My boyfriend took my boat out and hit a semi-submerged log HARD. 
<br />I was out of town at the time; he told me about it and told me it stopped the boat, motor kicked up, and he hit the windshield frame (ouch). He told me that it seemed to be running fine and he had not seen any damage.<br />Yesterday was the first chance I'd had since getting back to get down and take the boat out. Noticed speedometer wasn't working. Well, that's happened before -- I have a 1999 Bayliner Capri 1800 w/ Force 120 o/b, and what happens is debris clogs the little intake on the lower unit for the speedometer. So I stopped the boat and attempted to clear the clog. I couldn't clear this, though -- it's really, really packed with spongy wood, I just couldn't get it all out. While working on it, though, I noticed something that just made me heartsick. Part of what I would call the foot (but I'm sure I'm using the wrong terminology there) is broken off. What I'm calling the foot is the first horizontal flared part of the lower unit, under which the trim tab is attached -- it's where you'd attach hydrofoil plates (which I'm guessing I'm going to need to do as part of repairs...). On the port side of the engine, a big chunk of it is broken off towards the front. Bummer. Bummer!<br /><br />Can that be fixed? I'm guessing maybe I'll have to get a shop to grind the broken part to a smoother contour, then take some off the other side and grind it to match, then perhaps attach a hydrofoil.<br /><br />After I took off on plane, I was puzzled that I didn't need to trim up nearly as much as usual to get the boat tracking straight -- could that be caused by the missing hunk of foot?<br /><br />I've really tried to take good care of my boat. This hurts. I know that's illogical, it's just a thing... I'm glad my boyfriend didn't get hurt. I'm pretty POed at him right now -- when I took off the cover, the depthfinder was on -- he was out on it Saturday Aug 4th, so that'd been on all that time (but it still cranked fine, so hadn't drawn the battery down). There were some other things not done that I like done a certain way when the boat is put up. I guess I'm overly particular, but it is my boat...<br />I guess he'd gotten such a good whack on the head that his focus wasn't on that stuff. Again, I'm glad he's ok.<br />That was obviously a HARD hit on a BIG log, though -- things like that can be hard to see, but in full daylight, I wonder how he could have completely missed seeing something so big....<br />Now I'm kind of wondering, too, if there might be other damage not immediately apparent. What should I keep an eye out for? And do you think they can really fix the broken chunk -- can that part be replaced? Or will some creative repair have to suffice?<br /><br />-anne
<br />I was out of town at the time; he told me about it and told me it stopped the boat, motor kicked up, and he hit the windshield frame (ouch). He told me that it seemed to be running fine and he had not seen any damage.<br />Yesterday was the first chance I'd had since getting back to get down and take the boat out. Noticed speedometer wasn't working. Well, that's happened before -- I have a 1999 Bayliner Capri 1800 w/ Force 120 o/b, and what happens is debris clogs the little intake on the lower unit for the speedometer. So I stopped the boat and attempted to clear the clog. I couldn't clear this, though -- it's really, really packed with spongy wood, I just couldn't get it all out. While working on it, though, I noticed something that just made me heartsick. Part of what I would call the foot (but I'm sure I'm using the wrong terminology there) is broken off. What I'm calling the foot is the first horizontal flared part of the lower unit, under which the trim tab is attached -- it's where you'd attach hydrofoil plates (which I'm guessing I'm going to need to do as part of repairs...). On the port side of the engine, a big chunk of it is broken off towards the front. Bummer. Bummer!<br /><br />Can that be fixed? I'm guessing maybe I'll have to get a shop to grind the broken part to a smoother contour, then take some off the other side and grind it to match, then perhaps attach a hydrofoil.<br /><br />After I took off on plane, I was puzzled that I didn't need to trim up nearly as much as usual to get the boat tracking straight -- could that be caused by the missing hunk of foot?<br /><br />I've really tried to take good care of my boat. This hurts. I know that's illogical, it's just a thing... I'm glad my boyfriend didn't get hurt. I'm pretty POed at him right now -- when I took off the cover, the depthfinder was on -- he was out on it Saturday Aug 4th, so that'd been on all that time (but it still cranked fine, so hadn't drawn the battery down). There were some other things not done that I like done a certain way when the boat is put up. I guess I'm overly particular, but it is my boat...<br />I guess he'd gotten such a good whack on the head that his focus wasn't on that stuff. Again, I'm glad he's ok.<br />That was obviously a HARD hit on a BIG log, though -- things like that can be hard to see, but in full daylight, I wonder how he could have completely missed seeing something so big....<br />Now I'm kind of wondering, too, if there might be other damage not immediately apparent. What should I keep an eye out for? And do you think they can really fix the broken chunk -- can that part be replaced? Or will some creative repair have to suffice?<br /><br />-anne
