A Big Thank You

[moombadaze]

Met up with ed G and his wife and brother in law on saturday. Ive been asking my daughter to try wakeboarding,surfing-allways get no as a answer. Well this day she says she wants to try, Ed's wife says let me help, she gets in the lake and gives some coaching and must have spent about a hour and a half in the lake. Well now she can just get up and ride like no ones buisness. Later she says now i understand why you like going to the lake so much Dad. When i was surfing and fell and waiting for the boat to come around she undid the rope from the tower , when i asked her why she did this she say's "its my turn". This has made me one happy Dad. Today she tried her wakeboard and got up and rode for the first time ever-all because of what she learned the day before.

Again a big thank you to Ed and his wife. What a pleasure it was to hang out with you guys.

Stacy

[kaneboats]

That's awesome!! Good job Ed and Tammy! Maybe you guys can work with my twin boys? Ed, you can have the evil twin. Might have to borrow a boat though cuz I busted mine pretty good.

[Mrs.Daze]

That's awesome!! Good job Ed and Tammy! Maybe you guys can work with my twin boys? Ed, you can have the evil twin. Might have to borrow a boat though cuz I busted mine pretty good.

Uh oh. What happened?

[kaneboats]

I discovered a rock in a river that isn't supposed to have any. Here's a picture of the prop and one of the rudder.

[moombadaze]

all i can say is wow-youll have to tell us the story

[kaneboats]

No story. Launched at the Basin in Bainbridge, GA. You take a narrow channel from the basin to the Flint River. There was a boat trying to come in so I made a right turn. I was plenty far enough out from shore. Was watching the gauges and slowly accelerating (I always do this the first time I take off- it's habit). Was at almost half power when BOOOOOOOOOM! I stopped. The boat was still running. I tried to putt back to the basin to load it on the trailer and have a look. No steering. Got a tow in and loaded up. The prop is destroyed, the rudder busted clean off. The drive shaft may be bent. I can't tell for sure. The strut may be bent too. It's hard to tell.

Some guys on the water says, "Hey, there's a big rock out there if you turn right." I said, "No $hit?" I've never hit anything in that river before and never heard of anyone hitting a rock right near the entrance to the basin. I can't believe it wasn't marked. There's plenty of other markers for "no wake", etc.

I have a spare prop and I can order and install a new rudder assembly. I don't know how to tell if the drive shaft is bent or how serious it is though. I don't know if there's any inboard service facility anywhere around here either. Not sure what I am going to do. Maybe fix the rudder, throw the other prop on and take a test run. Take it easy- see how it looks. Vibrations will tell how serious it is.

[moombadaze]

Pat, man im sorry to see that. that sucks

my thoughts are get the old prop off, hook up to a fake a lake and let it idle in gear with no prop or rudder on and just look at the shaft and see how it looks, or if the prop shaft will spin by hand, put a straight edge( level should work) along the shaft and see if youve got any high or low spots as you spin it. if it looks good put the new rudder and prop on and go for ride and see how it feels. probly should still get it to a dealer and have them inspect it afterwards.

[zegm]

Kaneboats,

Hey that looks terrible!!!! Man I feel for you!!
We will have some room on our boat at the Jamboree, we can spread the kids around!
To determine if the driveshaft is bent, put a jackstand near it or something that you can fasten a screw driver on (visegrips work good to secure it to the jack stand) it in a horizontal plane (doesn't have to be perfect). Slide this assembly so that the tip of the screw driver is just touching or about to touch the driveshaft. Then have someone turn the prop and watch for a gap to appear between the tip and the driveshaft. You can move this assembly around the driveshaft to check it. Also if the driveshaft is bent it will turn easily and then get hard as it binds up in the strut bushings.

[kipp]

Take the shaft out and take it to machine shop. They can put it on a lathe and use an dial indicator to see if it is out. I had a similar situation years ago where a blade broke off the propeller, bent the shaft and strut on our 1964 chris craft. Never did know if my brother hit something or not.
kipp

[Sled491]

KB, All I can say is ouch! I bet your heart sank to the bottom with your rudder. I hope the shaft isn't bent, and you can get on the water soon. Beofre removing the shaft to see if it is true go with Z's idea, it will let you know how to proceed.

On the machine shop side, Kipp were they able to true the shaft or just let you know it was done?