Very Bad 2nd day with new boat - need a diagnostic prognosis

[ice9v2]

Took my new (to me) boat with 144 hours out yesterday and hit something while wakesufing in a cove that I have skied in uneventfully literally hundreds of times.

It stopped the engine. I started it again and, as expected, massive vibration in gear but the engine sounded OK. Within about 5 seconds the oil pressure alarm started going off.

The bilge kicks on AND it's spewing out straight oil.

I open up the engine compartment and the bilge is completely filled with oil. None shows on the dipstick.

I have it towed back.

When I get it out of the water, there is only minor damage to one blade on the prop.

Any guesses as to the diagnosis of what shot all the oil out? I haven't yet had the heart to look at the boat today...

[Soundsational]

Took my new (to me) boat with 144 hours out yesterday and hit something while wakesufing in a cove that I have skied in uneventfully literally hundreds of times.

It stopped the engine. I started it again and, as expected, massive vibration in gear but the engine sounded OK. Within about 5 seconds the oil pressure alarm started going off.

The bilge kicks on AND it's spewing out straight oil.

I open up the engine compartment and the bilge is completely filled with oil. None shows on the dipstick.

I have it towed back.

When I get it out of the water, there is only minor damage to one blade on the prop.

Any guesses as to the diagnosis of what shot all the oil out? I haven't yet had the heart to look at the boat today...

Ouch! sorry to hear. Same thing for me last week,, 05 VLX, broke bell housing on mtr, bottom of boat flexed hard enough to poke through vdrive out fiberglass, bent drive shaft hard enough for prop to strike gel coat..

Your oil pan have a hole in it?

[ice9v2]

.

Ouch! sorry to hear. Same thing for me last week,, 05 VLX, broke bell housing on mtr, bottom of boat flexed hard enough to poke through vdrive out fiberglass, bent drive shaft hard enough for prop to strike gel coat..

Your oil pan have a hole in it?

Haven't looked yet. Perhaps I'll have several drinks and go see if I can tell something...

Sorry to hear about your smack'age...

[Baddog]

Just don;t let the EPA know you pumped that oil into the pool. Good luck for an inexpensive fix.

[skier92]

Don't even turn the engine over again till you find out what caused the oil lose. I'm guessing broken rod.

Edited September 7, 2009 by skier92

[Stanley Wheelhouse]

Took my new (to me) boat with 144 hours out yesterday and hit something while wakesufing in a cove that I have skied in uneventfully literally hundreds of times.

It stopped the engine. I started it again and, as expected, massive vibration in gear but the engine sounded OK. Within about 5 seconds the oil pressure alarm started going off.

The bilge kicks on AND it's spewing out straight oil.

I open up the engine compartment and the bilge is completely filled with oil. None shows on the dipstick.

I have it towed back.

When I get it out of the water, there is only minor damage to one blade on the prop.

Any guesses as to the diagnosis of what shot all the oil out? I haven't yet had the heart to look at the boat today...

The northside cove at scotts ridge boat ramp is not the place to be wakesurfing on the lake when it is this low. in fact that cove holds the only wakeable area on the lake. the surfing is better out of the cove because the water is deeper. the cove is better for wakeboarding because it is shallow.

[ice9v2]

Took my new (to me) boat with 144 hours out yesterday and hit something while wakesufing in a cove that I have skied in uneventfully literally hundreds of times.

It stopped the engine. I started it again and, as expected, massive vibration in gear but the engine sounded OK. Within about 5 seconds the oil pressure alarm started going off.

The bilge kicks on AND it's spewing out straight oil.

I open up the engine compartment and the bilge is completely filled with oil. None shows on the dipstick.

I have it towed back.

When I get it out of the water, there is only minor damage to one blade on the prop.

Any guesses as to the diagnosis of what shot all the oil out? I haven't yet had the heart to look at the boat today...

The northside cove at scotts ridge boat ramp is not the place to be wakesurfing on the lake when it is this low. in fact that cove holds the only wakeable area on the lake. the surfing is better out of the cove because the water is deeper. the cove is better for wakeboarding because it is shallow.

FYI - I wasn't at the scotts ridge side. I was in the residential cove to east of that where I have been in literally hundreds of times. I was in an area that was about 8 feet deep on the gauge and, based on seeing the area twice in the last 10 years when the lake has been at the lowest levels, there is only one or two stumps anywhere around there. I thought, obviously, that they were much farther to the north.

[Michigan boarder]

I started it again and, as expected, massive vibration in gear but the engine sounded OK

That's awful, very sorry to hear that.

Do you mean massive vibration while in neutral? That would point to a connecting rod.

[ice9v2]

OK - so here's the skinny on what happened. Although the bottom of the hull, strut,etc. didn't look mangled the prop,shaft,strut bent up enough to hit the bottom of the boat. You could see where the prop cut into the hull and there was some small stress cracks in the fiberglass around the strut area.

My boat has the 8.1 L engine and apparently the oil pan is very close to where the strut bolts are so the strut bolts were driven into the oil pan and put like a 9+ inch crack in the pan and bent it in around an inch or so.

My mechanic's estimate was not pretty. Fiberglass work and pulling the engine to replace the pan,etc. minimally.

Guess it's a good think I haven't sold my old boat yet...

[99response]

Time for a nice insurance claim on that damage, its all related to hitting the stump so you should be good.