3 weeks old, and outdrive scuffed, prop nicked
 

On bad advice, navigated my new 2005 Bayliner 175 into
some shallow water (at near idle). Heard some muted
thumping/rumbling, and quickly shut it down. Come to
find that I was up on a rocky/sandy ridge of some sorts.
Scuffed up the bottom/back of the skeg a bit, and dulled
the nice shiny black paint on the prop a bit. (bummer, I
wanted to keep it showroom pretty for a little bit longer).
Anyways, got two little nicks on two of the 3 prop blades
that are hardly noticable, but none the less, they are there.
So, on a Merc 3.0L/A-1, just how critical are nicks like
this, and what should I do about them? (besides get a
depth finder?) One nick is more like a little "swedge"
in that it looks like you can almost squeese the little nick
with the tip of a pair of pliers and it would totally be gone.
The other nick is even smaller. Probably worring too much,
but just wanted to hear what others thought of this. And
the paint on the prop? - worht worring about, or just forget it ?

Thanks

Im not going to worry about the little nicks in my prop, Im starting to keep
count of them. So far Im at 7 small nicks and dings( beaching is about the
worse thing you can do to a prop, they dont like sand).The nicks dont affect
performance and there are/is no vibrations (extra vibrations that is) so
.............................
****es me off though because my new outdrive with its shiny phantom black
paint job (available at your merc dealer for 8 bucks a can) is starting to
look like an old outdrive.
"Mr Wizzard" wrote in message
...
On bad advice, navigated my new 2005 Bayliner 175 into
some shallow water (at near idle). Heard some muted
thumping/rumbling, and quickly shut it down. Come to
find that I was up on a rocky/sandy ridge of some sorts.
Scuffed up the bottom/back of the skeg a bit, and dulled
the nice shiny black paint on the prop a bit. (bummer, I
wanted to keep it showroom pretty for a little bit longer).
Anyways, got two little nicks on two of the 3 prop blades
that are hardly noticable, but none the less, they are there.
So, on a Merc 3.0L/A-1, just how critical are nicks like
this, and what should I do about them? (besides get a
depth finder?) One nick is more like a little "swedge"
in that it looks like you can almost squeese the little nick
with the tip of a pair of pliers and it would totally be gone.
The other nick is even smaller. Probably worring too much,
but just wanted to hear what others thought of this. And
the paint on the prop? - worht worring about, or just forget it ?

Thanks

Forget the prop!

it's ok if it gets nicked.

I made the mistake of leaving on the super cool looking stainless steel
Raptor prop.

went through some shallow water, and hit a stump. the stainless steel
prop stopped, and the gears didn't. wrecking out the lower end.

If I had run an aluminum prop. it may bave bent it all to heck but
would have saved a thousand dollars worth of lower end work.

Forget dinging the prop....

"Mr Wizzard" wrote in message
...
On bad advice, navigated my new 2005 Bayliner 175 into
some shallow water (at near idle). Heard some muted
thumping/rumbling, and quickly shut it down. Come to
find that I was up on a rocky/sandy ridge of some sorts.
Scuffed up the bottom/back of the skeg a bit, and dulled
the nice shiny black paint on the prop a bit. (bummer, I
wanted to keep it showroom pretty for a little bit longer).
Anyways, got two little nicks on two of the 3 prop blades
that are hardly noticable, but none the less, they are there.
So, on a Merc 3.0L/A-1, just how critical are nicks like
this, and what should I do about them? (besides get a
depth finder?) One nick is more like a little "swedge"
in that it looks like you can almost squeese the little nick
with the tip of a pair of pliers and it would totally be gone.
The other nick is even smaller. Probably worring too much,
but just wanted to hear what others thought of this. And
the paint on the prop? - worht worring about, or just forget it ?

Thanks



As searay said, unless the nicks are causing the prop to be out of balance I
would not worry about them.

A depth finder is a must but it will not be the end all to these sort of
incidents. Depth finder transducers are usually mounted on the transom and
you are normally already in a shallow depth problem before the depth finder
shows it, especially in the case of sand bars and others areas where the
water depth decreases suddenly.

The best advice is to get yourself some good charts of the waters you travel
and study them before venturing out into unknown waters.

Amen. When it comes to sand bars, depth finders only confirm that you have
hit bottom - they don't warn you ahead of time.
"*JimH*" wrote in message
...

"Mr Wizzard" wrote in message
...
On bad advice, navigated my new 2005 Bayliner 175 into
some shallow water (at near idle). Heard some muted
thumping/rumbling, and quickly shut it down. Come to
find that I was up on a rocky/sandy ridge of some sorts.
Scuffed up the bottom/back of the skeg a bit, and dulled
the nice shiny black paint on the prop a bit. (bummer, I
wanted to keep it showroom pretty for a little bit longer).
Anyways, got two little nicks on two of the 3 prop blades
that are hardly noticable, but none the less, they are there.
So, on a Merc 3.0L/A-1, just how critical are nicks like
this, and what should I do about them? (besides get a
depth finder?) One nick is more like a little "swedge"
in that it looks like you can almost squeese the little nick
with the tip of a pair of pliers and it would totally be gone.
The other nick is even smaller. Probably worring too much,
but just wanted to hear what others thought of this. And
the paint on the prop? - worht worring about, or just forget it ?

Thanks



As searay said, unless the nicks are causing the prop to be out of balance
I would not worry about them.

A depth finder is a must but it will not be the end all to these sort of
incidents. Depth finder transducers are usually mounted on the transom
and you are normally already in a shallow depth problem before the depth
finder shows it, especially in the case of sand bars and others areas
where the water depth decreases suddenly.

The best advice is to get yourself some good charts of the waters you
travel and study them before venturing out into unknown waters.

My nicked prop is 4 years old and is doing well. This situation is exactly
why I did not go to a Stainless prop.
--
Bill & Debbie
93 22' Mariah

"Mr Wizzard" wrote in message
...
On bad advice, navigated my new 2005 Bayliner 175 into
some shallow water (at near idle). Heard some muted
thumping/rumbling, and quickly shut it down. Come to
find that I was up on a rocky/sandy ridge of some sorts.
Scuffed up the bottom/back of the skeg a bit, and dulled
the nice shiny black paint on the prop a bit. (bummer, I
wanted to keep it showroom pretty for a little bit longer).
Anyways, got two little nicks on two of the 3 prop blades
that are hardly noticable, but none the less, they are there.
So, on a Merc 3.0L/A-1, just how critical are nicks like
this, and what should I do about them? (besides get a
depth finder?) One nick is more like a little "swedge"
in that it looks like you can almost squeese the little nick
with the tip of a pair of pliers and it would totally be gone.
The other nick is even smaller. Probably worring too much,
but just wanted to hear what others thought of this. And
the paint on the prop? - worht worring about, or just forget it ?

Thanks

"Tim" wrote in message
oups.com...
Forget the prop!

it's ok if it gets nicked.

I made the mistake of leaving on the super cool looking stainless steel
Raptor prop.

went through some shallow water, and hit a stump. the stainless steel
prop stopped, and the gears didn't. wrecking out the lower end.


The prop hub should have spun before the gears went. I wonder why it
didn't?

Reminds me of the first day I took my new boat out. I had a gravel driveway
with a steep incline. Got a good running start on it, only to plow a furrow
up the driveway with my outdrive. First scratch and hadn't even got wet.
That was about 23 years ago. I've never painted my outdrive so I can
see it's dings over the ages. No problems. If I kept the outdrive in the
water (especially salt water) I would have painted it but it's garaged
and still "original".

b.

"*JimH*" wrote in message
...

"Mr Wizzard" wrote in message
...
On bad advice, navigated my new 2005 Bayliner 175 into
some shallow water (at near idle). Heard some muted
thumping/rumbling, and quickly shut it down. Come to
find that I was up on a rocky/sandy ridge of some sorts.
Scuffed up the bottom/back of the skeg a bit, and dulled
the nice shiny black paint on the prop a bit. (bummer, I
wanted to keep it showroom pretty for a little bit longer).
Anyways, got two little nicks on two of the 3 prop blades
that are hardly noticable, but none the less, they are there.
So, on a Merc 3.0L/A-1, just how critical are nicks like
this, and what should I do about them? (besides get a
depth finder?) One nick is more like a little "swedge"
in that it looks like you can almost squeese the little nick
with the tip of a pair of pliers and it would totally be gone.
The other nick is even smaller. Probably worring too much,
but just wanted to hear what others thought of this. And
the paint on the prop? - worht worring about, or just forget it ?

Thanks



As searay said, unless the nicks are causing the prop to be out of balance
I
would not worry about them.

A depth finder is a must but it will not be the end all to these sort of
incidents. Depth finder transducers are usually mounted on the transom
and
you are normally already in a shallow depth problem before the depth
finder
shows it, especially in the case of sand bars and others areas where the
water depth decreases suddenly.




The best advice is to get yourself some good charts of the waters you
travel
and study them before venturing out into unknown waters.

I've been told this a few times, (and doing that now) Know od a good place
to buy these on line?

The prop hub should have spun before the gears went. I wonder why it
didn't?


I'd like to know that too..*sigh*