Nautique g series shaft breaking
 

I bought a new G21 in July and love the boat, up until this week! I was cruising in roughly 40' of water and, without hitting anything, the shaft snapped at the strut! The only warning was a minor vibration about ten seconds before it broke. I've seen post in reference to this problem occurring with other G series Nautique. Has anyone had the same issue with their G?

Look at the Planetnautique.com website under forums and there is a thread that has been contributed to for the last 2 plus years on this. Seems to be infrequent but persistent problem. It has occurred with the 450 and 550 engines and in the G23, and 25 (in addition to your 21) I'm surprised CC hasn't been able to stop this problem from occasionally occurring in the almost 3 years since it was first reported. Look at the thread on the above forum and relay your experience so through mass experience we may be able to learn more about why this is still a problem. All boats seem to have very low hours (I think first 50 or 60 hours) so the only consolation I can find as a G owner is that mine has 200hours and hasn't yet failed.

Thank you. I have 46 hours on mine. I will check out the link

its on page 4 of the general nautique discussion under "G23 drive shaft issues"

curious is yours a 2014? supposedly the problem was fixed with this model year?

(Nautique goggles off) It's kind of a combo of musical chairs and pin the tail on the donkey. I wonder what the cause is. Has anyone ever heard an explanation from Correct Craft? (Nautique goggles back on):p

Any pics?

It's a 2014. I have a few pics I can post.

Ok so let me get this right. The greatest boat of alllll time from the greatest manufacturer of all time that never cuts corners does everything above and beyond everyone else. This must be a troll this does not happen on the best built wake boat in the history of the industry. SHOCKING.

Sorry dude that sucks I would be upset for sure!!!

Initially I was gonna say maybe a manufacturing defect in the shaft but since this is apparently common on these boats I took a peek at specs... 550 HP with 2:1 gears on a 1.125" shaft in a boat weighing well north of 9000 lbs with a full tank of gas, full factory ballast and 4 adults and gear? Surprised it lasted that long. .. OK after checking some more it looks like the shaft is 1.25". Still, that's a lot of HP and weight.

Since you need a new shaft and prop now may be the time to upgrade to a larger shaft/coupler/strut/log. Log will be a pain to replace but the rest is fairly straightforward and I wouldn't expect it to cost much more than replacing with stock size components. Alternatively replace with stock and get a prop that slips more than what you were running so shaft torque is less.

A simple thing to check on a stock setup is how far behind the strut the prop is, that is how much exposed shaft. Good rule of thumb is half the shaft diameter. Closer is better up to a min distance of 1/2". Max generally acceptable distance is the diameter of the shaft but I wouldn't want to run that big a clearance on anything heavy and with significant power as the shaft will want to whip and vibrate more, wearing cutlass bearings and being more prone to break the shaft.

I'm a Nautique guy, and there is obviously an issue going on here, but...there's some misstatements in your info...

You're right. All 2014s are 1.25" shaft. 2013s were 1.125" However, the 2:1 V-drive does not come with the 550 hp engine. It is still a 1.48:1 All of the naturally aspirated engines come with 2:1 V-drive.

My boat has the 409 PCM. The motor and 17x17 prop creates so much torque, the boat cruises with a starboard list when equally weight distributed. To correct, I usually fill the port ballast slightly. I heard back from Nautique today and they know about the issue and are still working to resolve. Meanwhile, they are replacing the parts. Glad I have seatow!

http://www.planetnautique.com/vb3/sh...t=broken+shaft

http://www.planetnautique.com/vb3/sh...t=shaft+broken

2nd link above has pictures in very first post.

Normally I would subscribe to the "no pictures then it did not happen". But this is a known problem.

Man, you got shafted.

Yeah I am not buying this thread. I know it is a problem but this guy signed up yesterday and hasn't even posted photos.

I believe the guy, he did not bash nautique at all, he was just asking if anyone else had this problem. He also noted that he loved his G21, big freaking deal that its his first post. maybe he was advised by a friend to post it up on WW. I don't know what you guys with nautiques are reading, but I see no bashing of the product at all. WW is tough!!!! Nuttin but haters on this site!

Wait, are you guys serious with this "I don't believe it" stuff?

You mean to say that you find it harder to believe that someone who is experiencing a known, recorded problem with his very expensive boat would come join a wakeboarding forum looking for insights, threads and history than it is to think that this guy created an account to troll you guys or bad mouth Natique?

You guys are ridiculous. I love the modern era of the internet.. :banghead:

beat me to it..

ridiculous..

Hope you enjoy your . . .

Here's a pic of my boat. I didn't sign up to bash anything, I was doing my own research so I could be informed. Like I said in my post, Nautique is going to replace the shaft while they figure a long term solution. Some of you are wound a little too tight. Relax!

My G

Very nice looking boat. I hope you get back on the water soon.

Now show us your shaft! Disregard, that does not sound right.

Lighten up Francis. My Nautique goggles are relatively thick but, worrying about preserving "your boat brand" usually is really just a means of preserving your own ego. I'm sure you'll agree later in life. I used to be the same way. Not so much any more... Why be "that guy?"

Now that's funny.