Boat/motor question

B

Bob Collier

Active member
I am the most unlucky person when it comes to motors. In the last two years I have taken out my lower unit twice hitting under water obstructions. I was thinking maybe a surface drive would help but I don’t know if it would work on my Duck Wrangler DW-15.
I know there is a ton of knowledge on this site so appreciate any feedback.
Merry Christmas!
Bob
 
Bob Collier said:
I am the most unlucky person when it comes to motors. In the last two years I have taken out my lower unit twice hitting under water obstructions. I was thinking maybe a surface drive would help but I don’t know if it would work on my Duck Wrangler DW-15.
I know there is a ton of knowledge on this site so appreciate any feedback.
Merry Christmas!
Bob
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Have you thought about a hydraulic jack plate? Also a Chart plotter would be nice. I assume you're hitting real hard objects to wreck your LU. A plotter would help you see them before you slam them
 
Yes I have thought about a jack plate that breaks away. Not to
Show my ignorance but not sure what a chart plotter is.
 
What did you hit?
I believe what Nick is referring to as a Chart plotter is a GPS with a base map, so you can see known obstructions and mark ones you find. Fish finders don’t work because they only see what you just hit, not what’s coming!
 
Carl said:
What did you hit?
I believe what Nick is referring to as a Chart plotter is a GPS with a base map, so you can see known obstructions and mark ones you find. Fish finders don’t work because they only see what you just hit, not what’s coming!
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I am sure it was a rock by the damage done. I run rivers so obstructions change every year, other than wing dams.
 
Bob, shear pin or slip clutch in prop should have worked? I took a adult ed course on out boards so I could repair my own motors. Always have 1-2 extras around. Prices for new water pumps, etc saves a couple of dollars.
 
Bob Collier said:
I run rivers so obstructions change every year, other than wing dams.
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Reminds me of a time long long ago in one of my early powerboats. We had been water skiing this stretch of river for several hours that day. Even skied the same stretch a couple weekends before that day. When all of a sudden, thump and the lower unit is toast. Rock, chunk of concrete, (metro river), who knows? We may have been just missing the obstruction by inches all the times before.

Just this summer, I lost a good portion of the motor skeg on my fishing boat, in a different stretch (40 miles upstream) of the same river. Pretty sure this one was a log/stump in the river.

I do have a chart plotter along with detailed maps but no, most smaller rivers are not going to have any detail to them. Best usage I've have found for navigation on these rivers is the create your very own route. I'll navigate several runs to and from the ramp when the water is clear and the water is low to expose as many dangers as possible.

I will then take those trails and create a saved "route". By displaying and following the route along on the screen, I can safely navigate at O'dark thirty in the morning. My version of "flying by instruments".
 
Capt Rich Geminski said:
Bob, shear pin or slip clutch in prop should have worked? I took a adult ed course on out boards so I could repair my own motors. Always have 1-2 extras around. Prices for new water pumps, etc saves a couple of dollars.
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That's only good for a prop strike. An impact directly to the lower unit can and will tear one in half. Seen the results on Canadian lakes. every season. The resorts will have a wall dedicated to the display of trashed lower units. :oops:
 
Depends upon how you hunt. If you hunt a lot of mud. I don't think a surface drive is as good as a longtail. Reason being is you can use the longtail to get you unstuck whereas a surface drive you can't. Surface drive is usually slower than a longtail running the same hp motor. Mud Skipper came out with a compromise called the twister. People who have them love them. Have heard some issues with the drive cable breaking but not much lately.
 
Capt Rich Geminski said:
Bob, shear pin or slip clutch in prop should have worked? I took an adult ed course on out boards so I could repair my own motors. Always have 1-2 extras around. Prices for new water pumps, etc saves a couple of dollars.
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I wish we had a community ed on outboards. Would have saved me a ton of money
 
That is not a good rig for a surface drive. Vee/mod-vee is not going to be a good fit.

The reality is, you just need to be careful. You're not going to be perfect all the time and sometimes you can't avoid hitting stuff. You just have to study charts and take your time. If you don't know where you're going, just go slow.

Here: https://deepzoom.com/

Free online charting with tides, wind and weather forecasts. It's not perfect but look for things like "stumps" or "submerged piles."
 
I have break away plate for my motor. Before I had a motor with power trim and tilt I just never locked it down. When I got a motor with power trim and tilt I purchased on if these https://thmarinesupplies.com/products/cmc-ba-130-break-away-mount. Mine doesn't have the spring on it and it has saved my lower unit multiple times. I curretnly have a Yamaha 40 on it. For places I hunt often I will go out in the summer when the water is low and mark channels and obstuctions on my phone. I have just dropped pins on google maps but have recently started using ONX and can save my tracks. Also check how low you motor is mounted to the transom. most shops will mount the motor lower than needed. When on plane the cavitation plate should just be in the water. Having the motor a couple inches higher can make a difference on if you hit something or not.
 
2 ideas.

1.) Get a jet pump engine and ditch the prop all together.

I ran a 60 horse merc oil inject that put out 40 hp at the nozzle with the jet unit on it. It was a great set up. I think you can go even lower as far as the power head. Like down to 30 at the head and about 20 at the nozzle. Depends on the motor 4 strokers are heavier and perform differently as far as power curve than an older 2 stk)

2.) Scout the places you will be hunting and figure out the depths and the areas to avoid while under power and then be diligent about not going there with a prop drive.
 
Carl said:
What did you hit?
I believe what Nick is referring to as a Chart plotter is a GPS with a base map, so you can see known obstructions and mark ones you find. Fish finders don’t work because they only see what you just hit, not what’s coming!
Click to expand...
This. I have a Garmin echomap 64 on my duck wrangler loaded with the blue water charts (ocean and rivers). I always scout new spots slowly, and am very very cautious about going into the big rivers after large rain storms with all the logs and lord knows what else gets picked up and relocated for the following few days (of course that's been this entire season here in CT).

I can also plot my own charts with an insertable SD card and take a ride in the morning on various other bodies of water and it'll map the depth. Somewhat entertaining to watch. I almost feel blind without one now, especially because we have a 12" on the fishing boat on LIS.
 
Nick Zito said:
I always scout new spots slowly, and am very very cautious about going into the big rivers after large rain storms with all the logs and lord knows what else gets picked up and relocated for the following few days (of course that's been this entire season here in CT).
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This cannot be understated. Experienced this for the first time this season in NJ. There were actual trees floating downriver and birds were sitting on the tree. Slow down, especially in the dark, and take your time.
 
Thanks for the input. I appreciate the need to scout and familiarize hunting new areas. In both the instances where I sustained the damage, I was running on very familiar water that I had been on at O’Dark Thirty for several years. Just plain bad luck. ☹️

Not sure why that all was highlighted in dark letters. Sorry.
 
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As I told you before. I am quite positive you hit a stump unless you happen to hit a wingdam. There are not many rocks or boulders. But I would recommend you go over the summer time and use the start plotter on you GPS to map trails out. Also run in Major channels.. and I can tell you that I generally run wide open so I'm not sitting as low in the water and I also trim up the motor so any impacts are not as abrupt. But I do think there's no reason to surface drive would not work on your boat.
 
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