I hit a piece of wood...

finchturf

finchturf

New Member
Jun 9, 2008
39
Westminster, MD
Boat Info
340 Sundancer 2006
Engines
Twin 8.1 Mercruiser Inboards
We took Blackberry Down out for a shakedown cruise this past weekend - both for the boat and for our new 6 month old daughter! Our daughter did much better than the boat though... A mile or so up the river - I hit a piece of wood that looked like a slat from a pallet... Nothing too terribly big and I didn't even see it - until the 10 or so pieces of it came up in our wake! One piece got stuck on something and acted like a trim tab - that was fun! We stopped immediately - didn't notice any issues in the bilge. The starboard prop shaft has a little bit of movement to it but I'm not sure if it wasn't like that before? My big question is can you hit something like that and not do any damage? There didn't feel to be any vibration afterwards - although at that point its in your head and you feel everything! I've got a diver coming later this week just to take a peek - sucks it was on the first run of the year!
 
How are your prop blades? No dents?
 
It's possible to hit something larger and cause no problems. It's possible to hit something smaller and cause a problem. It all depends on the scenario and how the wood gets tangled in there. I know that doesn't really help, but that's a hard question to give a definitive answer to.
 
I hit a piece of firewood on plane and no damage, just thud thud sound. A friend of mine has twice now had damage requiring prop work twice. Guess you never know. If no vibration afterwards likely you are safe.
 
I hit a log on plane, and busted my gimbal ring.
On my boat, you have to pull the engine to replace it.
Cost me almost $1500.

Glad you were lucky!
 
I'm pretty certain that a Prop Scan of your props will show that they are not within spec. The scan is usually free. The trued up props usually pay for the repair. Many new boats are delivered out of spec so don't think that if you have no vibrations all is well. Last summer I hit an unmarked native american fishing net (illegal in Michigan but that does not bother our native americans) and broke a blade off a $3,000 nibral prop. It sounded like an explosion in the bilge. Happily, only the prop needed to be replaced. Tiara uses very beefy shafts and they were true after the mishap. Replaced both of my props with the spares and ordered a new starboard prop. The old and the new were Prop Scanned and are in the ready should this happen again. I feel fortunate that this is my first prop ding in 40+ years of cruising Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and the North Channel. Knock on wood.
 
I hit something that was submerged, never saw it. No loud noise, no vibrations. But that's because It sheared the prop right off the shaft. It nicked the underside slightly, but other than that, seems no other damage. Any advice on how to handle the insurance. I guess I have to see how much everything's going to cost first.
 
I had a loss from striking a submerged object and national marine underwrighters handled the claim. I suppose it depends on who your insured with as to the speed of service but if you hit an object it should be covered. They will ask when where why and the like and send a surveyer to see the damage. Most likely you can have the repairs done anywhere and depending on the marina you may have to pay and be reimbursed by the insurer.
ReLAXin said:
I hit something that was submerged, never saw it. No loud noise, no vibrations. But that's because It sheared the prop right off the shaft. It nicked the underside slightly, but other than that, seems no other damage. Any advice on how to handle the insurance. I guess I have to see how much everything's going to cost first.
Click to expand...
 
A lot of times the cost of a prop is less than the deductible on your policy.
 
Any chance it could have been a shaft failure? It bothers me that that I didn't hear anything before alarm went off ( high rpm). Never saw anything in water after slowing. It happened at 3500 rpm. These are not original shafts and props, a previous owner went aground but all was replaced by insurance. A surveyor looked at all before I bought. Boat has only 125 hrs.
 
ReLAXin said:
Any chance it could have been a shaft failure? It bothers me that that I didn't hear anything before alarm went off ( high rpm). Never saw anything in water after slowing. It happened at 3500 rpm. These are not original shafts and props, a previous owner went aground but all was replaced by insurance. A surveyor looked at all before I bought. Boat has only 125 hrs.
Click to expand...


Sounds like the shaft broke off at the front edge of the prop hub. If that is the case then most likely you didn't hit anything at all. The cause could have been a prop that was incorrectly fitted to the shaft or the prop was "riding the key" after the prop nuts were tightened. If so, it was sloppy work by whoever made the previous repair.
 
Diver came and checked it out - said no damage to props or hull... We'll see how she does this weekend on a 70nm cruise south! Wish us luck!
 
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