I was out surfing last Sunday when my boat just stopped moving, as if I had dropped it into neutral, but the engine was still hitting the same RPMs. I quickly realized I lost my prop and shaft into 80+ feet of water.
To make it even more stressful, I was taking on water faster than my bilge pump could keep up. Lucky for us, we had a buddy one cove over that could pull me back to the ramp while we bailed water.
When I got the boat back home I removed the coupler to find a three inch shaft was all I had left. It looked to start splitting at just aft of the prop key... meaning the shaft broke within the coupler. Nothing else looks to be damaged. The prop must have slipped through the log and right past my double rudder without even tapping the boat or anything else. There are no marks or misaligned pieces as far as I can tell... and I have spent hours staring at it.
I post this here for a couple of reasons...
First of all, I read on the another board that this could happen from improperly seating the shaft into the coupler. They said that using heat to expand the coupler causes the shaft to weaken and eventually break. With my boat's 8.1L engine and high torque prop, I could see there being a better chance of this happening than with a lower torque setup, but it still sounds strange. I am wondering if anyone can confirm that heating up the coupler to seat the shaft could cause the shaft to weaken. I hear the better way to seat the coupler is with a compression method - not sure how that is done. Anyone know anything about this?
Second, I am wondering if I can find another 2011 Epic 23V owner out here that happens to know the dimensions of their shaft and prop. My buddy has an '09, and I was able to grab his dimensions, but I am not sure if they are the same. I contacted Epic yesterday, but I have not received a response ... every day I don't have the part ordered is another day I will not be on the water. I am sure many of you know how that feels! Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
Also, if the log, strut, seal and everything else looks perfectly straight and without damage, can I just slide a new shaft in and bolt it on? I know about ensuring the coupler has 0.03 ml or less of tolerance and how to move the engine to adjust. I am more concerned about the log, for example. I can hardly get to it, and I would rather not mess it up, if it is working. But at the same time, I want this done correctly. Any advice there? How do I know if there is something wrong down there? I tried to snap a picture of the shaft hole... looking from the outside in.
And lastly, this is a tapered coupler and it doesn't look to be in that bad of shape. Can I (should I) reuse it? Is there a risk in reusing the coupler, or is that standard practice provided there isn't a lot of metal missing. As you can tell from the picture, it has a fair amount of rust on it, but it seems to be only on the surface.
By the way, I am not bashing Epic. I know people have a lot of opinions about Epic and that's great. But the shaft in question is 1 1/8" thick (I think) and shared by some of your more recognizable brands. Although I just purchased this boat last fall, and I am the third owner, I think this particular shaft was at least re-installed if it is original to the boat. I say this because I found two smaller flat washers on one of the four coupler bolts, where the other three had the factory original, larger split washers. It makes sense to me that someone could have improperly seated this shaft, causing it to weaken and eventually break, which would exonerate Epic, in my opinion. Hence the question about the proper way to seat a shaft into the coupler. Other conspiricy theories are welcome... provided they do not require a tinfoil hat.