Had a scare - hit a log

[Yellowmobius]

I was out last weekend and hit a floating log at idle (didn't see it). Put the boat in neutral as soon as I heard the clunk. After that I tired to get going and had a real bad vibration. Loaded the boat, looked at the prop and driveshaft, both looked perfect, not even a scratch on the prop. I started on the trailer and put it in gear so I could see if the shaft was bent, nope. I noticed noise from the v-drive. I was thinking I needed a new v-drive unit.
After further inspection I found all the bolts that bolt the shaft to the v-drive VERY loose. I tightened the bolts and took it for a test drive, no noise, no vibration. All seems good, going to the lake today to keep running it.

The mystery is.....how did the bolts loosen up, I had the shaft replaced last year about 100 hours on it since then. The bolts have lock nuts on them.
All I can figure is the bolts had loosened up and the driveshaft flange had locked to the v-drive good enough to stay under normal running. Hitting the log must have jarred the shaft free from the v-drive. It is the only thing I can think of.
My other option - trade the 04 LSV in on a 07 LSV. The wife didn't see that option as bright as I did.

At any rate I think the boat is good to go and that is a good thing as I am heading to the lake for a week!

[Yellowmobius]

Little update on this,

Rainy weekend here in ND so I spent the majority of it cleaning the boat. I recalled those 4 bolts on the drive shaft had loosened up earlier this summer so I decided to check them. Long story short, they were loose again. They are locking nuts.

Back in the jet ski days we used silicone to lock nuts in place so I am trying that.

[Nafplio]

I found mine loose while checking the shaft alignment at the beginning of the season. I called SC and they said to tighten the locknuts and make sure the two flanges are less than 0.003" apart. I was thinking it was an one time occurence but apparently not. I'll check again Friday. Thanks for posting this.

[zabooda]

Glad to see everything worked out. I assume that you had water running to the engine while the boat was on the trailer. The raw water pump impeller fails real quick without water.

[Rugburn]

We've had record rain this month in Wisconsin. The most rain in month in Wisconsin's history. That being said, last night I noticed alot of floating logs and debris in the water, one of which I bumped. Thankfully no damage.