Couldn't believe it...........

[FreeBeeTony]

Went fishing this moring, the bay was like glass. Drifted the inlet then headed outside, the ocean was beautiful. Caught 5 or 6 short fluke then decided to head back in. Ran all the way in ~3500RPM.........engine sounds great!!

Coming around a sandbar (near Captree for all you south shore LI people) and felt like I hit bottom. Saw 2 boats hit it earlier in the morning when I was heading out.........my depth finder said I was in 15' of water........I'm thinking what the hell happened? Engine was still running........I had pulled the throttle back into neutral as soon as "it" happened. All gauges were fine, put it back into gear and started to go........soon as I got up to 200RPM the engine rev'd out...........now I'm thinking either a spun prop or engine coupler. I replace both when I installed the Rapido Vortec last fall.

I make it back to the slip and my son meets me there with a spare prop, I remove the prop and it looks fine (has the plastic insert for the hub). When I removed the prop I noticed a few weeds...........could it have been weeds causing cavitation??

I reinstall the prop and my son and I head back to the bay for a test drive......got up on plane and hit 4000RPM w/o a problem........!!!!!!

I must have picked up some weeds coming around that sandbar and it cavitated.....I have had this problem before but it just didn't occur to me this time.

Needless to say I was quite relieved to say the least............when I saw the prop was OK I was invisioning pulling the engine to replace the coupler.

Just thought I'd share this..........

 

[redfury]

Re: Couldn't believe it...........

Did you feel a solidity to the lower unit striking something, or did it feel like you were dragging through soft sand/possibly the weeds you found on your prop?

 

[This_lil_fishy]

Re: Couldn't believe it...........

This happened to me as well..cept I also overheated the engine. I was very fortunate and was able to beach it and clear out the weeds. There was very little there, but apparently it doesn't take much. I thought for sure the lower unit was blown the way it cavitated was really wierd....

Fortunately no damage done by the overheating...I really need to get a temp gauge installed....

ian

 

[sunburnt]

Re: Couldn't believe it...........

weeds: sea weed or in sweet water canals, where it grows super fast in the summer. can be a constant problem if you suspect that's the problem ? i just put it in reverse for a moment and sometimes i can see what was on the prop . takes only a small amount especially if you slow down the rpms as you run thru it.