Help,just got done repairing my bravo hinge pin,helicoil
worked fine. My wife was naggin to move boat from
driveway, I forgot drives were down and broke chunk
out off both skegs. Is the skeg really important or
can I just grind them clean? Are the stainless bolt
on Skegs any good?

if it is a small piece missing - I wouldn't be too concerened. If is a big chunk you can get it welded back on.

yes you need skegs to control boat & steering.too much missing can cause spin outs and out of control handling. a small chunk gone probably won't hurt.if you lost more than 1/2 you need to fix them.you can have a welding shop weld them back.or if to much is gone.mercury sells full skags that you cut yours off and weld a new one on. RB

If you only broke out a "chunk" of each skeg you likely fix it with JB Weld. I just fixed one of mine that had a piece about the size of half of a silver dollar and you can not tell it has been repaired. I took a piece of duct tape and taped it to one side of the drive, filled the hole with JB Weld and folded the other end of the tape around the other side of the drive to hold the JB Weld in place while it dried. Pulled the tape of the next day and sanded it flush with the rest of the skeg and painted it. You can buy the Quicksilver drive paint that Merc uses at any large marine store like West Marine. I hope that helps.

I took a chunk about 2" by 1" and another about 1" by 1"
out of 1 drive and the skeg is slightly bent, a small chuck
out of the other drive. IT looks pretty mangled. Thats why
I am considering the stainless bolts ons. Has anybody
used these?

A good alum. welder can fix it right on trailer sand it & paint it for about 30.00-40.00 each.then tell your wife what shee owes you.

My wife forgot to put the drive up last year....what a bad sound. If you really don't want to fix the problem, I ran all last year with a 2" chunk off the trailing edge. Just painted it. I am going about 80 and I could not tell a difference. My solution....I bought an Imco Exteme SC told the wife it was broken and it had to be fixed!
Eric

they are neat but if you hit something hard enough ,it will break where the stainless bolt on is attached../something to think about ,the strongest is the original skeg ,fix the little chunks that are missing and you will be in good shape.
Darin

I've got one of those Skeg Guards on order now, because I busted a big moon shaped piece off it last season. I figure if I have a similar incident this season with the skeg guard on there it will just brake the whole thing off, then I can get a new one welded on...or get a new drive...

Im suprized thats all you ripped off if your WIFE WAS NAGGING !!

What next Rick, Get That thing in the water will ya. I ran mine after the funeral with Jimbo, then ran it this weekend. No problems as of yet. It did take 250 gal of fuel to bring her just over 3/4 though !!
She is going to Vince's for the week to put the liquid DJ booth in her. Cant wait to her it. Talk to you this week