You picked a fine time to leave me Bravo 3....
- Thread starter skibum
- Start date
skibum
Well-Known Member
Ok... Surveryor came out and checked out the boat, and then stopped by the mechanic's shop to inspect the damage to the drive. He signed off on the fact that the impact with the crab pot float was in fact the cause of the drive failure.
When I snagged the float, a tooth broke off of a gear in the upper unit. That tooth got jammed into the remaining good teeth, which locked up the drive, and caused the input shaft to shear on the drive side of the U-joint. The damaged gears tore up the inside of the upper unit housing and sent aluminum shavings down into the lower unit. He is not sure why the coupler did not give, so he put a rider on my claim stating that the coupler may also need to be replaced after the drive is fixed. He also put prop reconditioning on the claim.
All of the paperwork has been submitted to the insurance company, and there is a new drive waiting in Norfolk to be sent to the mechanic's shop. As soon as the insurance company signs off on the claim, he'll get the drive sent up. I doubt that I'll be back in the water by this weekend, but it should be done by early next week. I just hope that the coupler isn't bad. We won't know until we put some torque on it.
Keeping my fingers crossed...
When I snagged the float, a tooth broke off of a gear in the upper unit. That tooth got jammed into the remaining good teeth, which locked up the drive, and caused the input shaft to shear on the drive side of the U-joint. The damaged gears tore up the inside of the upper unit housing and sent aluminum shavings down into the lower unit. He is not sure why the coupler did not give, so he put a rider on my claim stating that the coupler may also need to be replaced after the drive is fixed. He also put prop reconditioning on the claim.
All of the paperwork has been submitted to the insurance company, and there is a new drive waiting in Norfolk to be sent to the mechanic's shop. As soon as the insurance company signs off on the claim, he'll get the drive sent up. I doubt that I'll be back in the water by this weekend, but it should be done by early next week. I just hope that the coupler isn't bad. We won't know until we put some torque on it.
Keeping my fingers crossed...
skibum
Well-Known Member
Got a call from my mechanic this morning. My new drive will be delivered tomorrow morning and he wants to come install it as soon as it is in his hands! The insurance covered everything except for my deductable. I already have the check. The mechanic put a rider on my claim for an extra $1500 to cover the coupler if it is bad, but I'm really hoping that it is ok...
Looks like I'll be giving it a sea trial in the afternoon.
Its been awful hard missing a month of boating, particularly when the weather has been so nice.
Looks like I'll be giving it a sea trial in the afternoon.
Its been awful hard missing a month of boating, particularly when the weather has been so nice.
AKBASSKING
Active Member
- Apr 13, 2008
- 4,649
- Boat Info
- 1988 Yacht Fisher
- Engines
- Twin 375hp Cat 3208 T/A
Good luck!
skibum
Well-Known Member
Well, she's running again. I missed 5 weekends. The mechanic installed my brand new Bravo III last Friday afternoon. The insurance covered all of it except for my deductable.I got a set of lightly used props from a buddy at my marina for $350 and my old set. These have never been reworked, mine were. The prop shop told me that my original props had been previously repaired when I brought them in last season. They said that the props were smaller than their original diameter. The insurance company had given me $358 to get the props reworked, so I came out $8 ahead on that.
Performance wise, I am seeing an improvement. It might be the "new" props. I am able to stay on plane down to about 3100 RPM now. Before, I had to be at around 3300 or so to keep her up there. I am also seeing about a 1-2 MPH increase in speed at just about every RPM. I'm now getting 28-29MPH at 3400RPM, and I was getting about 26-27 with the old hardware.
The surveyor that the insurance company hired to inspect the damage was the primary source of the delays. He didn't give authorization for my mechanic to work on the drive until 10 days after the incident. My mechanic was booked solid by the time he got the OK to work on it. I gave him 2 weeks to get started, but I ended up getting a different mechanic (thanks again, Joe!). The new mechanic got everything removed and torn down in 2 days, and the surveyor got out there the day after. It then took him another week to get the paperwork to the insurance company.
Quite the ordeal. I'm glad it is over.
Performance wise, I am seeing an improvement. It might be the "new" props. I am able to stay on plane down to about 3100 RPM now. Before, I had to be at around 3300 or so to keep her up there. I am also seeing about a 1-2 MPH increase in speed at just about every RPM. I'm now getting 28-29MPH at 3400RPM, and I was getting about 26-27 with the old hardware.
The surveyor that the insurance company hired to inspect the damage was the primary source of the delays. He didn't give authorization for my mechanic to work on the drive until 10 days after the incident. My mechanic was booked solid by the time he got the OK to work on it. I gave him 2 weeks to get started, but I ended up getting a different mechanic (thanks again, Joe!). The new mechanic got everything removed and torn down in 2 days, and the surveyor got out there the day after. It then took him another week to get the paperwork to the insurance company.
Quite the ordeal. I'm glad it is over.
Bugsy24
Active Member
- Jun 25, 2010
- 2,171
- Boat Info
- 2008 310 Sundancer
- Engines
- T-350 Mag,Br3's W/Axius
:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: Enjoy the rest of the Summer!
ChuckW
Active Member
- Mar 6, 2009
- 1,487
- Boat Info
- 2007 RoadKing Tri-Axle Trailer towed by a 2013 Yukon XL K2500
- Engines
- 496 MAG Bravo III
Yes, enjoy the rest of the summer. Your numbers are very similar to mine, now, barring your extra 50hp.
Skibum,
I felt double your pain a year ago when I went aground tearing up both props, shafts, struts, cutlass bearings and couplers. Same experience with my insurance company surveyor. The other similar experience we shared is finding out how many others hit the same thing(s) we did at roughly the same location. Glad to read you are back enjoying your boat again and it is running better than before.
I felt double your pain a year ago when I went aground tearing up both props, shafts, struts, cutlass bearings and couplers. Same experience with my insurance company surveyor. The other similar experience we shared is finding out how many others hit the same thing(s) we did at roughly the same location. Glad to read you are back enjoying your boat again and it is running better than before.
skibum
Well-Known Member
I really think it is the props making the difference, but I'll take it. I still haven't gone above 3500 RPMs with the new setup, so that 50HP is just sitting there wasting away. I'll give her the WOT treatment after another 4 or 5 hours of run time...
And yes, Bob, it is times like these that make me glad I only have one engine. Could have been much worse...
Final update. Here's the latest addition to the family (the drive, not the salty ole mechanic).
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