Help. How does this even happen.

[txav8r]

This isn't a common occurrence, and almost always when I have read of it, it involves some sort of impact. I could almost guarantee that normal reversing didn't cause it. But like you said, it could have been a fatigue crack waiting to happen from a previous incident. Pretty easy fix for a few bucks. Sorry you have to do it, but hey, the more experience you get the more your learning the boat!

 

[Gym]

Oh wow. The same thing just happened to me last weekend. It is a nozzle deflector and before I realized it was broken, I bent my steering cable and reverse cable. I also had the old cobra fins. I know my problem started with one bolt falling out since it was missing although it is hard to say cause/effect.

Easy fix and just a couple of hundred. I ordered from partspak.com and they turned it around quickly.

When you reinstall the deflector use red loc-tite.

My bolts are still in place. Luckily both rods were saved. Thanks for lock rite tip.

 

[Gym]

I would consider using the blue locktite as it allows you to remove the bolts down the road. The red is meant to be permanent.

 

[njmr2fan]

Red Loctite!!!! Grrrrrrr!!!!!

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

I can tell you what happened to your nozzle, it really had nothing to do with your old style fins, those are made to bend at the top if you impact something.
That being said you can still damage a nozzle but the fins will show that they impacted an object. I bet yours don't show any impact damage.
Here is what can cause damage to any nozzle, fins or not, new or old.
When you beach your boat in water that is shallow enough that wave action causes contact between the sand and the nozzles, the nozzle design will not allow them to just sink in the sand , if the contact is sufficient to cause a crack in the bottom portion of the nozzle where the pivot bolts are as your nozzle did, it will be weakened but it will still work in forward however as soon as you put it in reverse , you create a lot of force on the nozzle as the pump water is being deflected by the reverse gate being closed, this will then finish off the cracked bottom portion and snap off the top portion , in your case where the top broke indicates it was turned to one side when you gave it power and it snapped off. The bottom indicates the part was broken while it was facing forward so there were two different incidents that lead to the nozzle breaking. first was the compromising of the bottom casting and second was the final failure where it broke loose. Bottom line anchoring in shallow water can damage a nozzle if it impacts the bottom even if it is just sand .

 

[4x15mph]

How quick did new deflector show up after ordered.

I ordered the part Monday and I had the part along with the other cables, on Friday. The cables were pretty large and required to be sent separately so Partspak called me and told me although it was 2 shipping orders, they wanted to know that they would refund me shipping on part of the order. I thought that was first-class, especially for them to call me at home to tell me this.

 

[Ajax]

I ordered the part Monday and I had the part along with the other cables, on Friday. The cables were pretty large and required to be sent separately so Partspak called me and told me although it was 2 shipping orders, they wanted to know that they would refund me shipping on part of the order. I thought that was first-class, especially for them to call me at home to tell me this.

Awesome. Thanks

 

[Ajax]

I can tell you what happened to your nozzle, it really had nothing to do with your old style fins, those are made to bend at the top if you impact something.
That being said you can still damage a nozzle but the fins will show that they impacted an object. I bet yours don't show any impact damage.
Here is what can cause damage to any nozzle, fins or not, new or old.
When you beach your boat in water that is shallow enough that wave action causes contact between the sand and the nozzles, the nozzle design will not allow them to just sink in the sand , if the contact is sufficient to cause a crack in the bottom portion of the nozzle where the pivot bolts are as your nozzle did, it will be weakened but it will still work in forward however as soon as you put it in reverse , you create a lot of force on the nozzle as the pump water is being deflected by the reverse gate being closed, this will then finish off the cracked bottom portion and snap off the top portion , in your case where the top broke indicates it was turned to one side when you gave it power and it snapped off. The bottom indicates the part was broken while it was facing forward so there were two different incidents that lead to the nozzle breaking. first was the compromising of the bottom casting and second was the final failure where it broke loose. Bottom line anchoring in shallow water can damage a nozzle if it impacts the bottom even if it is just sand .

Looking back through this thread I did not mention or blame cobra fins at all. When I get new nozzle I will be removing the fins from starboard side, don't want to spend money on them right know and do not want to drill holes in new nozzle.
Looking forward to driving the boat as intended with no fins.
If I do not like the maneuverability I will purchase new style fins next spring.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

The post was to inform people to be careful not to allow their nozzles to strike the ground when anchoring, I actually see this very often, most times nothing happens but it can especially if a boat causes a big wake and the boat slams down on the ground. As for 4x15mph , his bottom bolt fell out so he had the same experience in forward the boat will operate normally , however as soon as the boat was powered up in reverse the nozzle deflected upward and snapped off the top mounting area where the nozzle pivots .