I have been enjoying the past couple of days out fishing on the water. This evening with my wife and daughter and our next door nieghbor's little girl on the way back.. Wham I had done did struck a chunk of ledge. I hit it quite hard and fortunately suffered only a damaged prop. I was going wide open when I saw it coming up on my fish finder. I tried to slow done quickly but there was not enough time to do anything about it!. But again it was only the prop that was damaged. I ordered a new one out this evening for it. I can still run the boat but there is a lot of vibration from the prop.

Ouch is right! Glad to hear no injuries involved.

You are right and so am I. The prop can be repaired and fixed easy enough. But those injuries can last a lifetime.. My new prop should be here in about a week and a half. If they send it out today I could have it here by next week.. Here is a couple of pics of the prop.

wow! Worst prop I've ever seen...glad no one was hurt....once I had a 9.9 on my 10 foot Jon ..would easily do 20 mph...I had her pretty fast and hit a log..the entire boat was at a 45 degree angle and put a huge long dent nearly the length of the boat..I learned to slow down after that..

A few years ago 3 major league Cleveland Indian pitchers were zipping along one of our lakes and hit a submerged dock..all 3 were killed..

I have seen a lot worse on the props other guys have hit in different lakes. I thought I was out far enough going right along in 22 feet of water. I then saw it sharply rising up and tried to cut the throttle back as my wife was asking what was going on. Before I could say anything we was over it and my fish finder quit. The fishfinder only had a wire loosen up and the main part of the boat never hit anything. The worst I have seen a guy showed a picture of his boat that he was building a whole new transcom for it. He had hit and lost the whole back end of his boat on one. A lot of our lakes have those hidden ledges that shoot alomost completely straight up. They also have large rocks and rock piles. Next time I am up on West Grand Lake fishing for Lake Trout I will get a picture of a rock that is called Caribou Rock. It is a hugh rock that shoots out of 65 feet of water. You can actually climb up on it and dive off from it. That lake has quite a few rock piles that are under the surface and I avoid those areas. Unfortunately that is one of the down falls here in Maine with all our rocks and ledges. Mostly I am in 45 to 90 feet of water all the time. Big Lake where I sometimes fish for white perch has cost a lot of people there lower units. Some of these guys live on the lake most of thier lives. All you need to do is be off 10 to 20 feet in some cases even though you are actually out in the middle of the lake..

Yes, I am real glad no one was hurt and the main part of the boat never even touched the ledge so no damage there either. I remember reading and hearing on the news about those guys getting killed when they hit that submerged dock. That was a terrible shame.

Yes sir that was a shame....one of the saddest boat accidents that I can remember happened where I fish at..An elderly black man and his son were fishing from a Jon boat. When a couple rough young men sped by in a yellow,split wind shield boat..nearly tipping the Jon..They zoomed by closer and the black folks screamed for them to please stop. They were so close that the boy could identify the beer..it was Bud Dry. One more fast past turned the Jon boat over and the elderly man drowned...they never did find the men and their boat...what a shame..

I never really started this post to bring back any memories. But, I know this stuff can happen sometimes.

I know that was a very sad event. I did thought that they had found out who had done this after a while. They should of been held accountable for it.

Up here in Maine we have a law on the books that makes all of Maine's lake have wake zones. The one that covers every lake is a requirement of the slowest speed possible to control your boat when ever you are less than 200 feet from any shoreline. This came about after a boat run over the top of another boat in which 3 people were riding across a busy part of a lake. It was a narrow section just north of the main boat launching area. The operator of the big boat stated due to the bow being high he did not see the other smaller boat. That whole stretch of the lake is now a restricted wake zone area. It is a good thing to as some people will swim across this section of the lake. This law also keeps boats out away from people swiming out in front of thier camps and the like unless they are operating slowly.

Also should of mentioned that here we have some really tuff oui/dui laws that cover evering thing that is operated. These laws even cover a double-end canoe. The one in back is concidered the operator and if drinking it is an oui/dui conviction which still affects your drivers liscense. So we do not have an awfull lot of it going on here. We still have some but it is much more limited.

I told a co-worker about my mishap and he made fun of me.. I explained what had happened and he joked at me, Then tonight when I came in he had told his boss.. His boss explained exactly how bad that lake actually is and he said he was sorry for laughing at me.. I told him no need to feel sorry about it. I most likely would of laughed at you if everything was ok other than your prop.. They shipped me a new prop from i-boats and it should be here in a week and a half. Once it is here I will take my damaged one up to a retired co-worker who will fix it up and balance it for me. I will keep it for a spare and hope that I will never need to use it again..

Good deal Phil,

I don't laugh at people's mishaps..more thanh once I've seen it come back to bite..plus it's a Biblical principle.

Along with mocking the poor or anyone else as far as that is concerned..much is said about this..

Now Phil, you must forgive me when I get on rants..lol ..It's just that when you say something it triggers my mind ....(-:

Summary, Glad that you have the means to purchase another prop...and not damage the lower unit...ut oh..another trigger.lol.on the way back to the boat trailers ,Matt and I iwere discussing the day's outing...and BAM! His trolling motor runs head on to a sandbar...bending his shaft about 18 degrees,,he says "Oh no, that can't be good! I assured him that it was ok..Minn Kota's flexible shafts are made for such mishaps..his motor is fine,..shaft is straight.

Everyone reading this post have a wonderful day,
God loves you,
C7

Chuck, do not get me wrong as I never will laugh at the less fortunate(poor)Not ever. My mom raised 6 of us so I have a pretty decent idea on not having anything. We do poke fun around at each other at work just for a few laughs with no harm intended. It helps break the day up and nothing more. I had learned to earn every thing I currently have today.

The prop was not a bad price as it happened to be on sale right now. So I lucked out on that end. It was something like $89 plus shipping which run me a total of $106. The retired co-worker that repairs them charges $50 on average and when he is done they look like a brand new one.

I have a Minn Kota on my boat but I need to purchase a decent battery for it. It has a flex shaft on it as well. I have found it hard on battery strength. I keep a battery booster in my boat when out in case I decide to use the trolling motor. That way I can always start my big boat motor up when I want or need to.