Anyone experience this? <sucked up rope cracked fiberglass>

[rickd01]

Sucked up a rope a few weeks ago, got it all out, (port side) went out this past weekend and started to head out past no wake zone and increase throttle and get some vibration around 4k, noticed bilge pump working hard to keep up. Lift engine cover and I have 6 inches of water in engine compartment, bilge clears out water running at 2k, open it back up to 5k, fills with water, I call dealer, they say check clean out, nope, that's not it, I pull it out of the water and head off to dealer. A quick diagnoses shows a tear in fiberglass where the shaft enters thru to engine compartment. This explains the water, but what causes the crack in the fiberglass. They couldn't say from the basic diagnoses. Any thoughts? Could a rope cause this? Anyone else experience?

 

[txav8r]

Yep, it is rare, but rope ingestion will wrap around the impeller shaft and get as tight as a bandjo string. If it gets up against the liner, it will crack it. If you ingest a rope, or anything for that matter, the minute you notice, shut it down and investigate. Sorry you have the down time for the repair, but glad you didn't do any further damage! I sucked up a rope once at a gathering, and it could have been worse, but it just cost me the dock line and 10 minutes of time...but I saw it happening and shut down asap. I can't believe how tight that rope was...if you had an arm between the boat and the rope, it would have cut it off!!!

 

[Julian]

X3 on what Mel and Dan said....rope wraps around the shaft, and if it is long enough and fat enough, it create a mass on the shaft that gets so big that it pushes against the fiberglass in the intake. If you ran the engine until it stalled, the rope clog jambed to a halt inside the intake. It was the pressure of the rope against the intake walls that stopped the engine - which would take some force.

Other times people suck up short ropes, so not enough to create a large enough mass to hit the intake wall, OR they suck up a rope that is attached to something on the other end, and the engine stops due to the rope going taught (like @txav8r said - and actually @Murf'n'surf posted a warning recently about note getting yourself tangled in any ropes that are over board for this reason)

 

[rickd01]

I shut it down as soon as it happened, the fiberglass actually didn't crack where the rope is bound up on the shaft, it cracked where the shaft enters the engine compartment, shaft is approx 1/2 od, the fiberglass opeping is approx 1in, so the current theory is that the shaft is bent, thus causing the fiberglass to shatter

 

[Geiger41]

Make sure your dealer DOESN'T know you sucked up a rope !!!!!

 

[rickd01]

too late

 

[Geiger41]

You have to foot the bill....dare I ask how much ?!?!?!?!?!

 

[rickd01]

Don't know yet, find out later this week

 

[txav8r]

If it is very much, insurance may cover it less deductible.

 

[Julian]

So was the line taught when you shut the engine down? If so, my guess is the pressure on the line pulling on the shaft forced it against the fiberglass....I'd be surprised if the line could bend the shaft....but I supposed a tube line is pretty darn strong!

 

[Murf'n'surf]

I suppose it can happen easily if the motor was running at a fairly high RPM and suddenly stopped/jammed -- that energy is going to be transferred somewhere. I thought that that hole has a plastic part along with a seal? If you have time, go look at this damage and get some pics -- for all of our knowledge.

 

[Mr. Utes]

Last week we sucked up a small diameter tow rope. Didn't realize it was sucked in before it melted into a solid plastic ball right where the impeller enters the boat. The ball spun and cracked the fiberglass which allowed the boat to start taking on water. The bilge was working overtime and insurance is now involved. Early estimated from the fiberglass repair shop are $4-5K and will require that the engine be removed for access. Cannot believe this can be caused by a little rope. Has anyone else dealt with this or know where to find one of the white plastic pieces seen in the photo?