Bent my skeg.... any advice??

[cooky]

Yes - only had my boat less than 2 weeks. Wife pissing me off - rushing me to move - so moved the boat out of the driveway up the gutter and grass (skeg dug into grass and bent).

115hp merc. probably twisted about 10mm off line. Any suggestions?

i want to go out in the boat tomorrow - if I leave it will it make much difference?

[Dusty_Dave]

I've got a 140hp sterndrive and have bent the skeg on rocks about 10mm at least and it doesn't seem to make any difference (I wasen't game to try & straighten the bloody thing)

[baldyhead]

cooky use a hairdrier or sumptin to heat the skeg to be hot enuf to be just able to put your hand on it without a serious burn. this will stop the alloy from cracking
Then use a decent size hammer and a small anvil type tool ie a 12" lump of railway line or similar(u need the weight) and GENTLY hammer the skeg back into place, using the anvil behind the bend.(in a pinch u can use two lge engineers hammers)
I have repaired countless skegs and props using this method without any failures.
cheers baldy

[krakatinne]

cooky my advice krakatinne lifes to short forget the skeg go fishing it wont fall of ;D

[Cheech]

Cooky, You may get away with trying to straighten it. But I'm with Dusty Dave. I have a background in engineering and would be very concerned about trying to straighten it. Reason is that it is not like normal aluminium that you are use to. If you buy a length of alluminium you are generally buying extruded aluminium. This is very plyable and you can bend and bend back without snapping it. But outboards are cast alloy. The casting is inherently brittle. You may get away with it, but you may not.

Baldy, I don't think the hairdryer would have got within 2% of the required heat to assist in the bending process. But hey, couldn't hurt.

Now having said all that, I would go out tomorrow as planned without touching it. Have your day on the water, and then worry about your longer term solution. If it seems to be unaffected then like Dusty, you may consider leaving it. If it adds vibration or other noticable problems, your day is shot so take your biggest hammer with you and give it a very gentle and controlled BASH (disclaimer, disclaimer). This is what I would probably do if it was mine. Actually, if it was mine I would probably ignore my own advice and try to straighten it with a bit of gentle persuation now. If it came easy I would continue, but if it really looked sus then I would stop. But I suppose having a trade background it is easier than said to know when to stop. A rough guide is if it appears to start to bend easier and with less force, STOP. You are probably about to snap it.

Good luck whichever way you decide to go. If it breaks then I imagine it would be a costly repair.

Cheech

[blaze]

IMO
go fishing tommorow, catch a few fish have a good day,
Monday take it to an engineering/ali welding place and have it straighten by a pro
cheers
blaze
ps
seen a 40hp merc the other day that bent a little further than yours the other day it cost the guy $600 for a recoed leg as it bust off and took half the gearbox housing with it

[cooky]

thanks. I hate operating on bugger all sleep (3 week old baby). I've caused more damage to my car and other in the last week than in the last 5 years - not thinking.

I called my outboard mechanic today and said I had done something stupid - he guessed straight away "bent the skeg on the driveway" and said he had seen it hundreds of times... basically said that I could give it a go and if I broke it I'd have to get it repaired (welded). he gave me the dets of a ali welder that he recommends and I got hold of him this afternoon. This guy said he had repaired thousands over the years and it is common. He said that if not too badly bent then I'd be suprised how rarely they bend - he said in the last 800 or so he has done he has only had 3or 4 break. basically he recommended using a large hammer and a medium size hammer and taping it - he said I could try it if I like - if it breaks he'll fix it (I didn't get a price).

My father restores vintage motorbikes so I've borrowed some pro tools to do the job (but I'm thinking about not touching it at all - knowing my luck of the last week).

Sh**ts me I tell you :-/

[searaider]

Hi Cookie ,
Like the other guys have said you may or may not get away with trying to straighten it .
I've got a 150 hp Yammy New 2 years ago . Not long after I got it I hit the rocks at the boat ramp at 1770 , put a big curved bend in the skeg .Was bent at least 15+mm.
Like Cheech I'm from an from an engineering background ( a Fitter & Turner ), wasn't sure if I should try & straighten it or not . It would either straighten or snap off .
Decided to give it a go .
Similar to baldheads recomendations , I give it a go using 2 hammers , alarger lump hammer on the back of the bend & trying to support it where it joins the gearbox .
I got away with it , you can hardly tell it was bent .
I HAVE HEARD OF OTHERS DOING SIMILAR & SNAPPING THE SKEG OFF . ???

Regards
Peter
Searaider 2

[NQCairns]

Cooky you can buy just the skeg it'self so if it breaks no need to get a whole new leg etc.nq

[ANYFISH]

no guts no glory just give it a smack ;D ;D

cheers

[bungie]

Had the skeg bent on my boat too. After warning the tow truck operator about the outboard, he dragged the trailer up onto the tow truck and ended up with the weight of the 17ft fibreglass runabout, trailer and outboard shared between the jockey wheel and the skeg. My outboard mechanic took the bend out and didn't even charge me :)

[cooky]

i'm going to give it a go tonight. Another thing to keep my neighbours happy about me buying a boat. I'm sure they appreciate me flushing the motor (i love that sound).

[jimbamb]

Cooky.check ya pm's .thanx

[Needmorerum]

So how did things go? I hit a rock with my last tinny, 25hp Mairiner, snapped the skeg straight off. It broke right at the top without exposing the G/Box. I took it to an alloy welder, expecting big costs, and he cut a new piece and welded it in, even threw some paint on it so you couldn't even tell, charged me $20... Good as new.
Let us know how it went trying to straighten it tonight.

Corry

[cooky]

sorry corry - unfortunately just got kids to sleep and finished the usual household BS - I went to go straight outside to give it a go and then looked at my watch - it's bloody 10pm. I'm not sure my neighbours will like me banging away at this time on a 'school night'.

There again - maybe I should anyway

[ballast]

Reckon this post might be useful to the guy I saw on Sunday in Ningi creek off the Pumicestone Passage. On his way out, at full noise in what looked like a very shiny new rig. Straight over the old oyster leases. No amount of arm waving on my part was going to avoid the inevitable.
At least it seemed to be only the out board leg that hit.
Breaks your heart, but geeez, if you don't know the area, go slow. Especially with the wife and kids on board.

[cooky]

dusty dave mentioned he hit rock too. I was thinking this morning how sickening the feeling must be as your hiting rocks - the sound must be terrible...

I was going to ask what goes through your head when this happens - I was pissed off enough hiting grass.

[rajawolf]

Hi cooky, are you insured,? if so, you can make a damage claim, but if you hit it with a hammer,and it breaks and does more damage then you cant claim, just a thought.

[noluck]

hi cooky
I will go fishing tomorow and when u comm back call insurence and just say u hit somthing .

[cooky]

am insured, but I opted for $500 excess.

I'm too honest to lie unfortunately - probably contribute to increasing your premiums somewhere down the track.

[DR]

cooky, even with the excess i would get a quote to have it repaired properley. as said above if you damage it you will have to pay for repair, as it is, it's accidental damage, insurance will cover it.
my poor baby is at the boat doctor at the moment, i hit something floating in the river, dropped a tooth blew the side out of the case & ruined every other gear in there.
got quote,phoned Suncorp all approved over the phone in 10 mins. authority faxed through immediately, mechanic was ordering parts 10 mins later. all over in 20 mins.

[SeaHunt]

Hi DR,
Was that in the Brisbane river?
It can be a very dangerous place to go for a spin after a really high tide or storm.
Apart from the usual wooden hazards, like logs , chunks of 4 by 2 and the odd pallet , the worst thing I have seen was a 10 kg lpg gas bottle, still about half full I guess.
Imagine ripping into that going flat out. :o :o
A stainless prop would probably rip a hole in it and blow the arse clean off your boat. [smiley=oops.gif] [smiley=help.gif]
I still see people flying along at about 40 knots in the dark though. It's just a matter of time before they come unstuck. :P

[DR]

yep, Brissy River,
slowly heading into ramp just in front of water police.
it was a soft hit so everything must have been in a critical position or there was a fault in the gear anyway, was a toss up as to whether the prop even needed to be sent away for repair, sent away anyway.

[Big_Kev]

After reading the post all I can say Cooky is that your great great great grandfather CPT James Cook was in the water when he ran aground.
No use blaming the wife, time to bite the bullet.
Hit it with a hammer and if that don'r work get a bigger one.LOL
Cheers Kev. 8)

[cooky]

Thanks Kev - I bring embarrasment to my entire family line - the old boy would have turned in his grave ::)

The wife blames me for so many things - thought it was my turn. Wasn't her fault, I've been so bloody tired with this newborn baby that I'm slowly destroying everything (brain is mud).

I gave it a go for 10 minutes the other night with large hammer and a special panel beaters tool borrowed from the oldman - seemed to work. Probably 5 to 10mm out now - will have to keep working on it because it bends from half way up the skeg, so is sort of twisted. I should have taken a photo before.

[Big_Kev]

Cooky if you are handy with the spanner you could strip the gearbox of all the bits.
That way if you can get the case into an oven big enough to fit it in and heat it to around 180 degrees and then apply the treatment to straighten it before it cools. This can be of help with preventing cracking of the parent metal and assist in making it more maluable. But no promises that it won't break as it is a casting.
You of course would have to reseal the box and the temp will change the finish on the duco.
(I get yelled at all the time for using the oven for heating stuff, the pain only lasts for a short period, LOL)
You can heat the skeg with an oxy and this will burn the paint and extra care will be needed as it will be easy to overdo it and melt the skeg off.
And I know what you mean with the youngen.
Cheers Kev.

[cooky]

i'm going to give it another whack tonight - let you know how I go

[cooky]

i'm going to give it another whack tonight - let you know how I go

[cooky]

i'm going to give it another whack tonight - let you know how I go

[Brett_Hoskin]

I want to know how your whack went.

[cooky]

Looks like I had 3 whacks above

I had a quick go at it, spoke to my marine mech who said I probably wouldn't notice any difference. I;ve done probably 20 hours on it since (including reef trip) and I can't pick it - so I figure I'll just leave it. Maybe I'll hit something else in the future - then I'll get it fixed.

[Kerry]

Advice [smiley=2thumbsup.gif] Now the general idea is NOT to hit things, not a good habit #;)

Cheers, Kerry.

[Brett_Hoskin]

good advice Kerry.

[cooky]

were's the fun in that :D

if you're not hitting things, you're just not taking enough risks - get hardcore ;D

[blaze]

cooky you will just have to hit the other side next time

[mini696]

if you're not hitting things, you're just not taking enough risks - get hardcore #;D

I had an old friend who was a keen crabber, so when I asked for his advise on crabbing, the first thing he did was walk over to my boat, look at the prop, and say "Well thats too clean and straight, obviously your not trying hard enought to get into the creeks".