skeg protector for F30?

[DennisG01]

Scott, I'd be lying if I gave an exact number. All I can say is what I said above. Now, to add to that, I also don't see a lot of people around me using them so I'm only drawing on a small "survey sample", so to speak.

I also don't doubt that there are times when the impact is small enough that it DOES NOT cause any really bad damage to the Al skeg. And all of those minor impacts or sandbar scrapings... sure the skeg guard is better for that. I suppose, to some extent, it comes back to the "risk vs reward" that Fairdeal mentioned. But from what I've seen, there have been times where if there was NO skeg guard, the lower unit would not have been ruined.

Think about it this way... with a skeg guard, the shock from any impact is immediately transferred up towards the gear housing. Without the guard, the shock is "spread out" over the entire skeg, thereby lessening the actual shock "value" (sorry - couldn't come up with a better term ) felt by the entire skeg and the gear housing area.

[rodbolt17]

just put the skeg guard on and roll.
other than a small bit of drag loss it CANNOT hurt anything.

having been a shallow water boater the past 30 yrs or so running many many small outboards with and without skeg guards.
I have NEVER seen any lower unit damage attributable to a skeg guard.

it will prevent chips,chunks and sanding away of the skeg.

the skeg has only two functions.
one is to assist in protecting the prop,a job its poor at.

two is an arcane USCG rule stating that all vessels shall have a rudder.

that rule is why you also see that tiny skeg on jet drives, useless but in compliance.

[99yam40]

Some years back I found out that while being pulled back to the ramp because of a power pack failure on an old 35 Johnson rig I had, that lowering the motor back into the water so I could steer a little helps when you are being towed at speeds faster than the 35 was capable of pushing my 15 foot aluminum skiff.

Scary but true.

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Thanks for the honesty Dennis and the "hands on" experience Rodbolt.

Almost all the water I run in is shallow (outside the Inter-coastal waterway-from lake Okeechobee, westward to the Gulf of Mexico and the gulf).

Its mostly sandy (some sand bars), with small sections of hard marine growth (forgot the name) or grass flats. Veer out a little or don't pay attention to the water movement, etc, and your scrapping the skeg/prop.

There's NO big rocks around here to worry about.

I was constantly loosing paint on the skeg, (and don't like having bare aluminum corroding). I still have a Yamaha rattle can for those instances..

This particular brand, I'm extremely impressed how well its made and how well it fits...

With the guard, its a non issue for me anymore.

Food for thought, thanks guys.

[DennisG01]

I wonder... if there was a way to attach the guard, different than the holes in the top of the Al skeg? Even just an inch or two lower should eliminate the issues I've occasionally seen. I was originally thinking glue/epoxy, but that wouldn't work - it would negate the "break away" feature.

That shallow water and sand must wreck havoc on your impeller, Scott. Not that changing an impeller is by any means hard, but do you end up replacing it much more often?

[TownsendsFJR1300]

I wonder... if there was a way to attach the guard, different than the holes in the top of the Al skeg? Even just an inch or two lower should eliminate the issues I've occasionally seen. I was originally thinking glue/epoxy, but that wouldn't work - it would negate the "break away" feature.

That shallow water and sand must wreck havoc on your impeller, Scott. Not that changing an impeller is by any means hard, but do you end up replacing it much more often?

I've read you can epoxy it on and depending on what you use, would or would not come off easier or harder. I prefer "hardware" if you would to an epoxy(just me).

I personally like where it's mounted, there's plenty of "meat" there, bolted up high.

Re the impeller, (it was oyster beds I couldn't remember earlier) that occasionally get tagged.

I think I'm on my 3rd impeller since early 2007. If I start hitting sand or an oyster bed (there's ALOT of idle speeds for Manatee's down here), the skeg/prop will be felt immediately hitting and muck churned up.

The prop is BEHIND the pickup screen, so the intake screens are still getting "clean" water (running at approx 5 MPH).

The shop (when they replaced both upper seals for the vertical drive-shaft-no leakage, just highly recommended), just installs the entire WP kit.

So I still have my old impeller, SS cup is like new, etc...

And then flush with the Yamaha flusher up top and muffs after that at least 10 minutes each.


I can see should you hit a good sized rock, especially at speed, causing some serious damage, skeg guard ripped off etc. However down here, unless I'm way out of the channel, speeding in a slow zone (operating really stupid) its not a problem.


*For S&G's, one of my old impellers, I tried cutting away a fin with a razor just to see how tough it is.. It did have some set (NEVER OVERHEATED). That impeller is WAY tougher than you'd think. I could see the rubbe r(run with water), lasting longer than the SS cup its that tough...