Ran aground in shallows, what to check?

So my boat ended up running aground on a high spot in some shallow water, actually got wedged in the sand and had to be pushed off. Speed was a little above idle, maybe 3-5mph max when it grounded. It was kind of stuck but we got it moved off (the lake bottom is all sand, no rocks or anything rough). The boat seemed to run and drive fine afterwards, didn't vibrate or get hot or anything but we took it real easy.

I just wanted to see if there's anything that should be checked out in more detail. Like would running up on the sand suck it into the intake? Should I change the oil? Impeller? Would the rudder, shaft, or any of that bend?

I'm sure this has happened to others, would like to hear the results from other instances of this and how it turned out

Do you have a water strainer on your intake? Could take your impeller off and see if you notice debris in there. Wiggle your strut and drive shaft. See if you see more water than normal coming in the drive shaft where it enters the boat. Get under it and look for damage to the rudder mount, cracks in gelcoat, etc.

Did it just run around on the bow or did your underwater gear also make contact with the bottom. Thats the big question. Many times with sudden depth changes like you describe the boat simply beaches on the bow and all the running gear is still off the bottom at the rear of the boat.

If your lake is hard bottom sand as you describe you shouldn't have an issue with having sucked anything into the engine. The intake is directly on the hull near where the prop shaft exits usually. If you were bottomed out there against the sand to suck sand up you wouldn't have drove away, as all you underwater gear would had to have been folded up against the hull.

From what you describe I'm guessing you have nothing to worry about.

Thanks for the info so far.

RB, I think the underwater gear may have got caught in the sand too, the engine stalled when it first got stuck. To get the boat off, we had to work it around pushing from the side and also from the back lifting the corners while pushing (water was about knee to thigh deep). It felt like the prop was probably dragging while we were pushing it at first, or at least something was keeping it from budging easily.

fins might have run aground. pretty damn strong, but check they're straight and no gel damage around them.

if you have no vibes, no leaks and good temp, you probably got away without messing anything up. keep an eye on things next time out.

double check your prop. they usually vibe pretty bad when bent, just to be sure

If your steering is a lil tighter then before your rudder shaft is prob bent.

Just happened to a buddy of mine.

Check the alignment and bolt on your propshaft (should be done anyway). Just do a visual inspection and also see if anything is loose. 90% chance you are fine. I've known many people to do this at idle speed and haven't heard of issues unless you ding your prop on a rock.

My boat got stuck on a sand bar at the launch last night. The water levels were extremely low but the concrete of the launch was plenty deep, just a bunch of sand about 20' out that was down to 1' deep. It sucked getting the boat off it, but we eventually got out.

A few minutes after getting out into the river, we started to motor off and the engine temp started spiking and went into limp mode (3000 RPM's). I shut the motor down, and then rigged up an auxillary hose that I'd TEE'd off my reversible pump with a fitting that went from a hose barb to a male garden hose thread. I was able to connect the hose from my reversible pump to the Flush Pro that allows me to run the engine on land. It worked like a charm and the engine cooled down wicked fast and after that, it stayed at normal temp running off the normal water intake. So I now know first hand that the water intake system can get clogged. The "flush pro" delivered on its name. And I was happy that I rigged up that extra hose off the reversible and had some fittings with me to connect it up.