Mercruiser

[dpg]

For lack of a better term what's the purpose of the "fin" at the bottom of a Mercruiser inboard-outboard? Ours got knocked off (well most of it) "kissing" a rock this weekend. Boat seems to run and steer fine other than that being missing, is it an issue just leaving it like that?

[Woodsy]

The technical term is "skeg".... you can have one welded on fairly cheaply. Give John Spooner a call over at Diamond Shine @ 603-293-0378 He will get you fixed right up!


Woodsy

[dpg]

Thanks what's the Skeg do? Boat seems to operate as it did before. The prop had a little damage (it already had battle scars anyway) and I had a replacement which I swapped. The only thing I now notice is it's harder to get skiers up out of the water but I believe the prop I took off is the reason. If I recall when I had it changed years ago it was because of the same reason and it was recommended at the time to go with the one that was on there. Can't imagine that piece missing could effect acceleration?

[Dave M]

You may want to try East Coast Welding. Had boat trailer(Cox) for 35 years and somebody smashed into the trailer and bent the tongue and wheel cover. He had to shorten the tongue and reattach the hitch and fixed the wheel cover. Still was able to use on the boat that I have. Recommend highly.

Dave M

[Phantom]

The prime purpose is for assistance in steering at slow speeds like motoring into the dock area or loading your boat on the trailer. If your skeg is damaged or some of it is missing then the boat will have a tendency to wonder from left to right more then if the skeg is complete.

It is not critical to day to day operations, and if your comfortable with how she is handling you can wait until Fall to get her repaired (or not)


.

[codeman671]

It also acts as a great "bumper" for your outdrive when in shallow spots. Unless you really clock something tall, the skeg should hit first and will shear off, saving your casing. It kicks the outdrive up when hit.

I have lost a few over the years, never noticed any difference in handling. Cheap fix, East Coast Welding does it.

[Woodsy]

You def want to get your skeg replaced.... it saved your outdrive this time. If its not there and you hit a rock, kiss your outdrive goodbye. Now you are looking at $2K repair plus downtime during the busy season.

And a dinged up prop isn't good for your outdrive either.....

Woodsy

[dpg]

You def want to get your skeg replaced.... it saved your outdrive this time. If its not there and you hit a rock, kiss your outdrive goodbye. Now you are looking at $2K repair plus downtime during the busy season.

And a dinged up prop isn't good for your outdrive either.....

Woodsy

ok thanks...The kids said the boat really "shook" getting it back to the dock but when I took it out after the prop change it seemed fine. I'm thinking it was just the damaged prop this time and not the whole outdrive, shaft or anything like that.

[Woodsy]

The "shake" or "vibration" that the boat had was because of the damaged prop... had you continued to run the boat with the dinged prop... eventually the lower shaft on the outdrive would fail.

The skeg took the hit for the rest of the lower unit... if the Skeg wasn't there the rock would most likely impact the prop directly and take out the drive... or impact the nose/torpedo of the lower unit and destroy it.


Woodsy

[raydoe1]

The skeg's only purpose is to protect the prop.

[dpg]

Thanks all learned a lot and feel a little better now about running the boat. She's an older boat but obviously don't want to ruin the whole drive unit. Been reading some about the prop and it seems a 4 blade may help with "hole shots" for getting up skiers and pulling tubes. Maybe next year I'll look at that option again and look around about fixing the Skeg. For the amount it's used these days I'm not sweating it this year. It's a four cylinder so any help it gets pulling skiers never hurts. :rolleye2:

[Hillcountry]

I had left my out drive down earlier this year when I was taking the boat out and the skeg scraped the asphalt and "filed" off a small corner of the skeg...went online and found the "Skeggard (http://skeggard.com/)" and ordered one and installed it.
Easy installation and when I "kissed" a couple of well hidden rocks last weekend, I had no damage to the skeg or prop.
I was doing no wake speed when kissing the rocks so imagine that was a factor.
Check hem out...as long as there is a couple of inches left on the damaged skeg you can install one.

[dpg]

Have seen them not even sure there's enough left for proper mounting! :eek: