Hit a log

I hit a log on the lake today and bent the prop. I took the boat to the local marine, and he said he can repair the prop. I was talking to a buddy of mine and he said I may have bent the drive shaft . It does not look bent and the owner of the marine did not say it was bent. I'm wondering is it hard to bend the drive shaft, or if there is a way I could tell if I bent it. There was a small vibration after I hit the log and I went straight to the dock and checked the boat. Only two ears on the prop tip were bent. Hopefully it's only the prop I can't tell. I,m leaving the 15th for Alabama to wakeboard and want to make sure my boat will be ok. Any help would be great.

if you did bend the shaft its expensive to replace and might not be done in the time you need it done by

We have another boat to take if thats the case. I hope it's only a bent prop. How hard is it to bend the shaft. I should say I was pulling a friend at about 20mph when it happened I felt a small thud and then noticed the vibration.

You are probably fine. A little knick in your prop will feel like a big problem. Try fixing the prop and go from there. Warning though, if the person working on your prop is not experienced in what they are doing they can do more harm than good. It is possible that the blades are not only knicked up but out of balance as well. there are alot really good and reasonable prop places to ship it to. Alot of them will pay the return shipping as well. Just a thought. If you are really worried you can have someone check the shaft. I think they use a micrometer (Spelling?). Just my opinion though.

The owner of the marine is sending it out for me. He said he could not repair it that he would have to send it out to be fixed.

Probably did not bend the drive shaft. I mangled my prop and ripped my tracking fin off hitting a log and didn't bend my drive shaft. Get the prop fixed, then slowly get up to speed next time out. No vibrations and you SHOULD be fine.

You can do a couple of things in order to check your shaft.

1)Turn the prop by hand: this is a quick way to see if your shaft is in rough alignment. This will tell you really quick after a hard hit if the strut/shaft are bent. A proper alignment will be in thousandths of an inch and measured at the coupler, but this is a very rough indicator.

2)Use a dial indicator on the shaft: Do this in a couple of spots. At the tip, before the strut, and after the strut. On my old boat, I hit a part of a sandbar. The prop was dinged, the parts of the shaft closest to the strut were fine, but the tip was bent. This caused vibration still, and I ended up doing a shaft replacement.

Remember, that the shaft will not "look" bent, but they can be. Factory tolerances are +/- .003".

The first thing the owner of Ceasars Creek Marine did was turn the prop, I wasn't sure why he did it at first but now I'm assuming to check the drive shaft. He never mentioned anything like a bent shaft so I'm assuming it did not look bent to him. Is it not that rare to bend a prop and not bend the drive shaft?

paul, that is one of the advantages of running a niberal prop vs a stainless prop. the prop will give without tearing up your drive shaft in some cases.

if you were running a stainless prop you more than likly would have done damage to the shaft along with the strut.

I hope that's the case. It was such a small vibration that nobody else felt it other then me, and I was not sure if it was or was not vibrating. I'll keep my fingers crossed, and look for some more optimistic views on the situation from every ones replies to this post.

What lake are you going to in Alabama?

More than likely your fine. I've seen some pretty nasty hits on props that only messed up the prop. Something you can do to check your boat is have a buddy up in your boat and drop it into gear while your back behind the boat down on your knees. Sometimes there's a marking where the pin goes in. If not you can take a marker and put a small mark. You can watch this to make sure it turns a smooth circle. Alot of times there's a spiral marking there. If it's out of whack you'll notice it will make an oblong rotation. Kind of hard to explain, but you'll figure it out pretty easily. Just make sure to not get your hose caught up in the prop. This will tell you if it's really out of whack... but not if it's a 1/1000 out.

I'm going to Wedowee. I have a house rented on the lake hoping the weather holds out.

I just talked Ceasrs Creek Marine and was told that the drive shaft is not bent. Hopefully he's right. Has anyone ever bent their drive shaft to where it was not visibly noticeable, and then you go to drive it and feel a vibration.

We bent the drive shaft and our prop at Shasta and we had to idle into the boat launch. When we tried to speed up even to like 15 mph the boat would rumble and feel like a massage chair. When we slowed it down it helped the shaking. Was the boat shaking, and how fast were you going on your way to the marina?

I hate when you hit a log with your shaft.

I was going 25-30 mph, and it happened on the the other side of the lake. It seemed once it got on plane you couldn't feel any vibration. It was a light vibration that seemed to vibrate mainly when taking off 0-15 mph. I kept thinking to myself something feels different, and asked others on the boat if they could feel the vibration which nobody could. I was almost thinking that it was in my head until I pulled my boat out of the water, and two of the ears on the prop were slightly bent at the tips.

Ya that sounds like its just the prop. Everybody in the boat felt it when we broke the driveshaft.

Broke the driveshaft? How did you get it back if the drive shaft was broken.

CARNAGE from 2 seasons ago. Bent shaft, bent strut, and i knocked a blade out of track on the prop (a blade was actually moved around the axis of the hub if that makes any sense). My prop guy literally broke his hammer that he had had for 30 years beating the it back into shape. On top of that we had to limp back 11 miles to the boat ramp at idle speed.

Idle speed is about 3.5mph. That must have been one LONG trip back.

Fast idle, 1000-1100, prob 8mph or so. I think it took us an hour and a half. I'm still not sure what i hit; it had to have been a BIG submerged waterlogged tree trunk or stump or something like that. I dont have a deptfinder, but i'm positive i was in deep water.

My strut looked just like Dirty D's after an inpact. Most likely going to bend the strut before bending the shaft.

I just bought an OJ 14 1/4 x 14 prop that will be here in a couple of days. I'm having my old one repaired, and will use it as a backup. Hopefully problem fixed and it's nothing more then a bent prop.

It all depends on what you hit and how you hit it.

I have mangled props and had the shaft be fine.

I have had a minor bend in one blade and have the shaft bend so bad there was no question it was ruined.

I know several people who have hit something so hard that it took off (completely, gone, lost, never to be found) the prop, shaft, strut and rudder.

Rod