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Due to a failure of my power tilt and my lack of awareness of the release valve on the hydraulics that would permit manually raising the motor, I had occasion to pull my boat out of the water with the lower unit dragging on the concrete boat ramp for a few feet. I have since learned how to release the hydraulics.
But, in the process I have damaged that "rudder-like" protrusion on the very bottom of the lower unit below the propeller. A few inches have broken off.
The motor is on a large pontoon boat, so real fine precision/performance steering is not too important.
Two questions arise:
1. Do I need to fix/replace it all? In other words, will it steer/handle adequately as it is?
2. If the answer to #1 is "don't use it that way under any circumstances", would there be any chance of a good aluminum welder (if that's what the material is) making a "prosthetic rudder tip" (my words) and welding it on, or would I have to replace the entire lower unit housing?
I have some good photos of this item and could send them, but I can't seem to post them due to file size. (I got one of them down to 360 KB, but apaprently 97 KB is the limit)
But, in the process I have damaged that "rudder-like" protrusion on the very bottom of the lower unit below the propeller. A few inches have broken off.
The motor is on a large pontoon boat, so real fine precision/performance steering is not too important.
Two questions arise:
1. Do I need to fix/replace it all? In other words, will it steer/handle adequately as it is?
2. If the answer to #1 is "don't use it that way under any circumstances", would there be any chance of a good aluminum welder (if that's what the material is) making a "prosthetic rudder tip" (my words) and welding it on, or would I have to replace the entire lower unit housing?
I have some good photos of this item and could send them, but I can't seem to post them due to file size. (I got one of them down to 360 KB, but apaprently 97 KB is the limit)
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