Mercury prop blade flies off while on plane

[LG111]

Sorry Sandy for the huge headache on such a great trip. I do question the odd color along the broken edge. There is a story there for sure. Keep us posted.

Pods
Theft
Prop

Your done with all three now so your free of any future issue$!

 

[sandydlc]

Sorry Sandy for the huge headache on such a great trip. I do question the odd color along the broken edge. There is a story there for sure. Keep us posted.

Pods
Theft
Prop

Your done with all three now so your free of any future issue$!

Do you promise? I’m starting to feel like we’re cursed!!

 

[FastMarkA]

Mercury's warranty approach takes its cues from a kid who has been accused of sneaking into the cookie jar...deny, deny, deny, deny, deny, deny.

I have no prop expertise so cannot comment on that, but I can tell you they'll put up a fight to not pay out.

That said, if you have a 2010 prop and it's 2018...without having read their warranty for your particular setup, I'd be highly surprised if they extend coverage past 5 years?

 

[sbw1]

Sure. Here you go. Two pix. The prop is now expensive garden art. This accident also happened on a well traveled route yet many boats did not hit the nets. I did not feel anything other than sudden vibration. Also used my tack line on the plotter to go back and see if there was a log or something floating nearby. There was zero sign of a water hazard.

Sorry that happened to you! Do you still have pictures of your damaged prop by any chance?

 

[sandydlc]

Sure. Here you go. Two pix. The prop is now expensive garden art. This accident also happened on a well traveled route yet many boats did not hit the nets. I did not feel anything other than sudden vibration. Also used my tack line on the plotter to go back and see if there was a log or something floating nearby. There was zero sign of a water hazard.

View attachment 59458 View attachment 59457

I’m no expert but the interior of that prop doesn’t look right. There shouldn’t be corrosion... Are you sure you hit a net?

 

[ENstig8or]

The same thing happened to me last summer. The sudden vibration was definitely startling. I have V drives and not the pods. My starboard blade broke off right at the hub with no warning whatsoever. My props were Nibral and not stainless. The good side is that the blade obviously shot down or out to the side or there could have been serious damage to the hull. Sounds like we were all lucky there.

 

[sandydlc]

The same thing happened to me last summer. The sudden vibration was definitely startling. I have V drives and not the pods. My starboard blade broke off right at the hub with no warning whatsoever. My props were Nibral and not stainless. The good side is that the blade obviously shot down or out to the side or there could have been serious damage to the hull. Sounds like we were all lucky there.

Wow! I’m glad you avoided any major damage. Did you ever determine what caused the blade to detach?

 

[sbw1]

I’m no expert but the interior of that prop doesn’t look right. There shouldn’t be corrosion... Are you sure you hit a net?

There is no corrosion on the prop at all. What you see is some discoloration from sitting in dirt for quite a few years. I took the prop inside and rinsed it off in the kitchen sink to get the pix. Except for the fracture, the prop is smooth as can be everywhere on its surfaces. Yes. I'm confident that it was caused by a net as there were quite a few boats over the summer that experienced this fate at virtually the same longitude and latitude.

 

[sandydlc]

There is no corrosion on the prop at all. What you see is some discoloration from sitting in dirt for quite a few years. I took the prop inside and rinsed it off in the kitchen sink to get the pix. Except for the fracture, the prop is smooth as can be everywhere on its surfaces. Yes. I'm confident that it was caused by a net as there were quite a few boats over the summer that experienced this fate at virtually the same longitude and latitude.

Ahh - got it. Thanks for taking the time to rinse it off for the picture!

 

[northern]

If it is metal failure a metallurgical engineering firm can determine the cause but the cost will probably be more than you get from Merc. The aft end of the failure looks polished. That may indicate there has been a crack in the blade for some time. If the aft end of the failure is smooth it probably has been rubbing slightly between the failed surfaces for some time.
If the prop shop can not determine the cause you might want to send the prop to Mec and ask for their opinion.

 

[fwebster]

Sorry Sandy for the huge headache on such a great trip. I do question the odd color along the broken edge. There is a story there for sure. Keep us posted.

Pods
Theft
Prop

Your done with all three now so your free of any future issue$!

Not so fast......it takes about 10 years for Mercury/Mercruiser to let customers do the prototype testing on new products they released before they were really ready for the market.

 

[sandydlc]

Not so fast......it takes about 10 years for Mercury/Mercruiser to let customers do the prototype testing on new products they released before they were really ready for the market.

Frank is a wise man.

 

[tc410]

I’m not sure what you expect? Even if it was a bad casting - and let’s assume it is - if it’s an original prop it’s eight years old. I’m not aware of any warranty or obligation in the universe that would cover a moving (and underwater no less) part for 8 years. I guess I’m saying that even if Merc came back and said “yep, we agree, it was a bad casting” I’d still expect that a reasonable follow-up response would be “too bad, it’s 8 years old.”

 

[sbw1]

I’m not sure what you expect? Even if it was a bad casting - and let’s assume it is - if it’s an original prop it’s eight years old. I’m not aware of any warranty or obligation in the universe that would cover a moving (and underwater no less) part for 8 years. I guess I’m saying that even if Merc came back and said “yep, we agree, it was a bad casting” I’d still expect that a reasonable follow-up response would be “too bad, it’s 8 years old.”

I agree, but.....just had a fiberglass delaminatation on the anchor locker door, a small area the size of a playing card. My marina fixed it to the tune of $1,600. I sent a copy of my paid bill to Tiara and asked for consideration. They paid me $500 and said your boat is 14 years old. Don't expect us to do this again. I said, OK I won't ask again. Point being, it does not hurt to ask.

 

[tc410]

.....Point being, it does not hurt to ask.

I totally agree with you. I would ask too. And she did ask, and she got an answer that shouldn’t be surprising to anyone with a failed 8 year old (presumably) piece of running gear.

 

[fwebster]

I agree on the warranty coverage part of this discussion..........

I would have had my local dealer to handle the contact with Mercruiser, however, because they have some volume leverage where you have one set of props.

I do not agree that a Sea Ray owner should be happy with and expect a prop to self destruct after 8 years. This is a sinlge thread and we have 2 CSR members reporting the exact same problem. Our dealer has had to replace 2 props with thrown blades. This doesn't look like a normal wear and tear thing to me. Normal to me is my '96 450DA......21 years old, we put 100-150 hours a year on the engines and my props are original to the boat. I'd go anywhere in her tomorrow......and I wouldn't leave town in a Zeus powered boat.

 

[ENstig8or]

Wow! I’m glad you avoided any major damage. Did you ever determine what caused the blade to detach?

I cannot say for certain, but I believe this prop may have been damaged before by the previous owner and repaired. This prop was a spare and probably had an undetected hairline crack. I had switched my props out to have them reconditioned and it was the spare that threw the blade while my primaries were in for service.

 

[b_arrington]

I read a Back Cove /Sabre group. Two owners of Zeus pod equipped Sabres recently reported similar issues with boats in the 2011 range. One had a blade spit at 580 hours and one had a full blade separation.

They contacted Mercury and got a full reimbursement for the props, labor and other costs with minimal hassle. One of the owners reported that Mercury admitted to faulty props.

 

[sandydlc]

I read a Back Cove /Sabre group. Two owners of Zeus pod equipped Sabres recently reported similar issues with boats in the 2011 range. One had a blade spit at 580 hours and one had a full blade separation.

They contacted Mercury and got a full reimbursement for the props, labor and other costs with minimal hassle. One of the owners reported that Mercury admitted to faulty props.

I had heard the same thing but wasn’t able to find the reference online (I heard through a friend of mine). Do you have a link to that message thread by any chance? This is the main reason that I’m even bothering to pursue anything with Mercury. There is a known issue with this year/series of props and they should stand behind their product. Thank you!

 

[sandydlc]

I agree on the warranty coverage part of this discussion..........

I would have had my local dealer to handle the contact with Mercruiser, however, because they have some volume leverage where you have one set of props.

I do not agree that a Sea Ray owner should be happy with and expect a prop to self destruct after 8 years. This is a sinlge thread and we have 2 CSR members reporting the exact same problem. Our dealer has had to replace 2 props with thrown blades. This doesn't look like a normal wear and tear thing to me. Normal to me is my '96 450DA......21 years old, we put 100-150 hours a year on the engines and my props are original to the boat. I'd go anywhere in her tomorrow......and I wouldn't leave town in a Zeus powered boat.

I’m going to continue to pursue after the holiday. This is exactly the argument that I gave Mercury - how did my 15 year-old, Volvo equipped Chaparral survive with original props when my Zeus powered Sea Ray is throwing blades at 8 years/635 hours? I’m not even asking for them to cover any of my expenses, I’m just asking for them to provide us with one rear prop so when (not if) my port prop loses a blade I won’t be stranded like we were on this trip. We had a 2+ week itinerary planned with 2 other boats and we missed the last 7 days because of our prop failure. We planned this trip for months and I worked so hard to prep the boat for any eventuality. We did all of our scheduled maintenance, we took care of some needed updates (like replacing the secondary seals on our windows, new cockpit carpet, new refrigerator...) and we felt so prepared for this trip and then we lose a prop blade halfway through. It felt like two years ago when a $1.50 gasket that blew on our starboard pod forced us to cancel a trip to Canada the first summer we had our boat. It’s beyond frustrating and disappointing.