http://skeggard.com/product/mercruiser-stern-drives/

call it done

My boat came with one of those, and from what I've researched there's no loss in performance and works just fine. Some people even put them on as a preventative measure.

Pretty sure I'm gonna go with e bolt on repair skeg.. Anybody have any ideas for the cavitation plate?

You are correct. I posted my findings & test reports here on OSO a couple seasons ago when other keyboard warriors were sounding off about them. I had no loss in performance, and has in fact saved my skeg this passed spring when I hit a rock. Destroyed the prop but only put a dent in the leading edge of the guard.

A 50 MPH boat probably won't notice a difference. An 80 MPH + boat might be a different story. No different than drive shower pickups. Totally F's up some boats and no effect on others.

cav plate. buy a dol fin. bolt it on over the broken cav plate and cut off however much you don't need. they supposedly provide stern lift. but they definately are big cav plates. you could also find an alum welder and have missing hunks replaced. skegs u can live without. you just about can't get on plane without cav plate.

I can tell you this much.... My skeg was looking a little haggard... I bought a replacement merc skeg, paid a guy with a good rep for fixing skegs to weld it on. It came off within 10 minutes, folded back into the prop, destroyed a stainless prop. bent the prop shaft, took a big chunk out of the cavitation plate and put a few cracks in the lower housing. So basically my entire bravo lower is a paperweight

Be carefull what and how you chose to fix something...[/QUOTE]

You should have brought it to Me!