I hit a plastic basket today!!!

[novelles]

Hi all!<br /><br />I was cruising today with my 1994 Bayliner Merc 3.0 LX Alpha One at 20 kt in choppy water and when I was about to pass a bigger boat concentrated on the waves and wake, I felt like hitting something with my stern. Revs went up and the boat started steering to the left. Then when trying to increase RPM, the boat pulled heavily to the left. I was at the entrance of the marina so I went at iddle to the inside. I turned off the engine and took a look at what I thought was a broken prop but I found a 3 by 2 feet plastic basket (like the ones used by fishermen) stucked under my stern. I took it out (it was hit and with different cuts in it) and checked the prop and the stern. Prop was looking fine and the stern had a little piece of metal coming off at the bottom part of the lower unit, just at the lower bottom.<br />Boat seems to go fine so just wondering if there is something I have to worry about. I never hit anything before.<br /><br />Thanks

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: I hit a plastic basket today!!!

As long as everything seems okay and there is no damage you should be fine. Plastic seldom wins battles with metal!<br /><br />Bob

 

[chmath]

Re: I hit a plastic basket today!!!

I hit a crab trap line last year in my old skeeter bass boat with a 150 merc. and let me tell you I had a least 60 feet of rope hung around the prop ...Thought there was no damage but after 1-1/2hrs of untangleing and cutting it was wound so tight that it bent 1 of the prop fins almost in half...That what I get for useing a aluminum prop....

 

[f_inscreenname]

Re: I hit a plastic basket today!!!

I hit a 8”X8”X10’ piece of pier one time doing about 30mph. I use a old Volvo 270 (the kind that locks down and doesn't pop up when hitting something) with a bronze ocean prop. Slam up the bow goes, pull back hard on the throttle then the out drive hits it. Bow slams into the water and boat comes to a stop. When the lumber came back up to the surface I could see slash marks from the prop on the top of it. Tilted the drive up to check out the damage. None.<br /> Point is that outdrives are tougher then most think. Just check it over and start off slow. In most cases if you can drive away and not notice any change you will be OK.

 

[novelles]

Re: I hit a plastic basket today!!!

Thank you all. I'm going boating today so I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[1985mazdarx7]

Re: I hit a plastic basket today!!!

I hit a rock with my 1977 StarCraft SuperSport W/the OMC stern drive 3.0L GM. I hit it going about 27mph. I was looking at my maps but apparently there was no rocks in the area, yeah right, so I got the rock marked on the map there that day (it was just a small lake up in northern Saskatchewan). Right after I hit it the engine died and I thought damn my prop isn't going to be there and I'll have to try and mount my spare in the middle of the lake. LUCKILY I was able to raise my outdrive and there was a prop, it wasn't as damaged as I thought it would have been, small chip on one fin but nothing badly. So a put my outdrive back in the water, but after that I wasn't able to tilt it up anymore, however we used the boat for the rest of the 7 days of fishing with no problems. Got the boat home and got the tilt gearing fixed, and some type of upper gears that had some of the teeth broekn off which I didn't even notice when driving around the lake but must have happened when I hit the rock and still had the drive spinning. (With my stern drive I'm not able to have it in gear unless the outdrive is fully down) <br /><br />Luckily you've only hit a piece of plastic and I doubt anything is damaged badly.<br /><br />- Jeff

 

[novelles]

Re: I hit a plastic basket today!!!

Thank you all, although it was a hard plastic container, damage is not that bad. I took a look at it yesterday under the water with my mask and the stern has been just hit at the lower bottom. Just paint and a little bit of metal piece have come off.<br /><br />I guess good luck this time ...