Eddie,
From the look of that lower unit, you are a serious shallow water
fisherman! Be interesting to see what the prop looks like! The missing
bit of skeg will never be missed.....probably shouldn't have tried to
straighten it, but we learn by doing. I would grind a smooth surface
on the skeg (so I wouldn't be stabbing myself whenever I raised the
motor) and let it go at that. While you are grinding, you might want
to sand that gear housing and paint the lower unit. You can get
Mercury spray paint at your local Mercury dealer. Good luck.

Regards,
Emmett

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"Eddie E" wrote in message ...
Last season I ran aground but didn't appear to cause any damage. While
preparing my boat for this season I noticed that the fin thing (sorry I
don't now the proper name) on the bottom of the lower unit was slightly
bent. I'm assuming from the running aground incident last year. Well anyway
in an attempt to straighten the fin I broke a small chunk off. In the
process I fell onto the drive and busted my lip. I guess that's what I get
for being stupid. Anyway here is a link to a picture of the damage
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ehicks/fin.jpg I'm assuming the broken piece
is too small to cause any steering problems but I'm not sure. My questions
are, Can it be fixed without replacing the lower unit? Or can I file down
the uneven edge to make it straight again but a little smaller? Or should I
just leave well enough alone? Thanks

Eddie E