It finally happened, we hit a log

mrsrobinson

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2006
7,704
Virginia
Boat Info
2001 380DA
Engines
Caterpillar 3126
7+ years of boating the James river and we have never hit a log. Well, yesterday we took advantage of a very rare 80 degree day in December and took the boat out. It was our first time out since having the bottom painted, hull compounded/waxed and props reconditioned. She ran like a charm, until...

It was windy/choppy and the water was browner than usual. Under plane, 25+ knots, we heard a sickening loud boom, so loud I thought we hit a rock or something. I quickly pulled back the throttles and threw her in neutral. Sat for a few minutes to make sure we were not sinking, hit the bilge pump, no water came out, so far so good. Put her in gear and got all kinds of vibrations on the port side, starboard side OK.

I checked the engine compartment for leaks and noises, all good. We boated back on the starboard engine but I did leave the port one running and in gear since we have dripless shafts.

Made it back, dropped the engine down from 1200 RPMs to idle and the starboard trans started making all kinds of loud knocking noises. This one V-Drive has always been a little noisy when idling, but never like this. Got her in the slip and had her pulled 3 hours later as we had to wait for the tide to rise.

Visually all good news. Port prop is bent pretty bad, but can be reconditioned. Starboard prop was very loose but does not appear to be damaged. Both are coming off today and going back to the recondition shop. Both shafts look good. Mechanic is going to test/check them today hopefully. Underwater exhausts are in tact, no damage, rudders/struts are in tact, no damage.

We are hoping the horrible knocking noise in the starboard trans is from the loose prop. Otherwise, new transmission. The starboard side had some vibration pre impact so I am thinking it was not secured properly by the service shop when the props were reinstalled. It only makes the noise from idle to 1200 RPMs, after 1200 no noise at all. Our starboard engine is acting strange too. Idle is jumping up and down and dropping to 500RPMs and even shut down a few times. Not sure how this can be related but it was not doing this pre-impact.

This was our first impact underway and I tell you what, it's a sickening/frightening feeling.
 
I felt the sickening feeling as I read your post... Hope everything turns out OK. Doesn't sound like your stbd Vdrive is well however...


After reading these kinds of encounters, Makes me wonder if the newer drive systems with the prop facing forward is such a great idea...
 
Sorry to heare about your damage. Hopefully, like you say, it won't be too bad. I agree with your assessment about the stbd prop - not put on right (correctly).
 
Sorry to hear about your mishap. I hope it turns out to be only relatively minor damage. Ive hit a log under the same conditions but was only going at steerage speed. No damage at all but the sound it made was sickening as it thumped off the hull.
 
welcome to the log jammer club. I wake up at night screaming "LOG" every once in awhile.
 
while i have seen, and retrieved, several of these from the water, I hope that I never hit one.

I hope everything turns out o.k.
 
I don't know where you were on the James but I saw something on the river this summer that was absolutely unbelievable. There was a guy clearing several acres of land and he was basically bulldozing the trees into the water. Needless to say, full trees were floating by my dock and out on the James...
 
I am sorry to hear of your mishap. I imagine something like that is covered by insurance?
Is this a more likely incident during the off season, since fewer boats are out and about to find stray logs? Who's responsibility is it to get this crap out of the water?
With IPS you would have completely sheared off your drive. I don't know which would be more costly, replacing an IPS drive or repairing props, shafts, and possibly trans.
I think the same would happen with Zeus.
With an outdrive at 25 knots, it would kick up, but I imagine you'd be in for a several thousand dollar repair, hopefully just the bottom unit.
Here starts the debate on which is better for hitting logs.
 
there has got to be some kind of law against that.

On the Hudson if you mention Log to a boater, you can see a look of fear in their eyes. Most people time their launch in the spring to be about a week after the locks start operating. This helps wash the fallen trees down the river. I, not knowing this, had my boat in the water about 1 month before the locks were running and I can tell you i'm paying for it now. my bottom paint is a disaster.
 
there has got to be some kind of law against that.

I think the law should be anyone with a boat newer than 2002, greater than 45' should be responsible for clearing logs in a 25 mile radius of their mooring, so that those with smaller boats don't have these kind of experiences and financial strains. [waiting, waiting, waiting...]
 
After reading these kinds of encounters said:
You are generally looking at few bucks anytime you hit something going 25mph. I don't believe the Volvo system is any more or less prone to damage because of the props being on the leading edge. The pod is designed to shear off without leaking if there is a big impact. Obviously this would be expensive to repair but is fixable. I've seen boats that had the shafts ripped out of the hull (where were the zincs installed?). Saw a 33 SR last year that sat on the bottom in 25 feet of water for a very short period of time. The owner dried it out, repaired mechainicals and redecorated after collecting his insurance payment. Not sure I would want to own it after that but it looked surpisingly good. The pods may be better.
 
Props fit on a taper on the shaft. IN forward and with some power, the prop forces itself up on the taper and it should run quiet, eeven if it is loose. When you reverse the transmission or go to neutral, the prop moves the other way down off the taper where it will rattle and shake on the shaft. The rattle and shake is transmitted up an into the boat via the shaft and sounds like your tranmission has marbles in it.

Your description is text book for a loose prop.......I hope that is what it was since fixing that one is free!
 
Forget all the other things... I'm glad you didnt sink and end up in the water which I'm sure is colder than ours right now!!!

Good luck with your repairs....
 
Thanks Frank, that is what we are hoping on the starboard trans.

News back from the prop shop, port prop is not repairable, 2 of 4 blades are bent too far. Now it's time to find a used prop that matches the starboard one. The prop shop said the Insurance company may pay for 2 news ones versus the cost of a used one that needs to be matched/reconditioned to the starboard one.
 
I don't know where you were on the James but I saw something on the river this summer that was absolutely unbelievable. There was a guy clearing several acres of land and he was basically bulldozing the trees into the water. Needless to say, full trees were floating by my dock and out on the James...

I would report that kind of activity. Maybe it is legal, but if not, it needed to be stopped. Not only is he a menace to dock owners and water traffic, it's an extreme safety hazard.
 
I have a good friend who is not very computer savy (like I am!) and who is afraid of eBay/PayPal. He just traded boats and gave me all of his spares for the boat he traded to either use or sell for him. There is a set of props in the mix, but I suspect they are too much wheel for you. I'm going to list them at 1/2 the cost of new and they were just reconditioned, trued and balanced. They are 20" X 22" with a 1.5" bore. Let me know if they'll work.
 
Very unfortunate.

This happened on the way back to DC from Tides Inn (3300 rpm). We never saw what it was. Most bets are on a stump that was floating just under the surface. It tore the blade off the nibral prop in the picture, flexed the strut and cracked the hull so that water started coming in where the strut bolts to the hull.

We were fortunate that it happened just outside Fort Washington marina and that they could do an emergency haul-out. The strut bed had to be ground down and completely re-glassed, new shafts, strut straightening, cutlass bearings, new props and months getting the ground fiberglass out of the bilge. Fortunately, the transmission made it thru.

I am curious why you left the port transmission in gear on the way home. I have dripless shafts as well and water flows to the seal with the engine on.

-John
 
Sorry to hear about this. It sure is a sickening feeling indeed, just to read. I did hit a log a couple years ago and I was tremendously fortunate, it just skipped on the chine and all I could think was, "Damn, If that hit the O/D it wouldn't have been good."

Got home and luckily the only visible damage was some pitch from the log.

..........hit a reef on a rescue attempt once too....but that's a story I need a beer and a seat on a dock to tell..........
 
Mr's R...glad it turned out to be only boat damage and no one got hurt....hopefully the insurance will make it all go away....

Turtle...I hear you....I traveled up the Hudson three times. There was always a ton of floating logs you had to dodge around. It's the ones you don't see that worried me. I hit one on plane with my 380DA....actually...it wasn't mine yet...I was delivering it from Manhattan to the Peekskill SS3 for the predelivery setup. No prop damage, but it did bend one of the strainers and tabs.

I can certainly relate to the "sound"....real scary....I don't know how anyone could ever travel up/down the Hudson at night....
 
I think the law should be anyone with a boat newer than 2002, greater than 45' should be responsible for clearing logs in a 25 mile radius of their mooring, so that those with smaller boats don't have these kind of experiences and financial strains. [waiting, waiting, waiting...]

Are you going to be a problem around here? Because if you are, I'm going to hit that little "report post" button on you and we all know what happens to people when they get reported.
 

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