Two issues

rh320

Member
Mar 2, 2018
119
Boat Info
Boatless
Engines
Boatless
So, I took my boat, 05 320DA, to its new slip a couple weekends ago. It took a couple hours and the boat performed flawlessly. Two weekends ago I took it out for the first time from its new home which brings me to my issues.

#1. I went to throttle up to get on plane and before I really got any where I hit a sandbar. Wasn't moving fast but I'm worried I may have bent a prop. However, the boat tracked straight and had no problems at slow speeds around the dock. So I want to believe that there's no issues with the prop but the boat felt like it took longer to get on plane than it should and after getting up to 4K rpms and backing down to 3500-3600 the throttle levers were in very different locations. So I'm not sure if I bent a prop Or maybe my throttle cables need adjusted? How hard is it to bend a prop? I was hardly moving when I hit the sandbar but it def made a loud noise.

#2. I also got an overheat code for the port motor on the smartcraft. I didn't take the boat for a long spin but I did get the motors up to running temp and the they were both great and the port never got hotter than the starboard. So I'm not too worried but the boat sat all of last year winterzied and unused. I worry that the impellers could be trouble and may be a threat to start dry rotting and maybe the cause of the overheat?

Idk, I'm new to this and will have a mechanic check the boat out but wanted to get yalls opinion!
 
VDrives or outdrives? If VDrives it is more likely something was damaged.

It's not hard to bend a prop or other underwater gear for that matter. As far as the throttles, not sure that would be related to the grounding. I would think you would notice a vibration. If it was just sand and at low speed it's quit possible there was no damage. Only way to know is to take it out, run it checking for vibration and/or have it hauled for a visual inspection.

The overheating is likely caused by sand and mud being sucked into the raw water intake when you hit the sandbar. Check / clean the strainers.
 
For the over heating it possible that its the impeller or as stated you may have clogged the strainer. Check there and then move forward in the cooling systems. What is the raw water pressure showing on smartcraft?

Again if you have v-drives and don't feel a vibration anywhere in the rpm range it is likely all is good. You still might want to add a prop tune to your to-do list next haul.

-Kevin
 
Last edited:
VDrives or outdrives? If VDrives it is more likely something was damaged.

It's not hard to bend a prop or other underwater gear for that matter. As far as the throttles, not sure that would be related to the grounding. I would think you would notice a vibration. If it was just sand and at low speed it's quit possible there was no damage. Only way to know is to take it out, run it checking for vibration and/or have it hauled for a visual inspection.

The overheating is likely caused by sand and mud being sucked into the raw water intake when you hit the sandbar. Check / clean the strainers.

The boat has v drives. pretty sure it was just sand as I saw it all worked up behind the boat and I was hardly moving when I hit it. I didn't notice anything strange. Nothing sounded or felt weird or even looked weird as far as water in the bilge is concerned so I kept going.

Well, and I should have noted this, the overheat issue was noticed before I left the slip. I closely monitored the port temp gauge and it never got hot and never got out of sync with the starboard. That was noticed at startup and I never noticed the code the previous time out.

I have a mechanic on schedule to go over everything and haul it out.
 
For the over heating it possible that its the impeller or as stated you may have clogged the strainer. Check there and then move forward in the cooling systems. What is the raw water pressure showing on smartcraft?

Again if you have v-drives and don't feel a vibration anywhere in the rpm range it is likely all is good. You still might want to add a prop tune to your to-do list next haul.

-Kevin

I should have stated this earlier but the overheat was showing on the smart craft before the boat even left the slip so it was before I hit the sandbar. I didn't notice it when I had it out the previous time either. And as I said, the port motor temp never got high and it was always right there with the starboards. I dont know as I am new to this type of boat and never had a smartcraft before. Im guessing the raw water pressure would tell me about the impeller? I have a mechanic scheduled to look at the overheat and possibly have a short haul just to make sure there are no problems.
 

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