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Fiberglass round rudder. HELP!!


smooth as glass

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Finally hit the big one. WOT and Tboned a submerged log, trashed the prop at the hub. Looks like the rudder took the biggest shot. There's spidering in the gel coat 10 inches from center and some gelcoat chipping right at the rudder. Smoothed some epoxy to keep from getting worse. Inside there was some minor splintering of fiberglass which I ground down 1or 2 inches in diameter and layed a couple sheets of fiberglass and resin to reinforce. I'm sure I'm not the first so what is your experience with this type of damage and should I go ahead and pull the tank and do a full fledge repair or what do you think? Got an estimate from a fiberglass man at 1200.00. I'm afraid if they pull the tank it'll never get back in the way it was.

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If you can grab the rudder and put a real hard pull and push on it with no deflection, I would think that structurally you are ok. If you get any movement at all I would spend the money for a pro fix.JMO

Joe

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..pull the tank yourself. Simple. I'm sure they have money in to R&R the tank and trunk interior pieces. If you do that part and leave the 'glassen to them you could save some$$$.

BTW if the rudder took that big of a hit it would be gone. They are designed to fail in a certain spot. IIRC.

Pat

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I did almost the same thing last year. I hit a tree submerged. Missed the prop but hit the rudder because I was turning. From the outside you couldn't see anything. Not even a stress crack. But it busted the floor loose from the upper liner. Which basically is the hydrophonic whatchamacallit box. I took on water faster than the bilge pump could pump it out. The water pressure while running was pushing the liner up.

I don't remember exactly what it cost, but it was over $2k. SkiSafe took care of it less the deductable no questions asked. What sucked was I have a $1k deductable.

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I was is Sunset Bob's boat when he hit the submerged tree. He was in my boat the year before when I hit one. Your damage sounds a lot like what I had. Mine cost about $3500. That included fiberglass work to rebuild the rudder box, prop, drive shaft, and rudder. My insurance paid all but my $500 deductible.

I know the reeeaalllly sick feeling you get when this happens! Hey, it will all be OK when it is fixed.

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I ripped a tracking fin out last year, after our hurricanes in Florida. I hit a submerged tree in a canal at idle speed. My Malibu dealer,in Ocala FL

did an excellent job of repairing this fin. We spent the next two weekends pulling trees out of the canals at our chain of lakes in Orlando.

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Hey guys thanks, thats somewhat reassuring, have u got any trepadation about power turns after a fix like that. Just missed a beautiful week to ski, thats the real down side, right now. mike

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I assume you will be making an insurance claim. If so, I'm curious..... why are you doing any of the repair yourself? I'd want the world's best repair place to do the absolute most thorough repair possible. The glass, the rudder, the drive shaft, check the tranny, the strut, the prop, etc etc.

As for missed time on the water. If it makes you feel any better, us folks north of the border still have 4-6 weeks before the ice melts off our lakes. You'll still be back and in the water before my hull touches water.

Best of luck with your repair!

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Hey guys thanks, thats somewhat reassuring, have u got any trepadation about power turns after a fix like that. Just missed a beautiful week to ski, thats the real down side, right now. mike

I don't do power turns in my boat, the stress forces are extreme on the underwater gear. I was turning when I hit the tree but at a fairly slow speed. If I had been on plain I would have missed the tree.

It is a sickening sound to hear when you hit something that hard. I was on Bill Footers boom going backwards with a short line and felt it when he hit his tree. One of those sounds that makes everyone in the boat cringe. Shocking.gif

Sure doesn ruin the weekend... Cry.gif

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I know the feeling. We were at Powell last summer pulling a 9 yr old on a knee board. Comming along when WHAM! Submerged boulder hits the drive shaft. Bent the driveshaft after the brace, did some nice fiberglass damage. Worst thing was, it was thursday, and we were staying till sunday, so we had no boat for the rest of the week. Just the houseboat and jet ski's.

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Doug, talked to usaa insurance and they said if it doesnt put a strain on the budget it might be better not to claim, in the event of a possible real big damage. This is only a grand, so figured it could be a lot worse so save the possibility of raising premium. or being cancelled later. Is that logical???????Good thing u didnt hit that log Bob!

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The insurance yes/no question has many possible answers.

Many policies offer some kind of ongoing discount if you've been "claim-free" for several years. Mine is 10% off ALL of my insurance premiums. Second, sometimes you can make ONE claim and stay "claim-free", but lose that status on your second claim. You lose that "claim-free" status for several years .... until you stay clean for 3-5 years.

Now comes the math. If your claim is small AND you will have your rates increase for several years, logic says don't make a claim. Conversely, if the claim is large, and you retain your lower rates, then math might say "do it".

In your case, I'd want to do the following, in this order:

1/ Find out what the comlee professional repair "would cost" at a reputable dealer.

2/ Does your plocy cover this repair? What is the deductable?

3/ Find out what would happen to your rates, and for how long.

4/ Do the math over the life of the impact to your policy, to see if it's worth it.

Regardless hope you get marinely mobile shortly. Good luck.

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The insurance yes/no question has many possible answers.

Many policies offer some kind of ongoing discount if you've been "claim-free" for several years. Mine is 10% off ALL of my insurance premiums. Second, sometimes you can make ONE claim and stay "claim-free", but lose that status on your second claim. You lose that "claim-free" status for several years .... until you stay clean for 3-5 years.

Now comes the math. If your claim is small AND you will have your rates increase for several years, logic says don't make a claim. Conversely, if the claim is large, and you retain your lower rates, then math might say "do it".

In your case, I'd want to do the following, in this order:

1/ Find out what the comlee professional repair "would cost" at a reputable dealer.

2/ Does your plocy cover this repair? What is the deductable?

3/ Find out what would happen to your rates, and for how long.

4/ Do the math over the life of the impact to your policy, to see if it's worth it.

Regardless hope you get marinely mobile shortly. Good luck.

Now thats logic! Thanks, will take under advisement. Marinely mobile...u crack me up.

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