[SEMIJim]

The trip started out great. The Admiral, a close friend who lives on the lake and in whose slip we stay, his wife and two of his kids. Went out to a shallow, sandy area to swim and soak up the sun. Had a great ride out, threw out a hook and enjoyed . Then, leaving, we went to go out on the opposite side of a small "island" (for lack of a better word) that was in the middle of this area. After a couple false starts (still too shallow with that many people in the boat), when it looked like we had about 4-5 ft. (1.2-1.5 m) of depth, began to accelerate to get her up on plane. After a few seconds, felt a couple bumps. Just as I was beginning to pull back on the throttle, there was a BIG thump/bang and I quickly put her in neutral. Of course, by then the damage was done. Tore a couple big chunks out of the skeg and, I found out when I later tried again to accelate, had spun the prop

Just as I was feeling those two bumps, there was a woman on-shore, a couple hundred feet away, yelling and waving her arms. Turns out there's a 80' (24m) long sunken barge under there. My friend didn't know about it, but we later found it is common knowledge on the lake. Some resident, back in the late 1800s, had purposely sunk a rock-laden barge out there to reduce wave erosion on the waterfront. I take comfort in the fact that the day after the jerk was elected Sheriff, he died I'm certain he's roasting in hell right now, being constantly prodded by very sharp, rusty pitchforks

Btw: Near as we can tell, with my friend, The Admiral and I examining two different sets of charts, that sunken barge full-of-rocks is not charted. However: You can see a darkened area, where the mishap occurred, on Google Maps.

Luckily, we were near a cut into the main river nearby, and were able to idle over to that, and thus to a another friend's place on that river. He had no open slip, but it was a place to stop and examine our options. As we proceded just above idle, against the current, of course , the prop hub finally gave up the ghost entirely just shy of our destination. Time to break out the oars! Luckily, being a weekday, there was little traffic on the river, and what there was saw our plight and steered around us.

Got her tied up and started making phone calls. Thought I was going to have to have her hauled to have this fixed. Seller said "No problem. You're tall. Just park the outdive, hang over the back, and pull the prop." I was doubtful, but...

Got down to the local West Marine, bought a prop wrench, and, with the outdrive in trailer mode and my wife sitting on my legs, got the prop off and headed back to WM, w/only a half-hour to spare, and bought a "spare" aluminum, 3-blade prop. (14", 23 pitch. That's what the book recommended and what the High5 is.) Left the stainless High-5 at WM for a local prop guy to pick up and repair. (Only had a couple new nicks, but who knows if it wasn't also whacked out-of-balance, as well.) Got back to the boat, carefully installed the new prop, and she was Good To Go again . We cruised out and back around to her home slip, and she ran beautifully .

So, so far, that little mishap has cost us $200 (prop + hub kit + wrench). The guy at WM suggested the prop repair will probably cost $50-$75, plus another $50 for a new hub kit. Can't imagine what it's going to cost to have a new skeg welded on. We'll live with it as it is until the end of the season and we haul her. To those who think that little skeg doesn't do much: Used to be I actually had steerage when there was forward motion and I had her in neutral. Not any more .

Jim

[AirNavy]

Crappy day, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. Glad it wasn't worse.

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by AirNavy

Crappy day, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. Glad it wasn't worse.

Thanks. We don't know how bad it is, yet. She seems to be running okay. I think maybe what I need to do is get her out to a sand bar (not in the same area!), crank the drive up and see just how bad the skeg damage is. My friends with boats are all telling me I'm crazy to even consider the expense of having the skeg replaced.

But it annoys me, and will continue to annoy me, that the skeg is not right (I'm a bit of a perfectionist .)

Jim

[AirNavy]

It would annoy me to no end as well, especially if I didn't know for sure how bad the damage was (I'm just a touch anal-retentive too). I have to assume you have no trailer, but you could grab a mask and take a quick swim to inspect the damage (as well as take a look down the hull to make sure nothing else happened).

[SEMIJim]

Upon advice from our insurance agency, filed a claim late yesterday. Today the claims adjuster called. I described to her the nature of the incident, my guess at the degree of damage likely, and the research I'd already done regarding possible courses of action and costs, incl. quotes for a haul-out and inspection by a couple of certified Mercuiser service centers nearby. She told me to just take it to one of the two and get the inspection done, that she'd authorize the insurance company paying the fees for that, regardless of whether we ultimately decided to withdraw the claim. (We're very happy with our insurance company .)

So we did, and a good thing, too!

I was right: About half the skeg is gone. There's also a 3/8" (1cm) wide "scratch," about 8" (20cm) long on the port side of the gear housing, just forward of the prop. Paint's totally scraped off. But that's not the worst part. The worst part is a 4' (1.2m) long gouge in the bottom of the hull, stopping about 1' (30cm) shy of the transom, a bit starboard of the hull's center-line, right into the fiberglass, looks like . At the aft-most end of this gouge, it reverses for an inch (2.54cm) or so, forming a "V" with one very long side. That had to be caused by something metal, snapping back, I'm thinking. Given the nature of what we believe we were over, I'm thinking perhaps rebar. There's another very small, but equally deep, gouge, about equidistant from the hull center-line, on the port side, about where the other one ends at the aft end.

So she's laid-up for a while. They're going to have a fiberglass guy come take a look at her Monday. They'll pull the lower unit to examine its innards for metal shavings or other signs of damage, check prop shaft runout, etc. Their initial impression is that the lower unit was probably saved by the prop's plastic hub "shear pin" function, but they'll at least have to send it out to have a new skeg welded on.

They estimate they'll have her for about a week. It's pretty apparent the repair costs will be well in excess of our $500 deductible. *sigh*

I'm such an idiot, sometimes

Btw: I asked them: "Do you get much business from boats damaged over there?" (The area in question is actually in sight from their business.) "We used to get a lot," he replied, "but not so much anymore."

Jim

[ShabahZ250]

Sorry to hear about your accident. We all make mistakes. Thank God for insurance, huh?

I'll be sharing my insurance story here shortly.

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by ShabahZ250

Sorry to hear about your accident. We all make mistakes.

Thanks! Yeah, it was a n00b mistake: Trying to get up to plane in water that was too shallow, I guess. (Tho both me and my buddy still swear we were in at least 4' (1.2m) of water at the time.) Or water that's too full of hazards

Originally Posted by ShabahZ250

Thank God for insurance, huh?

Indeed.

Originally Posted by ShabahZ250

I'll be sharing my insurance story here shortly.

I hope it's turning out well!

Jim

[English]

I hate to be all doom & gloom, but keep an eye on your outdrive. In my 2003 SC21, I was recently backing away from a dock on idle and hit something submerged. Busted my aluminium prop and stopped the engine dead. Engine fired up again, but then locked solid. I broke one of the gears in the upper part of the outdrive. One of the 45' gears. $1,700 later I'm back in the water again. Thankfully insurance took care of most of it.

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by English

I hate to be all doom & gloom, but keep an eye on your outdrive.

That's exactly why the insurance company insisted we haul her and have her checked out. The place doing the work has already inspected the lower gear case, incl. checking prop shaft runout, and found everything in order.

Jim

[Z 202]

In my case it was a nice piece of ledgerock. The big difference was I was at speed when it happend.

Fortuantely, I was well trimmed out because of all the passengers in the front (who of course didn't see it coming... ) so I merely took a nice chunk out of my skeg. Fortunately my prop didn't strike at all.

English: That must have been some hit. The prop should have a hub that spins to protect the drive in such a situation. Though I have seen a grenaded drive (a '70s era OMC stringer mount, with a big hole in the side) and it's not pretty.