock or boat in the slip next to me, I was moving forward, then reverse...going slow. In reverse the motor stalled a couple of times. It wasn't until the 2nd (maybe 3rd) time it stalled that I realized it was because I was hitting the bottom.
I was going slow, so didn't expect to really see much prop damage, but when I trimmed it all the way out of the water, 2 of the 3 blades were damaged. 1 had a small nick, but could be bent a bit too. The other was missing about a nickle size piece off the end and some bend to it.
I have a spare prop and plan to replace it, from the water (obviously shallow enough for it). So, here are my questions:
- what else should I be concerned about?
- bent shaft I suppose. Should I invest in a dial gauge clamp, or just eyeball it?
- if the shaft is slightly bent, will it do much damage to put just a few more hours on the boat, getting used to it, before I pull it out of the water for the season next month and get the shaft repaired?
- from what I've seen online, it looks like a pretty straight forward job to replace the prop, but while the water isn't the best place to do it, is there a concern I'm missing about doing the swap in 2-3 feet of water? I plan to rig up a tarp on the back of the boat and under the motor in case I drop the cotter pin, etc.
- Anything else I should be checking?
- If I end up having to replace the shaft, is that a DIY job or needs a mechanic? If a mechanic, any sense for how much $$? I'm fairly handy, but have absolutely no experience with boats and boat motors.
Thanks for any advice. Great forum.
The boat is in a small slip on a small lake. On my first trip out all went well until docking at the slip. It's shallow, and I trimmed up, but it wasn't enough. In focusing more on not hitting the dock or boat in the slip next to me, I was moving forward, then reverse...going slow. In reverse the motor stalled a couple of times. It wasn't until the 2nd (maybe 3rd) time it stalled that I realized it was because I was hitting the bottom.
I was going slow, so didn't expect to really see much prop damage, but when I trimmed it all the way out of the water, 2 of the 3 blades were damaged. 1 had a small nick, but could be bent a bit too. The other was missing about a nickle size piece off the end and some bend to it.
I have a spare prop and plan to replace it, from the water (obviously shallow enough for it). So, here are my questions:
- what else should I be concerned about?
- bent shaft I suppose. Should I invest in a dial gauge clamp, or just eyeball it?
- if the shaft is slightly bent, will it do much damage to put just a few more hours on the boat, getting used to it, before I pull it out of the water for the season next month and get the shaft repaired?
- from what I've seen online, it looks like a pretty straight forward job to replace the prop, but while the water isn't the best place to do it, is there a concern I'm missing about doing the swap in 2-3 feet of water? I plan to rig up a tarp on the back of the boat and under the motor in case I drop the cotter pin, etc.
- Anything else I should be checking?
- If I end up having to replace the shaft, is that a DIY job or needs a mechanic? If a mechanic, any sense for how much $$? I'm fairly handy, but have absolutely no experience with boats and boat motors.
Thanks for any advice. Great forum.