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Bad Day on the river


Lptexastornado1

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Well bad things happen I guess even when your trying to help others out. We were out on the river tonight and saw a pontoon boat get stuck on a sand bar so my buddy and I and the little ones (our kids) we had With us decided “let’s go do a good deed and help them out”. We idle over there and wouldn’t you know it I hit a submerged stump with my front tracking fin. Fin fell off and we started filling up with water  good news is I had a throw over the side bag pump. So dropped that in the bilge that out chased the leak along with my bilge pump and we were fine safety wise and water didn’t seem to get any higher than the bottom of the oil pan before we caught it.  So starter are v drive should be in the clear.

Here is the problem, the front gorilla fin broke off. It is a 6 screw fin. Seems like this is the fin on Bakes 

https://www.bakesonline.com/boat/parts/underwater-gear/tracking-fin-malibu-gorilla-challenger-6-bolt-tracking-fin.html

but I have been searching for others that have had to replace these on here and have only found 1 posting for a 2008 that had to do it. Seems like the same setup as my 2006 23lsv but not sure. 

Are the screws screwed into the fiberglass like the 2008s? Or bolted through like the earlier 2000s?  ( big difference in labor having to pull gas tank or not.). With the minimal damage I got I think they are just screwed into the fiberglass. 

Seems like a fairly straightforward fix. 

- fill holes with a marine epoxy or some other good substance - any suggestions?

- Then re drill the holes (don’t hit the gas tank going to deep!!! ) 

- put Marine sealant on new Hardware and new Fin and screw into place and let cure then go lake test and then hopefully enjoy your day.

Option 2 fill holes in and move skeg forward 1” and drill new holes then put back together  

any idea on the cheapest place to buy that fin from or is Bakes my best bet if that’s the right fin?

how about buying the proper hardware for it?

 

thanks for any help

 

 

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Easiest way to know for sure is to take one of the screws off the other fin.

The way that we fixed my inlaws LXI was to get some glass mat and some chopped mat and resin. (Basically the $15 kit they sell at O'reilly or Home depot)  Soaked a square about 1.5x1.5 in resin for each hole, shoved it up through with a skinny needlenose and then pulled it back as flat as possible without being able to see anything,  Then soaked up some chopped mat (fibers) and filled the hole.  After that let it cure, drill it and screw it.

Some folks just fill the holes with marinetex

Edited by oldjeep
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I wonder if a nutsert would be the way to go?  We use them for snow and waterskis all the time.  Mind you, a strike would probably cause even more damage than if they were screwed in.

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15 hours ago, Lptexastornado1 said:

I think I’m gonna fill with Marine Tex and re drill

As someone who has done this (twice), that is exactly what I was going to recommend.  Use a Dremel with a sanding bit to knock down the edges of the gel to prevent spider webbing.  Take it easy on how far you spread the Marine Tex, as it's that much more sanding you will have to do.

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