Re: Outdrive snapped in half!
Thanks everyone for your concern. No one was hurt at all and we made it back to shore thanks to the paddles and a kind passing boater who noticed we were rowing.
As for when the outdrive snapped - it actually wasn't a hard stop. It seemed more like I had just cut the throttle and hadn't hit anything. Kinda confusing to me, because I would have thought that hitting something hard enough to break the drive would have left some of us in the water. Could it be a possibility that the drive had fractured some time earlier and with the stress of a full boat and almost full throttle it just couldn't handle it? After it broke a friend actually mentioned duck tape.

Also, got another question. HORRAH for iboats!!!! I got some time today and took the gimble ring and bellows off, but I couldn't get the shift cable to pull out. I unhooked it from the shift assembly on top of the engine and got enough slack to get the bellows off, but the cable has to come off to put a new bellow on. I downloaded the manual, but I'm still scratchin my head. Everything looks good in the gimble housing. No crackes or scratches or anything, but I'll probably have it checked anyway. One thing I did notice was the hinge pins were not tight. Meaning I didn't have to use any torque to get them to turn. That isn't normal right? Also, still haven't checked the valves yet. I'll get there!
Anyway, thanks guys. All the advice and concern are very much appreciated!