Chipped skeg
 

Recently I chipped my skeg on the bottom of my outdrive. It is about a .25 cent chip in the back near the propeller. I can fix this myslef by cutting the skeg even with the chip (shoretening the bottom portion) and re-painting it. Would doing this cause any problems? The skeg would still be lower then the prop blades.

Depending how much , it may cause handling problems. A Merc mechanic told me just recently , without the skeg at all , you go into a resonjble turn and the back end will come around on you. Sort of like a jet ski:( Not sure how much difference an inch will make.)

not an expert .but after you cut it, if it is still lower then blades then do it.

Had that happen on a couple of boats including my current one.
I have cut as much as 1" off the bottom of the skeg to make it straight and had no bad effects.

If your already going to go thru the trouble of cutting and painting why dont you just get a new skeg and weld it on? The skegs are cheap and readily available. My .02

And if you're going to go that , just make a clean cut at the break and replace only whats necesary. It's a little less work that way:cool:

Thanx for all the advice. Well I cut it, got tired of looking at the darn thing. I could not find anyone good around here to weld it. I will probably just get a new lower part if it happens again. Kinda funny how it happed. Was at the dock, depth guage showing 5-6' started to pull away with the drive about 3/4 down and I heard it. Must have hit a rock that was sticking up. anyhow I know where it is now and will avoid it.

Mine had some damage when I bought it. On the front from running into the lift by the previous owner, and a small chip at the back, exactly like yours. I just ground them down with a set of files. The back one to a verticle (with trim neutral) with the ground, and the front nicks to a somewhat indent. I repainted, and it looks great. Took about an hour.