Not wanting to panic, but noticed this morning that the fin on the lower unit is missing some of it's original size. Don't know where, when or what happened. Will this substantially effect performance? Short of major teardown, any fixes? Doesn't look like it struck something, looks more like it's a failure in the metal, corroded?
I have seen weld on replacement skegs for sale on E-bay. Just trim to fit the break line, do a proper weld prep, and crank up the heliarc. Weld it out slow and skip around, as not to put too much heat and distortion into the lower unit. A weld on replacement could be made yourself. Just trace out a similar skeg, cut it out of the proper thickness and grade aluminum, feather and radius the proper edges, and do the weld prep, weld it out like above, once the welds are blended out and painted, if done properly, you wont be able to tell it was repaired. Good Luck.
You may not have enough of the skeg left to put an aftermarket skeg on. I know Bass Pro has one for about $70.00 which bolts onto the existing skeg. Looks to me like this one will require a good shop that could weld another piece of aluminum onto the existing skeg. If you have a marina or boat repair place you trust, drag it down there and see what they say.
going to have to weld it on, do a little at a time and keep it cooled down with a wet rag or a spray of water as you don't want to get it to hot and burn out the seals in the lower unit, We used to have a boat repair shop next to our welding shop and did 2+ a week for the dude next door from peeps hitting the rocks down on the ol river we alway used a pc of 1/4" or 5/16" alum. for the repair. now days they do make a nice pre made pc you can buy i would think the pre made one would be the way to go , do a google search for one " pre formed weld on skagg" KEEP IT COOL:wink:
well i can tell u it definately hit something, and does not affect performance at all!!!! mine on my toon looks just like it after hitting something, seems they always break like that from what iv'e seen!! either weld one on, or ride it like that, either way. Only thing is, another rock and ur prop will definately be gone next time, maybe even the lower unit!
