Helihover
Seaman
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2017
- Messages
- 53
Hello guys. I'm new here and this is my first post.
I have a 1973 Starcraft with a 1973 25 hp and a 1973 9.5 hp, both Evinrudes. Lots of fun over the past 3 months with this boat and the family. We use it for fishing and crabbing.
About 3 weeks ago I was in the bay crabbing and ran aground. It wasn't too bad, as I dinged the prop a bit. I was going maybe 3-4 mph. Later that day I noticed the kicking while retrieving traps. I'm not sure that running aground caused this, but I only noticed this violent "kick" after the incident. The very next day I went to a different bay with fresh gas thinking I had some bad gas..... The same kicking was still there. So when I got home I visually inspected everything externally on the motor, found the prop nut to be a bit loose so I snugged that. I then took the boat down to the river to run it again (I live about a mile from the boat ramp so testing is pretty easy). Same thing. Only this time I ran it hard to try and really see/feel what was going on. This "kick" feels like your running over a 2x4 at high speed. Even when your going slow (4-5 mph) it feels like your running over something going fast. The motor is not slipping out of gear because the boat keeps going. This kick happens about every 8-10 seconds at any speed above 3-4 mph. The whole boat feels it, I mean it rattles my windshield. So during this run in the river I ran back and forth full throttle untill it finally let loose. It sounded like a transmission had just exploded. It sounded horrible. I got excited and thought to myself that I would have no issues finding the problem now. From my memory, a quick test and I had no reverse or forward, but I could not mess around because I was in a river headed for a bridge. I had to get my kicker going. I took the boat home and tore the bottom end apart expecting to find major carnage. I found nothing but water in the gears and a bushing that was spun a lil due to a pin that had been pushed up. Anyway I found nothing majorly wrong! All the gears and splines look to be in near perfect shape. The splines on the drive shaft look good with no signs of wear. I was able to turn the motor both ways by hand using the drive shaft. Looking at what I had and doing some research I started to look at the prop. I took my whole disassembled lower end to the marina where I purchased the boat from so they could have a look. They said that they would replace the the spun bushing, but that should not be the problem. They said my prop was damaged and that could be the problem, (the prop bushing spinning in the prop). I went to a different boat shop to buy a used prop. I took my old prop in and they immediately said my prop was bad. I put the used prop on and went to test only to get the same results.
I'm not sure what to do at this point. I was thinking ignition issues, but I can't get this kick to happen in reverse. If it was ignition what happened when it sounded like the bottom end blew? The motor was still running great, I just had no forward or reverse.
Thanks guys! I'm pretty mechanically incline and fix machines for a living, but have only been into boats for three months
I have a 1973 Starcraft with a 1973 25 hp and a 1973 9.5 hp, both Evinrudes. Lots of fun over the past 3 months with this boat and the family. We use it for fishing and crabbing.
About 3 weeks ago I was in the bay crabbing and ran aground. It wasn't too bad, as I dinged the prop a bit. I was going maybe 3-4 mph. Later that day I noticed the kicking while retrieving traps. I'm not sure that running aground caused this, but I only noticed this violent "kick" after the incident. The very next day I went to a different bay with fresh gas thinking I had some bad gas..... The same kicking was still there. So when I got home I visually inspected everything externally on the motor, found the prop nut to be a bit loose so I snugged that. I then took the boat down to the river to run it again (I live about a mile from the boat ramp so testing is pretty easy). Same thing. Only this time I ran it hard to try and really see/feel what was going on. This "kick" feels like your running over a 2x4 at high speed. Even when your going slow (4-5 mph) it feels like your running over something going fast. The motor is not slipping out of gear because the boat keeps going. This kick happens about every 8-10 seconds at any speed above 3-4 mph. The whole boat feels it, I mean it rattles my windshield. So during this run in the river I ran back and forth full throttle untill it finally let loose. It sounded like a transmission had just exploded. It sounded horrible. I got excited and thought to myself that I would have no issues finding the problem now. From my memory, a quick test and I had no reverse or forward, but I could not mess around because I was in a river headed for a bridge. I had to get my kicker going. I took the boat home and tore the bottom end apart expecting to find major carnage. I found nothing but water in the gears and a bushing that was spun a lil due to a pin that had been pushed up. Anyway I found nothing majorly wrong! All the gears and splines look to be in near perfect shape. The splines on the drive shaft look good with no signs of wear. I was able to turn the motor both ways by hand using the drive shaft. Looking at what I had and doing some research I started to look at the prop. I took my whole disassembled lower end to the marina where I purchased the boat from so they could have a look. They said that they would replace the the spun bushing, but that should not be the problem. They said my prop was damaged and that could be the problem, (the prop bushing spinning in the prop). I went to a different boat shop to buy a used prop. I took my old prop in and they immediately said my prop was bad. I put the used prop on and went to test only to get the same results.
I'm not sure what to do at this point. I was thinking ignition issues, but I can't get this kick to happen in reverse. If it was ignition what happened when it sounded like the bottom end blew? The motor was still running great, I just had no forward or reverse.
Thanks guys! I'm pretty mechanically incline and fix machines for a living, but have only been into boats for three months
