lil' boo boo today

[knottybuoyz]

Short vacation. 50 nautical miles, 3.5 hours. Met some rather unfriendly rocks with the outdrive.

Dog eared a few blades. Trimmed up drive and its leaking hydraulic fluid or something similar. Boat is now on the trailer in my front yard. Ain't boating fun?

[SkiprJohn]

Sorry to hear that. A real bummer. Hope it'll be an easy fix.

Just so I know in the future. Are there ever any friendly rocks that your propeller might meet?

JohnL

[Charlie]

Sorry to hear that:

Good luck with repairs.

[DeepFrz]

Rick, didn't you bend some blades last year?

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

[never monday]

see now if you had sails and a keel. That prop wouldn't be dinged up.

[knottybuoyz]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

Rick, didn't you bend some blades last year?

Yup, trying to pull a sailboat off the beach!

[knottybuoyz]

Blew out the drive shaft seal in the upper unit which leaked drive fluid into the bellows. The bellows go pinched when I brought the drive up and allowed the fluid to leak out. Apart from the dinged up prop (which gets fixed tomorrow) we should be back on the water by Friday and a little less than $500.

[knottybuoyz]

Ok, here we are 12 days later. Boat is still on the trailer in the dooryard. Holidays more than half over. Mechanic says it needs a special order bearing for the upper unit. Ok that was last Tues 1 week after he pulled the drive. I can't believe that it takes 2 weeks to get a bearing, seal and bellows for a VP 290 DP. He claims it was a special order coming from somewhere on the Chesapeake. Frig! I coulda drove there and back quicker.

Starting to get a lil' frustrated now. Called multiple times and no answer. I even drove there today to get my drive. Nobody home. It's along weekend here so I doubt I even have a snowball's chance in h*ll of getting it by Tues, two weeks later!

I'm generally a very patient person. However I think I'm gonna loose it! Grrrrrrrr! *counting to ten*

Thanks for letting me vent!

[S/V Elusive]

Thanks for the update Rick! All those Holidays up there ehhh?

[Alan Wheeler]

And who was it that thinks Boating is supposed to be relaxing??......oh, I think it was me. Oh well, I can be wrong too you know.

[knottybuoyz]

Originally Posted by Alan Wheeler

And who was it that thinks Boating is supposed to be relaxing??......oh, I think it was me. Oh well, I can be wrong too you know.

Well usually it is then sh*t like an incompetent mechanic (should have been a day to get parts and an hour to reinstall) screw it all up and cause a lot of angina! I spent a lot of time (and money) rewiring the stupid boat this spring so we'd be all set to go. I guess its all my fault. I knew the signs were there I just didn't listen.

[Alan Wheeler]

Mate, I would hate to be the guy providing the poor service when it's you as the customer ;-) :-)

[knottybuoyz]

Originally Posted by Alan Wheeler

Mate, I would hate to be the guy providing the poor service when it's you as the customer ;-) :-)

I think he knows Wheels! He's gonna get an ear full! I intend to pick up my drive on Monday and haul it off to someone who I know will get it fixed in a timely fashion. Last dollar that deadbeat will ever get out of me! Now if I could only sue the bugger for my ruined holidays!

[Inthewind]

Don't be too hard on your mechanic, he can't just pull parts out of his hat and he probably had to order parts out of a parts book manual and lets hope he had one. Personally, in my opinion, outdrives suck. My vessels are all straight shaft drive boats with no mechanicles hanging in the water. The only things in the water are shaft,cutlass bearing, rudder, prop and zincs, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Your looking at an outdrive that sits in the water and has many moving parts including a transmission with fluid that can be contaminated easily by saltwater by leaking seals. I would say fix it and get rid of it and get an inboard shaft drive boat preferably diesel powered.
I am sorry to be so harsh but you don't want to deal with these kinds of problems again and you won't, if you sell your boat and buy one like I am talking about. Outdrives suck and I would never own a boat with an outdrive. Keep in mind that I have been drinking rum drinks,but I tell the truth, I HATE OUTDRIVES.

[GordMay]

So Inthewind, what's your opinion on I/O outdrives?