Repair Estimate on Prop and Skeg

[Dave 205]

I dinged my 3 blade stainless prop on rocks. Scratches, some rough edges, some slight out of true on the blades. In the process, broke off about an inch of the back of the skeg on a verticle line. I got an estimate of about $250 on the prop, and another $250 - $300 or so on the skeg. I thought the prop in particular was high.

The skeg is still intact enough to protect the prop as designed. Any thoughts on just leaving it until I really break it off?

This is my Sea Ray Dealer. It's the biggest shop of any in town, and is well established. So, I'm guessing they are a reliable pick considering I don't have any experience with any shop.

Thoughts? Recommendations while the lower unit is off? 80 hours on the boat.

Thanks!

 

[Presentation]

Find a local prop shop. Remove the prop yourself. Go get an estimate from others. If you trailer your boat you could get other estimates on the skeg repair also.

To a reasonable degree the amount of skeg damage does not affect the skeg repair cost. They cut off whatever is left at a specific point then weld on a new skeg then paint over it. Mercury sells replacement skegs, not ½ skegs, 1/3 skegs, etc.

 

[Trucky]

I had a very similar issue this summer only I folded over a few blades on my stainless steel Vengeance prop and snapped off a good chunk of skeg. My boat shop sent the prop off to some place in Charlotte for $150 and he had a local guy who did his skeg repairs. This guy welded a piece of the same material back on, ground it down and painted it. It looks like a new out drive and charged me $60. So, $210 for the whole job and the prop and out drive both look better then they did before the ill-fated smack down.

 

[tbirdvet]

I had the same issue. Sent prop to Propmd.com. They even include polishing. Looked better than new.

 

[Henry Boyd]

$ 250.00 for tuning and minor repairs to a stainless prop is what I have paid in the past at a local prop shop to true and tune my BIII props. The only question is whether it's worth spending the money on your prop in relation to its replacement cost. I can say from experience that properly done, any repairs and tuning are permanent (unless of course you whack another rock). I also suspect that a tuned existing prop may be better than a brand new out of the box unit. I say that because its practically impossible to see damage to the prop that can cause unbalanced operation.

Based on the description of the damage to the skeg, I'd be inclined to grind out the rough spots and give it a coat of paint. It won't be so pretty, but it is still functional. My suggestion (speaking from experience) would be to spend the money on the prop, fix the skeg as I described, and then spend the money on a good depth finder and display. I boat in shallow water due to tides and while I had the OEM Lowrance depth finder I was spending money every winter at the prop shop. However, since I added a depth display that is a) larger, and b) mounted in my line of sight, kissing the bottom has become a thing of the past.

Henry

 

[CliffA]

I dinged my 3 blade stainless prop on rocks. Scratches, some rough edges, some slight out of true on the blades. In the process, broke off about an inch of the back of the skeg on a verticle line. I got an estimate of about $250 on the prop, and another $250 - $300 or so on the skeg. I thought the prop in particular was high.

The skeg is still intact enough to protect the prop as designed. Any thoughts on just leaving it until I really break it off?

This is my Sea Ray Dealer. It's the biggest shop of any in town, and is well established. So, I'm guessing they are a reliable pick considering I don't have any experience with any shop.

Thoughts? Recommendations while the lower unit is off? 80 hours on the boat.

Thanks!

i have had my 3 blade SS Vengance prop repaired 2 or 3 times at a local prop shop for around $100 each time, i live in a relatively small town so a larger city repair shop may charge more....i have seen some skeg 'covers' that simply slip over a damaged skeg and get welded in place...looks as good as new when finished....you may want to look into that vs repairing the damaged skeg...

 

[blaster]

Dave, is the prop damage enough to cause a difference in performance? $250 is high for a repair on that prop. You could send it to any number of different prop experts and have it repaired for about half that amount. I wouldn't be too concerned about the damage unless it causes a noticable loss of speed or increased vibration. I have some damage which occured when I hit some concrete sombody dumped at my ramp. I pulled out 3 blocks of concrete right at the end of the ramp at low tide. I suspect a contractor dumped them because I saw a truck dumping near the ramp the week before. When I questioned what they were doing they couldn't answer in English. I notified the park manager and he asked them to leave. Looking back I think they threw those blocks in the water. The damage has no effect on performance so I'm going to wait until I ding it again before I address it.

 

[Dave 205]

Thanks for all the great suggestions and thoughts. I did the damage in mid-summer while on vacation, misread a very faded warning buoy that I mistook for another no wake near the marina - found a dumped concrete breaker bar the hard way, but at very low speed. Depth finder went from five feet to two feet in a split second. An upgraded depth finder is an interesting idea - I deal with a lot of shallow water environments, and several flood control damns that have seen 15 foot depth changes this summer. The shorelines are not straight walls, so the nature of the lake can change a lot over a season.

The boat operated just fine as is the rest of the summer. But, my formerly like new outdrive and ego remain bruised. I'm probably inclined to send the prop somewhere far less expensive. Will check out propMD. The skeg I may live with or do the cosmetic repairs as suggested until I really do a number on it.

 

[ZZ13]

Dave, if it helps you any I took off about half my skeg on a runabout (hit a stump) I owned long ago. Nice clean whack, like someone cut it off with a saw. I just swallowed my pride and lived with it for the remainder of my ownership. It stopped keeping me up at night after a while so that's how I knew I could let it go.

 

[Dave 205]

Dave, if it helps you any I took off about half my skeg on a runabout (hit a stump) I owned long ago. Nice clean whack, like someone cut it off with a saw. I just swallowed my pride and lived with it for the remainder of my ownership. It stopped keeping me up at night after a while so that's how I knew I could let it go.

Thanks, strangely my wife has been bugged more, and I'm usually far more anal on these things. A quote that pushed $500 for mainly cosmetic issues caused me to look beyond that first quote for a solution. But, I won't complain about my wife, better to have a spouse completely on board with this hobby then not!

 

[sweet revenge]

Hi Dave, I damaged the skeg plate on my port drive and they welded a new one for just 120.00 at a local marine welder shop that also makes custom rails. If your prop is stainless stell, you should get ir repaired and balanced. Even if it's just a bit off, it can cause enough vibrations that can damage the seals on your lower unit. I had it done for 180.00. By the way you should not have to remove the lower unit for that. Good luck!!

Mike

 

[JerryS]

I had my prop re-worked last year. I think that it was about $140. The dealer is probably adding a $100 or so on to job the work out to a prop shop.

 

[surfinjoe]

I ground off about 2" of my skeg. Instead of getting a piece welded-on, I added a skeg guard. I think it was maybe $100 or so. Added a nice accent to my SS prop as well.