Banged my outdrive on the ramp!

[steve31]

While launching my boat the other day my winch broke. The boat slid back on the trailer and bumped the outdrive on the concrete ramp before sliding into the water. It put a flat spot on the drive right below the pointed (bullet shaped) part of the drive. There are no cracks or leaks. The drive seems to work fine. My question is, will this damage affect the drive while cutting through the water? Should the housing be welded over this spot to build it back up? Thanks for your input!

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Banged my outdrive on the ramp!

Should not hurt performance.If it bugs you take a die grinder and smooth it back down..
I have seen many of them broken off with no ill affects..

 

[crestapre]

Re: Banged my outdrive on the ramp!

It should be OK as long as it itn't cracked.
Inside of that "bullet" are your lower gears and the oil res
How deep is this groove or flat spot?
If it looks bad you may want to post a picture

Gary is speaking of the skeg which can be ground down without any performance issues.

 

[DukesFin]

Re: Banged my outdrive on the ramp!

Given the "bullet" houses your gear set, if it is scratched up, no worries, but a dent would worry me.

I would think though, that even with a dent, if you hear absolutely no sound of the gears hitting the housing, I wouldn't worry too much. To hear anything though, you'd have to have it in fwd or reverse and turn the prop by hand slowly to be sure. Not sure if you can do that without removing other more complicated parts though...

 

[180shabah]

Re: Banged my outdrive on the ramp!

I dealt with the same thing last summer. How deep is the gouge? The case is not very thick, only a 1/4" maybe 5/16". Mine was deep enough that it did break through and start to leak. I had sugestions to weld it, but I decided to replace the lower unit. The pricing at SEI was a huge factor.