Bad First Day Out

[c10seven]

Well I took the Starflite out today for the first time and had a mishap, I am quite upset at myself. Here is the story, to start off I am not used to roller trailers which was part of the problem. What happened was that I was backing down the ramp and had the winch set to let me off the trailer(not thinking it would "free wheel") and my boat left the trailer a little early, I was in the water but it was shallow enough to put a "boo boo" on my lower unit. I looked it over and it look mostly cosmetic. As if that wasn't enough once I had it in the water while idling she died on me, and had trouble restarting. Starts fine on the hose first crank every time I don't get it. Aside from the problems I ran it for a bit and ran quite nice I got her up to 65 @5500 rpm before she started walking, thats when I shut it down. Still had some throttle left and didn't mess with jack plate setting.

Anyway here are a couple pics of the damage,

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h243/slammedram/boat/IMG_1519.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h243/slammedram/boat/IMG_1520.jpg

[Old Navy]

COSMETIC??? I think I would get that welded up and smoothed out. All the marks and gouges are perfect places for your lower to start cracking.

[powerstroker]

geez thats a big gouge outa that lower ya u should really get that fixed up, check your gear oil and see if it looks milky if it does you already have a leak and there is water in the oil!:brickwall:

[c10seven]

I guess I should reword myself, by cosmetic I mainly meant that it wasn't cracked open and could be repaired relatively easy. Also it doesn't show it real good but it appears as if this isn't the first time this lower has made contact with concrete, as there is some filler in previous gouges. I did however leave out that I checked the gear oil and it is fine I am thinking about draining it to make sure though. I tell you what I feel like an idiot, and am quite embarrassed.

[81 enchanter]

why did you have the motor down before the boat was in the water?

[c10seven]

It wasn't all the way down just not all the way up ether, if it would have stayed on the trailer till it was supposed to be off it would have never touched. Lesson learned the very hard way I suppose.

[Mr. Buss]

that almost happened to me the first day i took the predictor out, the little tang on the winch needed some lube, and didn't "lock" to the sprocket, luckily for me it was on the way out, and as soon as i hit the throttle on the truck the boat started going back, the ole lady screamed, and i stopped, got out,..... cussed a little and was delightfully pleased that i didnt make it any further up the ramp!!

The next day i installed a safety chain!!!!:bigthumb:

[cmpulse170]

The same thing happen to a friend's boat, not only did he bang the LU he also forgot to put the plug in.:shakehead: That wasn't a pretty sight. I've got a safety chain on mine just for that reason.

[Big Dave]

I love my bunk trailer even more now!
Just pull up to the bow stop and hold pressure while the wife pulls out of the water.

BTW, I launch like you did all the time but have never had one slip like that
hope no serious damage to your drive

[Chris]

The launch ramp is a dangerous place for a number of reasons.

One afternoonm my dad slipped on the launch ramp as it was covered in algae, unfortunately, when he slipped was while he was in the process of winching up the boat. So the handle ended up going free and started spinning and the end result is that he got whacked in the ribs a number of times and a bunch of them ended up being broken. He was in a lot of pain for quite a bit.

It's hard to tell what area is damaged from the pictures. That almost looks like the bottom of the gear housing, but where is the skeg?

Typically, the gear housing is mostly metal unless someone installed a nose cone or something. From the pictures, it looks like there is more than the customary amount of filler on a stock L/U.

-Chris

[c10seven]

It is on the bottom/front of the nose cone, here is a side shot which shows where I pulled away some of the filler. I am going to end up taking it all down to bare metal and getting it welded back smooth and refinishing the whole thing. I did change the oil in it today and the old stuff looked fine not milky at all and no metal shavings in it.


http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h243/slammedram/boat/IMG_1516.jpg