Fin Broke

[JeffMendenhall]

Well yesterday was the first time visiting my boat out of the water. The inner fin on my starboard side out drive has a chunck missing out of it. So I have two questions. First, does this really effect anything, like vibration, water flow etc? And second, is this repairable?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Henry Boyd]

Jeff,

Based on what you told us it is one of the below, or something in between:

1, It is completely unrepairable and will require a new drive,

OR

2, It is no big deal and you can forget about it,


Seriously, without any more info to go on there is no meaningful answer to the question. A couple pictures would go a long way to helping us answer your question.

Henry

 

[JeffMendenhall]

Here is a picture, it does not look good to me.

 

[Henry Boyd]

Clean the drive up so you can llok for cracks in the area around the broken piece. Any cracks will have to be corrected, other wise they will propagate. The next question will call for an examination of the prop (props if its a BIII). This type of damage is usally caused by something getting jammed between the plate and the prop, e..g floating piece of wood. If you took a chunk of drive out, the prop may have a bent, or distorted blade.

Henry

 

[JeffMendenhall]

Already started the cleaning process, this was the before pic and before it was pressure washed. I bought the boat as is for an extremely good price, so I have not had it out to run yet. Even if I had to replace the drive, for what I paid for the boat it is still a good deal. But, hopefully it can be repaired.

I am planning on replacing the props over the winter, yes BIII. Both props have a few dings, do not appear bent though, but am taking no chances.

I have not seen any cracks since I started cleaning it yesterday.

So the question is still there. Can this be repaired? I would assume it can be welded but not sure. I have not spoke to the folks at the Marina yet, was looking for some advise from you all first.

Thanks much

 

[BonBini]

Yes that can be repaired. A chunk of alum can be fitted, welded, reshaped and painted. I had to have a scag repaired on mine when I bought it. 250 bones.

For now I would run it and see that the drive is sound enough to start putting $ into it. If good, then get em cleaned up, repaired and painted. ...Ron

 

[Nehalennia]

I just threw up in my mouth a little. How long has it been in the water?

 

[JeffMendenhall]

It is really not as bad as it looks corrosion wise. It actually cleaned up pretty good from the pressure wash. It was in brackish water in Virginia, I think it has been a couple years since anyone paid attention to the lower ends. It is my winter project to make them like new once again.

My plan is to to totally strip down to pretty much bare metal, prime and paint, rebuild the trim cylinders or replace them, replace the props and of course now get the fin fixed.

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[Lazy Daze]

All excellent advice above (and some a little gross...:lol. I just want to add that you shouldn't be too quick to replace the props. They're very expensive. Send them out to a repair shop, first. Prop shops can do some amazing work at much less cost than new ones. At least get an estimate. Of course, I'm only basing this on the little bit that I can see in the picture.