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Bad Day on the Lake


5genTexan

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It has been a bad two weekends on the lake, so I figured I'd write about it here, where someone could relate.

Last weekend, blown water hose, got towed in by the lake patrol. Embarrassing, Embarrassing. Got the hose, fixed it, did a thorough inspection of every associated system. Then...

This weekend, we were cruising near WOT, making a right bend in open, clear water. The really nice purrr of the Monsoon 340 instantaneously changed to a very bad sound of cavitation (sp?). We, luckily, were really near my in-laws house, which has a slip. Anyway, we pulled it up, out of the water, and the front fin is GONE (explains why the bigle pump came on) and one blade of the prop looks like a squiggly line. Cry.gif That front fin had been loose previously, but we re-tightened it. We think the fin fell off and hit the prop. The other two blades look brand new still. Pretty weird.

Now, we have to get the prop repaired, or replaced, and get a new fin installed. But, we have to hurry because Memorial Day is less than 3 weeks away. Cry.gif

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That front fin had been loose previously, but we re-tightened it. We think the fin fell off and hit the prop. The other two blades look brand new still. Pretty weird.

Now, we have to get the prop repaired, or replaced, and get a new fin installed. But, we have to hurry because Memorial Day is less than 3 weeks away. Cry.gif

Wow that really sucks! :(

Seems really odd that your front fin had been loose/retightened before. Not to really rain on you, but hopefully there isn't a problem with the hull that prevents the fin from staying tight.

As for the prop, there's a heck of a Group Buy going on right now - seems like a good time to take advantage!

Best of luck...

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Interesting.

Why was the fin loose before? They are not something that should ever loosen up, much less twice. Did the fin pull the inserts out of the hull or did the bolts just fall out? I'm guessing either way it would rip the inserts out.

To Jerry's comment, the hull should not be an issue. They can be epoxied/re-epoxied back in place many times with out issue. They are designed to be knocked off and replaced. It just seems odd that yours was loose.

As far as it hitting the prop, now that's just plain bad luck!

You sure you didn't hit a small log or something that could of done both? Actually I think a log at WOT would of got more than one blade on your prop. Very interesting.

BTW, you have plenty of time to get it fixed.

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Interesting.

Why was the fin loose before? They are not something that should ever loosen up, much less twice. Did the fin pull the inserts out of the hull or did the bolts just fall out? I'm guessing either way it would rip the inserts out.

To Jerry's comment, the hull should not be an issue. They can be epoxied/re-epoxied back in place many times with out issue. They are designed to be knocked off and replaced. It just seems odd that yours was loose.

As far as it hitting the prop, now that's just plain bad luck!

You sure you didn't hit a small log or something that could of done both? Actually I think a log at WOT would of got more than one blade on your prop. Very interesting.

BTW, you have plenty of time to get it fixed.

Yeah, well, I guess we're actually guessing that the fin fell off and hit the prop. We very well could have hit something under the water. But, there absolutely no thud or anything...only the instant change in sound. We were in about 16 feet of water on a path we take regularly. The only thing we didn't do, when we were under the boat was look to see if the inserts had been ripped out, which would indicate we did hit something. We're going over the get it today and thats the first thing we're going to look at. Hopefully, the inserts are still there.

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I'm going to guess that either way at least one or some of the inserts are probably gone. If the bolts loosened up enough to let the fin flop around I don't think it would hang out till all the bolts worked themself loose and out. Chances are you will have to epoxy new inserts in, which by the way is pretty easy.

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To Jerry's comment, the hull should not be an issue. They can be epoxied/re-epoxied back in place many times with out issue. They are designed to be knocked off and replaced. It just seems odd that yours was loose.
Didn't mean to imply that it can't be fixed, or that it could be a serious flaw - but I see that my comment could have been interpreted that way. Sorry 'bout that.

I was really thinking more along the lines that maybe the fin was ripped out causing some damage that may not have been as obvious as a missing fin and a damaged prop. Certainly repairable - probably needed to be repaired when the screw was loose originally - but like you said, its gonna require some new inserts and epoxy.

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I'm going to guess that either way at least one or some of the inserts are probably gone. If the bolts loosened up enough to let the fin flop around I don't think it would hang out till all the bolts worked themself loose and out. Chances are you will have to epoxy new inserts in, which by the way is pretty easy.

I'm betting you're right. It's funny that we were under the boat, but didn't think to look at the holes. Well, actually, we did, but they were pouring water the entire time we were under there. Not to mention it is a little unnerving to stand in 5 feet of water with a boat dangling directly over you head. Crazy.gif

The insert repair should be pretty easy. Evidently the fin will cost about $65. The prop....well, that is a different story. We're not sure what we're going to do there. Where is that group by deal. Is it for ACME? I'll go searching.

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I believe you should also add a sealer adhesive when replacing fin... If it was thru bolted I'm really surprised there wasnt any fiberglass damage.

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Thats some tough luck. Regarding your inserts, unless Malibu has changed they're process, and they might have, they actually didn't use an insert or backing plate of any type. If they did and you hit something, you would create a larger hole or more damage that is neccessary and take on more water than you probably did. The only reason I know this is because I knocked one off on my 99. The process that was used, on my boat at least was simply tapping the fiberglass in the 3/4 to 1" thickness of the hull. I had a hard time believing it myself until I saw it Shocking.gif All in all, I ended up reglassing the holes, drilled and tapped them and installed the fin with an adhesive silicon, and that was four yrs ago. :)

Edited by Henken
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Thats some tough luck. Regarding your inserts, unless Malibu has changed they're process, and they might have, they actually didn't use an insert or backing plate of any type. If they did and you hit something, you would create a larger hole or more damage that is neccessary and take on more water than you probably did. The only reason I know this is because I knocked one off on my 99. The process that was used, on my boat at least was simply tapping the fiberglass in the 3/4 to 1" thickness of the hull. I had a hard time believing it myself until I saw it Shocking.gif All in all, I ended up reglassing the holes, drilled and tapped them and installed the fin with an adhesive silicon, and that was four yrs ago. :)

Good point... malibu has more than one way of mounting fins. I'm thinking about my sporty that used inserts and the fins bolted on from the bottom of the boat... if they were bolted from the inside then you may have a completely different situation.

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Another thing, pending upon which coolant hose you blew. A few years back I blew the hose common to the water pump and transmission cooler. After pulling the hose off I found debris (impeller parts, weeds) on the screen of the tranny cooler. I'm pretty sure the reason my hose blew is because the plugged screen wasn't allowing the water through and increased the pressure in that paticular hose till it failed. Sure is funny how one learns from these examples. Crazy.gif

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