Skeg Guard

[Meaney77]

http://skeggard.com/

Anyone use them? I have a chunk missing on my skeg, must have tagged something in the water. Its kind of an eye sore and tired of looking at it. Came across the sheg guard but was a bit reluctant about drilling through my out-drive to install. What the story on these things?

 

[djunkie]

Can you have it repaired instead?

 

[bagged97taco]

http://skeggard.com/

Anyone use them? I have a chunk missing on my skeg, must have tagged something in the water. Its kind of an eye sore and tired of looking at it. Came across the sheg guard but was a bit reluctant about drilling through my out-drive to install. What the story on these things?

My dad has one on his Cole. Was installed prior to him owning the boat. Was thinking of putting one on my Cole as well. mine looks like it's been sand blasted (prior to me owning). It's just a couple holes.

 

[Flying_Lavey]

They do create more drag. They are a good bit thicker than the factory skeg so there will be a bit of a loss in top end. I have heard stories of water getting between the skeg and guard and staying there. If it's salt water, that's a no bueno.

 

[Riley1]

I dont like them. That is one thing that I did not want when I was looking for a boat. Hard to know what those Skeg guards are hiding. There could be almost no Skeg at all inside of them. So for the purpose of re-sale (at-least if I am looking at it) I wold vote against it.

 

[ka0tyk]

like dad always said... if you're gonna do it, do it right. the guard masks the real problem. you can get the skeg repaired good as new. dont just half ass it.

 

[boatdoc55]

Over the years I've repaired lots of skegs. The bolt on's look cheap to me but many use them. I don't know what shops charge now but that's the way I think it should be done.

 

[Spot]

Depending on the damage, skeg repair is reasonable. There is a prop shop in Havasu that does a really good job. I will try and find the name when I get to Havasu. I am sure someone on the board will know the name before I find it.

 

[Maestro]

My parents put one on their runabout. It is a good piece. The boat is no speed demon and they tend to run a shallow quite a bit. Its a strong piece and has reduced their prop replacement bills lol.

 

[hallett21]

I wanna say a skeg repair is 3-400 from a prop shop

 

[RiverDave]

You don't want one of those. If you do hit something it will break the skeg off at the top near the bullet which makes it much more difficult or sometimes Impossible to repair

 

[traquer]

I hate those things lol. Reminds me of Kragen performance car stuff. All shiny and makes you slower

 

[28Eliminator]

Depending on the damage, skeg repair is reasonable. There is a prop shop in Havasu that does a really good job. I will try and find the name when I get to Havasu. I am sure someone on the board will know the name before I find it.

Adrenalin replaced mine on my bravo 1 for $190 a few months ago. I know they took it somewhere else... Maybe the prop shop your talking about. Had it fixed about 3 years ago at GT Performance for $100 :grumble:

 

[hallett21]

Adrenalin replaced mine on my bravo 1 for $190 a few months ago. I know they took it somewhere else... Maybe the prop shop your talking about. Had it fixed about 3 years ago at GT Performance for $100 :grumble:

Wow I was way off

 

[Racey]

You don't want one of those. If you do hit something it will break the skeg off at the top near the bullet which makes it much more difficult or sometimes Impossible to repair

Ding ding ding!

The problem with trying to repair them up top, is the closer you get to the gear case, the more heat you need to weld them, and the higher the chance you run of egg shaping a bearing bore, or warping the bores out of alignment, which will lead to premature bearing and or shaft and gear wear in the gear case.

Depending on how major or minor you skeg is busted off, it can be as easy as grinding some material away to reshape the skeg. Or scabbing in a new piece, welding it back together.

anything that is about 2-3" down from the gear case isn't that big of a deal a couple hundred, maybe $300 tops to spray it with some merc drive paint etc.


I upgraded to an inverter TIG machine about 6 months ago, they are a piece of cake now. Used to be a little bit more of a challenge with the old transformer machine, depending on how dirty that spot of the casting was.

The welding is the easy part, the time consuming part is stripping back the paint, prepping the weld joint, nice chamfers etc for good weld penetration, cutting and fitting the new piece into place with a nice tight joint, and then grinding it all back smooth at the end. The welding part itself only takes about 5-10 minutes in most cases, but there could be 1-2 hours in front of and behind that to do it all right.

 

[boatdoc55]

Ding ding ding!

The problem with trying to repair them up top, is the closer you get to the gear case, the more heat you need to weld them, and the higher the chance you run of egg shaping a bearing bore, or warping the bores out of alignment, which will lead to premature bearing and or shaft and gear wear in the gear case.

Depending on how major or minor you skeg is busted off, it can be as easy as grinding some material away to reshape the skeg. Or scabbing in a new piece, welding it back together.

anything that is about 2-3" down from the gear case isn't that big of a deal a couple hundred, maybe $300 tops to spray it with some merc drive paint etc.


I upgraded to an inverter TIG machine about 6 months ago, they are a piece of cake now. Used to be a little bit more of a challenge with the old transformer machine, depending on how dirty that spot of the casting was.

The welding is the easy part, the time consuming part is stripping back the paint, prepping the weld joint, nice chamfers etc for good weld penetration, cutting and fitting the new piece into place with a nice tight joint, and then grinding it all back smooth at the end. The welding part itself only takes about 5-10 minutes in most cases, but there could be 1-2 hours in front of and behind that to do it all right.

X2 This is exactly how it's done right. The shaping takes most of the time. Worked at a boat and prop shop for years and when the prop department got behind in the summer, it was all hands on deck in the prop shop and I got to do a whole lot of messy, shitty ass grinding.

 

[boatdoc55]

I wanna say a skeg repair is 3-400 from a prop shop

Holy crap !!! I remember $45.00 but that was when Fred & Barney owned boats. Aluminum prop repair was $16 to the dealer

 

[Constant840]

I considered a carbon fiber one for the toon a while back.
Lower river is rough on OBs.

http://www.skegprotector.com/shop/yamaha/200-225-250-300-hp-2-4-stroke-2003-present/

 

[Bleakish Times]

At a fair amount of speed (and pulling a skier) I ran aground on a sand bar at glass alley (Parker Strip).

The results were not good... dented my SS prop and wore the aluminum skeg down quite a bit...

With that said... Installed it many many years ago (at least 7+) and have had no issues with it. No noticeable difference with steering, speed, etc.

As always, your mileage may vary.

 

[Dettom]

There was one installed on the DPX drive on my Advantage. Whoever did it, did a crummy job and it eventually split. When I took it off, there was still a fair amount of skeg left but it was obvious it was about 4" shorter. I ordered a new one from iBoats for about 100.00. I filled all the holes with expoxy metal and sanded it down. Ordered factory paint, zinc chromate primer and factory clearcoat. I painted it and very carefully fitted the new on and drilled new holes mounting the new one. It looks pretty sano now and I don't think it'll ever crack and break. Drag and steering were unnoticeable to me and. I didn't want to have to take my drive off, have it dissassembled etc. for a problem I viewed as mostly cosmetic.
As an aside, there is a drain hole in the bottom so water can't collect. But any water out here in Havasu would quickly evaporate.

 

[stephenkatsea]

Hope this different than the OD attachment that idiot was trying to market a couple of years ago that was suppose to allow you to power your OD into the bottom to hold position. Don't believe that did well, fortunately.

 

[BHC Vic]

I wanna say a skeg repair is 3-400 from a prop shop

I think cobra did my bayliner for a buck fifty

 

[El Chingon]

I just had mine repaired a few weeks ago after ripping about 1 1/2" off the bottom.Took it skips prop shop. In havasu.Came out clean for less than $200.If I wasn't retarded and knew how to post up a pic here I would have.

 

[hallett21]

I think cobra did my bayliner for a buck fifty

Ya my estimate may be off

 

[Spot]

Okay, sorry for the slow reply. Skips Prop Shop it is. Very fair price and good work.

 

[TPC]

I hit a bed of seaweed and broke a skeg.
The guard is excellent for a prevention and for a replacement.