mattology

I was in my key west 2220 and with poor visibility and inexperience, in a storm, i managed to come to a stop courtesy of my OX66's skeg running aground into soft sand in about 12 inches of water .

after realizing no amount of @qualifiedcaptain instagram-esque rooster tailing would get me out (ok, this only went on for about 10 seconds), I shut off the engine and was able to trim the engine up, get out, and push the boat into deeper water at which point we were on our way again.

The engine seems fine, the speed and rpm seems the same before and after my adventure, the boat doesn't seem to have taken on any damage..

what other things do i need to look for that i probably did to my poor boat? could i have damaged the tilt/trim assembly by being the idiot i am?

thanks in advance.

Butch Davis

If the pee stream is as strong as usual you are probably alright. Visually check the skeg and propeller. If they appear undamaged except for some paint removal and your engine has not developed any new vibrations you are good to go. Going aground is something most of us have experienced several times. I refer to the event as "polished my skeg, again."

limey940

Are you still getting the stream of water coming out of the engine?
is your speed gauge still working?

sailfish272

You should be ok if you have no obvious signs of damage. Keep an eye on the tell tale for your cooling water. If you grounded the hull, take a look to make sure your through hulls are ok, transom mount transducer is intact/in the correct position.

ukadrianj

Haha! Congrats - this is a rite of passage for boating: good to get it out of the way in soft sand.

If you have a water pressure gauge it's worth monitoring that to see if you are still making the normal pressure. The worst case is a blockage, but it sounds like you are good there. Otherwise you may have scuffed up the impeller dragging a bunch if sand through it, and that's an easy repair that you should probably know how to do anyway since the impeller is a service item.

mattology

Yes, the telltale is still streaming great. The speed gauges still work.
I was going around.. 10 knots i think.

Yes, the skeg definitely got some polishing.

I don't believe the engine has developed any new vibrations.. of course i didn't have an accelerometer on it measuring pre/post ground contact

coastboater

Think of it as an annual prop polishing event.

CaptainW

Pull the thermostats and see if they are plugged with sand. Takes 5 minutes.

Corndog38

That is a daily or weekly occurrence in my area. Any sand in cooling system should wash out with normal running. Only need to do t-stats if you were doing serious prop dredging.

If no sign of overheating, no buzzers, no bent prop or no bent skeg... good to go.

The boats on my dock have basically zero paint on the skegs.

Jeepman

If it makes you feel any better Captains with decades of experience ground all the time in Texas bays systems and at times get stuck for hours until tide comes in. Most all Texas bay boats have the paint off the skegs, and many have chunks missing out of them. Oyster beds are notorious for removing pieces of skegs. What you describe is a soft grounding, look for obvious prop damage, skeg damage, make sure water pump is still peeing, etc. If all good keep on enjoying the boat.

vandlor

I fish Chokoloskee. You should see my keg.

Muchalucka

Did you hit it on plane or hull speed? Agree with CaptainW, if you think you might lose sleep over it, pull the thermostats and inspect.

And give thanks to the boating gods for it not being an oyster bar

Legobusier

Happens all the time around here. Keep a length of weed-eater string on the boat to clean out the pee-hole and a toothbrush to clean out the engine intakes. Turning off the engine after running aground will also help clear sand as it's no longer "sucking" into the intakes and will at times release the clog all by itself.

(I have noticed that my 2 stoke Yamaha has much smaller intakes than my old Honda 4 stroke, so it is prone to clog a bit easier)

Doug in Bermuda

Welcome to the club. Any shallow water or reef strewn boater who says that he has never run aground is lying or is in his first season with it.

Lone Ranger

Spin the Prop and check or any Wobble or damaged Blades.

Febtober

I call that a Tuesday. It keeps the prop looking nice and shiny.

Cobia 217

As others have said, if all is normal, run it until it's time for your annual maintenance. Then inspect or replace water pump (impeller & housing) and inspect t-stats and clean/replace as needed.

CalypsoNotch93

I too have been that guy out there in the middle of a big body of water pushing and pulling

mattology

hahaha these responses are great, lol. i feel a lot better about it.

I have already checked damn near every thing that you guys have mentioned. thank you! all seems good!

The water pump was replaced roughly 15 hours ago. If i need to replace it again due to sand damage, so be it. It would be great to be able to look up in there with one of my borescopes to see how bad it is, but I guess I could just drop the lower unit again to look at it.

Thermostats are an easy pull, two gaskets and we're back in business. I may give that a look and a flush out also.

thefuzz

Yup, you boat much at all around here and you are going to have a silver ish skeg, no matter who made the lower unit.