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Rudder hits prop


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I have a 2006 VLX which I bought used last year. I've put 50 hours on it with no problems until I was putting it back on the trailer yesterday. As my son approached the trailer he put it into reverse and there was a loud groaning noise. He cut the engine and we put it on the trailer. Once out of the water we saw the trailing edge of the prop, about half way up the blades, there was damage from a prop strike. We also noticed that the rudder was 180 degrees out and jammed into the prop. We turned the steering wheel and the rudder came out of the prop and back to its normal position. I called the local Malibu repair shop and he said that sometimes if you have the wheel hard over and hit reverse hard it will suck the rudder into the prop. He told me not to use reverse with the wheel hard over. I changed the prop and turned the wheel all the way to the left and it went right into the prop arc again. I manually moved the rudder back to the nuetral position and when I tried the wheel again it worked normally (it stopped in both directions before going more than 90 degrees). Has anyone heard of this happening before and what is the remedy?

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I'm not a Malibu boat mechanic but, I would think it highly unlikely that the rudder would be able to turn 180* just because you have the wheel at full lock and put the boat in reverse.

I'm pretty sure there is a shear pin for the rudder. It would seem to me that that would have to have sheared for the rudder to go into the prop. If I'm not mistaken it's where I have the red arrow here...

Image061.jpg

Welcome to the site.

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This will happen if you have the wheel turned all the way to the right or left and then put the boat hard into reverse. I found this out the very first time I took out my first Malibu, a 2001 Sunsetter VLX. Never happened again as I was aware of the situation that caused the problem.

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I believe you OB, but, I can't see how it can happen.

I was told that in the conditions as listed there is so much suction created by the prop that it pulls the rudder into it. It definitely happened to me.

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Mechanically I’m trying to visualize how this can happen but I can’t unless there is a shear pin/bolt that has broken off. If this is what happened could there be just enough of the pin left (sticking out) to stop the rudder until there enough of a hard force the pull it past a broken shear pin?

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Another point of interest is that when I bought the boat it came with a damaged prop. The prop was damaged on the trailing edge and in the middle just like the damage I incurred. I now presume that the same thing happened to the original owner, but I can't get ahold of him to verify. Also I can't figure out how I was able to turn the wheel, after I had the boat out of the water and put a new prop on, and it went to the 180 position which would have caused a prop strike and there was no suction present. Is it because it was the first time I turned the wheel to the left and the stops hadn't been "reset" yet? As I said before the rudder works normally now. I would have thought there were mechanical stops. What does it have?

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  • 12 years later...

Hi....I just read your post and I have the exact same issue..carbon copy of every detail down to the scorch marks and again its a boat I just bought and the previous owner never disclosed even though I noticed the prop fins slightly bent... May I ask you...how did you sort the issue? With mine if I go full lock the rudder goes around and stops but if I jump under the boat I can with a slight force I can shove the rudder around by hand until it contacts the propeller....I'd appreciate any help you can give me 👍🏻👍🏻

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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After if almost happened to me I realized it was a known freak event that can happen to some of these Malibu's. My guess is the SV23 diamond hull. Anyway, when it happened to me I somehow sensed a "what the ?" and plopped it back to forward for a lucky save. Freaky.

Steve B.

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It happens when the steering cable is sucked in to the sheath all the way. If enough force is applied it can pivot 180 out. 

It happened to me once also. 

Just don't goose it in reverse  when the steering is at full lock.

I believe some of the newer boats have physical stops to keep the rudder from flipping 180. 

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6 hours ago, cowwboy said:

I believe some of the newer boats have physical stops to keep the rudder from flipping 180. 

It wouldn't be hard to make a flat plate with a vertical pin (or 2 pins) to prevent that occurring. Would prevent the arm flipping around.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UGOmcFQMd7ybNkA0cj8kqjwiuJkGS101/view?usp=share_link

 

Edited by uk_exile
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In hindsight only 1 pin should be required. Chances of the arm 'flipping' on cable full extension must be extremely low. I assume it can only occur when the cable is fully in.

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49 minutes ago, uk_exile said:

In hindsight only 1 pin should be required. Chances of the arm 'flipping' on cable full extension must be extremely low. I assume it can only occur when the cable is fully in.

Correct, if you use the pic pistol Pete posted as a reference. The cable will be cable will be fully in and the arm will be nearly under the motor. It doesn't take much force on the rudder to flip 180 in that situation. 

You could adjust the cable so that when fully in it doesn't allow the rudder arm to be at enough of an angle to be flipped around. 
But that would also limit the steering in one direction more then the other. 

It's much easier to just change your driving habits. 

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Problem with driving habits is the regular driver may have  good habits however occassional drivers may not, and even the regular might panic if s***e begins to happen

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Happened to me on a ‘99 after replacing the steering cable.   There is a pivot bracket on the steering cable in front of the rudder tiller arm, and the only think keeping it from moving after the cable is fully retracted (right turn) is the angle of this bracket and how well the cable is strapped.  Adjust the steering cable slightly further back and add extra straps to hold the cable tight and straight.  Test by pushing on the rudder when fully turned… it will be much tighter.  you will lose a small amount of right turn, but it will eliminate the issue for good. 

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