Watch out for debris!!!!

[the vision]

So we finally had a nice day today, no rain. So I took the wife to a tour of a plantation home. After that we stopped had lunch and went home and hooked up to the boat. We went for an afternoon cruise just to enjoy the peace without the kids. Well like the title states with all the storms lately water is up and debris everywhere. Almost ready to head in and wham. About a 12" log 8' long and I split it in half with the boat. Killed the engine to check lower unit. Thank god it wasn't touched. Hurried back to load up just in-case of a hole in the hull. Got it on the trailer to check, and the only damage was a small dent where I had already hit the hull before. Lucky I was just barely on plane and not flying. Lucky day for me I guess I could have sank it.

 

[the vision]

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

I normally don't go that far up river, but my wife had not been there before so I was showing her some of the houses. With the sun glare I didn't see the log till the last second and it was too late. Scared the $:&/ out of me.

 

[bassman284]

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

Be interesting to live in a place where a nice day is one without rain.

 

[Expidia]

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

Comes with the territory of river cruising. I have the same issues on the Hudson River here in NY. Whenever we get a real hard rain it raises the water way above the high tide mark and this flushes a ton of logs, branches, pieces of peoples docks, metal 55 gallon drums, tires with the rims still in them etc back into the river.

Much of this debris is water logged so it travels down river just below the suface. In the Spring I've seen "entire trees" I mean like 30 feet long just criusing alone

Not much you can do about it other than wait a week or two after a storm or hard rain. The fishing is usually poor for me over the week after it rains anyway.

Usually if you hit a small log or branch on a river while you are on the move, since the log is not stationery you tend to pop over it and you hear this loud whack that scares the bejesus out of ya!
Damage is usually just a bent prop ear (maybe a bite taken out of it) since a log in the water has some give to it.

The worst is when you hit a rock or submerged piling (done both already) these types of immovable objects tend to whack the prop or take a chunk out of your skeg which is there to help protect your prop (skeg easily repaired by local welder for $50-75, done that twice already) Another good reason for using an aluminum prop, instead of stainless steel. Aluminum tends to bend or break, but for $30 sending in to an online prop repair shop, they can make it look just like new and ship it back all within a week!

This is why I always carry a spare prop, nut and several shear pins onboard and a prop wrench. A spare is handy too if you damage one and it's in the prop repair shop at least you don't lose a weekend of boating waiting for your only prop to come back.

Stainless steel does not give much and transfers the shock to your lower drive possibly breaking something or bending your prop shaft.

Just take a look at the boats being trailered as they go by on the h-way, check out their props and skegs, most are beat up. Some say "I've been boating for years and never nicked a prop". If my boat was in my driveway most of the season, my prop would be pristine too

Sure river cruising can be hard on props due to hard to spot floating or submerged debris . . . but that just adds to the adventure . . . hahaha

 

[DayCruiser]

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

I use a Hydro Lake and therefore water can fluctuate daily. That along with flooding rains. Trees and tree limbs fall in the water. Homeowner setup burn piles along the shore. So we are always on the lookout for debris in the water. Luckily, we never have hit anything big--knock on wood lol. I have seen plenty of big logs floating around from time to time, especially after a Tropical storm goes through

 

[bekosh]

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

Stainless steel does not give much and transfers the shock to your lower drive possibly breaking something or bending your prop shaft.

I've seen this comment time and time again and I don't buy it. Even with a stainless prop, you'll bend or break a blade, break the shear pin or trash the hub before you bend or break anything in the drive.

 

[Nightfisher-]

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

Really bad things can happen when boats meet with logs. We had an incident here a few years back where a bass boat was coming in and hit a log just as he was about to come off plane entering the no wake zone at the marina. The log impacted the lower unit and flipped the entire motor up into the boat. The guys instinct reaction was to shield himself with an arm as he turned and saw the motor coming down. His hand hit the still spinning prop and it was amputated. I have hit a couple in my toon that I never even saw, and I am super vigilant about it.

 

[Slide]

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

I've seen this comment time and time again and I don't buy it. Even with a stainless prop, you'll bend or break a blade, break the shear pin or trash the hub before you bend or break anything in the drive.

Correct. The plastic hub is designed to fail first, protecting the lower unit. It's also redundant with respect to the shear pin. Obviously you can still blow up your drive if you actually hit something with it, but if the stainless prop is the only thing that makes contact, your drive is safe.

 

[Alumarine]

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

Really bad things can happen when boats meet with logs. We had an incident here a few years back where a bass boat was coming in and hit a log just as he was about to come off plane entering the no wake zone at the marina. The log impacted the lower unit and flipped the entire motor up into the boat. The guys instinct reaction was to shield himself with an arm as he turned and saw the motor coming down. His hand hit the still spinning prop and it was amputated. I have hit a couple in my toon that I never even saw, and I am super vigilant about it.

This sounds like an urban myth to me. Not sure if it's possible even if the transom was bad.

 

[Alumarine]

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

Correct. The plastic hub is designed to fail first, protecting the lower unit. It's also redundant with respect to the shear pin. Obviously you can still blow up your drive if you actually hit something with it, but if the stainless prop is the only thing that makes contact, your drive is safe.

I'm not saying you're wrong but how do prop shafts get bent then?
Also, not all drives have shear pins.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

next time you go to cut a log in half, use a chain saw

 

[shrew]

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

I've seen this comment time and time again and I don't buy it. Even with a stainless prop, you'll bend or break a blade, break the shear pin or trash the hub before you bend or break anything in the drive.

Don't kid yourself. It happens. I hit some debris floating under the water when I was in over 100 ft. of water and miles from land. I have a Bravo 3 with SS props. I had a small 1 inch tear in one prop blade and it sheared 4 teeth on the prop shaft gear. shafts will not bend, but teeth on gears will absolutely shear.

BTW- Not all setups have shear pins, prop hubs, etc., as with the Bravo 3.

 

[Nightfisher-]

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

This sounds like an urban myth to me. Not sure if it's possible even if the transom was bad.

Knew this was coming...nope, it happened. I live 2 minutes from the ramp and witnessed all the emergency vehicles there when it happened. A buddy of mine at work knows the guy. I hear he sued either the boat dealer, or whoever mounted his motor because of the way it came off. Apparently it broke the bolts off and the motor swung up on the cables...

http://www.marksandharrison.com/recent-unusual-cases.html ...4th case down was him

Can't find the original news report. Been about 7 or 8 years since it happened.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

I can see it happening with a jacked up motor rather than one low on the transom.

 

[KFS]

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

Friend hit a submerged log in Erie with his two young daughters in the boat. The physical damage to the boat was enormous but fortunately he and the girls were okay.

 

[Bob's Garage]

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

I've seen this comment time and time again and I don't buy it. Even with a stainless prop, you'll bend or break a blade, break the shear pin or trash the hub before you bend or break anything in the drive.

My insurance company and I respectfully disagree, to the tune of $10,00.00+ to replace 2 lower units. The blades were barely dented!

 

[byteman]

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

As far as whether this can really happen or not, I have seen it. Don't have pictures of what I saw growing up, but here is an example:

http://www.wmi.org/multi_boards/other_topics/message.html?message_id=317046

 

[bekosh]

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

I'm not saying you're wrong but how do prop shafts get bent then?
Also, not all drives have shear pins.

Don't kid yourself. It happens. I hit some debris floating under the water when I was in over 100 ft. of water and miles from land. I have a Bravo 3 with SS props. I had a small 1 inch tear in one prop blade and it sheared 4 teeth on the prop shaft gear. shafts will not bend, but teeth on gears will absolutely shear.

BTW- Not all setups have shear pins, prop hubs, etc., as with the Bravo 3.

My insurance company and I respectfully disagree, to the tune of $10,00.00+ to replace 2 lower units. The blades were barely dented!

What I'm saying is that if you hit something, you either hit hard enough to damage the outdrive or you didn't, it doesn't matter whether your prop is aluminum or stainless.

Maybe we should send this to Mythbusters and let them test it and see if there is a difference?

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

First off, glad you and the misses are ok

grew up in a boating family. spent many weekends on the Menomonee River above the Chalk Hills Dam as well as many of the northern flowages. submerged tree stumps were one thing that we would expect to hit in the shallows while chasing walleye and bass. floaters and those just below the surface while on plane were another.

every spring you had to ride on the bow while going slow and look for floaters to get to the fishing holes.

one spring Dad took the boat a bit farther up stream. since the water was about 2' higher than normal due to a very wet spring, he did not see the submerged rock island. at just about 20mph, he sheared off the lower unit of the 50hp merc. had the boat not had power trim, the motor may have ridden up and simply damaged the prop and skeg. was $1k in damage back in 1985

4 weeks later after the water level dropped, we went up, pulled up to the rock, picked up the pieces - prop, prop shaft and section of our lower, along with a few damaged pieces of other peoples lowers. we used that prop and nut as a spares for years.

later that year we had a friend hit a submerged log with a 18' fiberglass boat, branch punctured the hull, then took out the prop and lower. we got there as the boat was down to the gunwales to lend a hand.

last year I found the only rock in sand bay, took out one blade on each prop, and spun the hub on the rear.

all I can say is Ship Happens

 

[spyder9179]

Re: Watch out for debris!!!!

Please explain: what is this "rain" you speak of?