Outdrive repair reccomendation needed
 

Last week I made the mistake of loaning my boat to a relative. He immediately went into a rocky area and shortened my outdrive skeg by about an inch. The remaining part is bent slightly to starboard.

I need to have it repaired. Can anyone recommend a local person or shop able to weld aluminum and replace/repair the skeg? It is a 1992 OMC Cobra drive, if that matters, and has been repaired once previously ( i bought the boat with existing damage). I expect to remove the drive from the boat for the repair, and replace the bellows and gimbal bearing at the same time.

I am not interested in a bolt on repair e.g. a skeg guard.

Thanks in advance.

Dave Motorboat Shop in Gilford, NH

Yes, Dave's Motorboat Shoppe

http://www.davesmotorboatshop.com/

Ouch...that hurts in more ways than one...same happened with an old ex-gf's parents Four Winns...Daddy lent the boat to family and when the ex and I went to take the boat out at Harilla's Landing, the darn thing wouldn't even operate in forward or reverse...I recall about $5k of damage done...hope yours is not as bad and you get it fixed quickly to salvage the rest of the season!
Hopefully, the recommendations above will take care of your skeg.
You may want to consider a "Skeggard" after the repair...they do protect the skeg from minor damage and look pretty nice too. Good luck!

I can still operate the boat with the damaged skeg; I just need to ensure I don't have any further encounters with the lake bottom. My relative's encounter also cost me a prop.

I think if I had a skeggard, the added reinforcing of the device would have resulted in my skeg being broken off higher, with more damage.

Gotta love the famned damily! :D
Makes sense...the skeggard is designed to shear off under too much of an impact but it does protect for a little "kiss" to a rock which I was guilty of when I had my bowrider...

You are "lucky" they didnt do worse as I believe it is very difficult to get parts or rebuilt OMC drives! I know Diamond Shine does this type of welding along with Dave's.

I would definitely call John Spooner over at Diamond Shine... he can weld like nobodys business!

Also... I would start hunting around for a spare drive! OMC Cobras are getting rare, and parts are tough to come by.

Woodsy

Actually you can still order new parts. See the website here: http://epc.brp.com/SiteMods/BRP_Publ...ic_Login.aspx?

I've also seen many Cobra drives for sale on Craigslist in New Jersey.