G23 Prop Fell Off .....

[Dukeboiler]

The 3-4 times I've gone to the CEO of a company with a serious and legitimate concern it has always worked out. Their job is to protect the company on behalf of the owners/shareholders and if he doesn't know about this or doesn't know about the poor
Handling of it - he needs to.

The real problem will be if does....


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[V8 Killer]

What engine do you have.....450 or 550?

450. I can't get 93 octane on my lake. 54.1 engine hours.

Text Andrew @ Buxton at 9am yesterday, received an immediate reply to bring it in. Took it in yesterday and just waiting to find out when they will receive the parts from Nautique. Everything parts-wise is, of course, covered. Not sure about my tow-in yet. I don't want Buxton to pay for it and won't ask them to, but if Nautique will cover it I'll submit the invoice (my guess is they won't, anyone know?). Normally I have plenty of buddies to help out but 9:15pm on the last day of a 3 day weekend on a lake that's 22 feet low and very sparse with boats apparently is not a good time to break down.

The 2014 450 G23 prop is 0.25" larger than the 2013. My assumption was to help address the props that snapped on the 2013 + help support the extra weight of the 17" prop vs. the 15" prop. Looks like more needs to be done than just making the prop 0.25" larger though.

[nyryan2001]

V8- just cruising along and it snapped?

[Dukeboiler]

This is very alarming to me and I am totally Unsatisfied that anyone has a clue as to why this is happening. When I heard about this initially my dealer told me it was due to the smaller shaft diameters and that my 14 g23 450 has the larger size so don't worry. I put my faith in that until I read this post, now it seems to be something else.

Nautique needs to clearly state what the issues is - whether it's a particular lot of drive shafts, etc and specifically identify the boats affected. Until then I feel like I'm playing Russian roulette every time I hit the throttle, half of which time there is a 10-12year old 15-20 feet from the prop trying to get pulled up to surf. Simply not acceptable and by purchasing a nautique I thought I was getting the best of the best, not this guessing game on $130k boats.

To be clear, this has not happened to me but If I don't have an answer on this shortly I'm calling mr CEO and getting to the bottom of this. To repeat, simply unacceptable.


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[JoeA]

Rumor has it that you'll see an update on this shortly from Nautique.

[TeamNautique]

Nautique has been made aware of some instances of shaft breaks on Model Year 2014 G series boats. We are investigating this issue, and currently have two different areas that we are looking at: machining of the shaft keyway and the mating of the shaft and prop. Some shafts have failed in less than 30 hours of use, we have already made production changes to ensure proper machining of the shaft keyway have been implemented, and have inspected current boats prior to shipping. We will continue to monitor this issue, and will keep our dealers informed as more information is available.

Please know that this type of failure does not happen suddenly since a crack front must propagate across the diameter of the shaft. This means that a failure will be preceded by increasing vibration as the crack propagates. If an increased level of vibration is felt on your boat, please contact your dealer.

[Ryan1776]

I typically don't post "extra" info on a thread that has received, at least what I perceive, to be the correct or final answer. But I wanted to back up the CC Rep here.
I've look at a few photos across the internet and was convinced right away that that type of yielding was a result of a fatigue style fracture.
I wanted to respond for two reasons, 1-to expound on the above post and 2-to "prove" that people are not hitting anything.

If you look at some of these fractures you can see a shiny spot near the edge of the shaft continuing toward the middle of the shaft. That is where the fatigue fracture originated. That shiny-ness is the result of the two pieces of metal "polishing" themselves together. Which will cause the vibration CC Rep talked about. The darker more "porous" looking parts is where the shaft finally yielded.
Now take two things away from this, first, all that shiny part of the shaft was not adding to the strength of the shaft at all so be assured that the shaft size is sufficient. In one photo I saw the fatigue propagated almost to 50% of the shaft! Keep in mind this is from a photo. And secondly, no major overhauls of the strut and coupling or packing would be needed...at least in my opinion.

I was interested although not surprised to learn that it originated at the prop key-way.

Just wanted to drop my .02 for what it's worth.

Thank you CC Rep, for the info.

Ryan.

[sja]

First off, I absolutely love my 2013 G23 550. Having owned about 7 other boat brands over the years Nautique is at the top when it comes to fit finish etc. Also this forum is full of examples of Nautique doing the right thing.

However, I have heard stories and seen posts of G series boats losing their props since shortly after the 2012's were released. My local dealer told me over a year ago that they thought it may have to do with the shaft key. Please tell me (and excuse me) if I am wrong , but this post seems inadequate, and seems to be fashioned to both limit acknowledgement or the scope of the problem (only stating 2014's may be affected) , and liability (suggesting it is our responsibility to determine the "tell-tale" vibration before losing the prop).

[Ryan1776]

SJA-a lot of times the manufacture cannot know the depth of an issue without the information from the consumer.
It seems to me that they are doing what needs to be done.
I mean, how many other forums do you belong to where a factory Rep has an account and makes postings and actually explains what the issue is and what to look for? Not to mention the liability/legality of what can and cannot be said on a public forum is tight.
Another thing to consider is this, I'd bet Nautique doesn't produce the propshafts. So not only do you have Nautique trying to determine the extent of the issue, but then going back to the supplier and having THEM try to figure out how far back the issue goes. And I'd bet that that supplier doesn't just make prop shafts for Nautique.... Also, that supplier? He probably buys the raw material from Alro Steel or what have you. What if the problem isn't even the machining of the keyway? But the material properties got messed up and the machining of the keyway effected the integrity of the shaft "just right". Not saying this is the case! Just another perspective.
No I don't work for Nautique, but I've been in validation for a major automotive seating company and now for a small start up where we have hundreds of suppliers that we have to track and trust them that their part is correct. And if it's not, determine how far back the issue goes.

All I'm saying is, it's not black and white.
Is Nautique moving forward to correct this issue? It sure seems that way.


I am new here, I'm not looking to start a war, so please don't think I am. Intent can be tough to determine though a keyboard.

[ers906]

I believe that the prop shaft diameters are of 2 different diameters (the 2012/2013 v. 2014 year models). It is likely that the problem was corrected or believed to have been corrected in previous years models and the 2014 model is showing a different or (even, possibly) related problem that has to undergo the warranty/investigative process again. Just a possible explanation regarding the wording of the previous post.

[vision]

My guess is that it is a steel problem. I suspect there is a steel supplier not delivering what is stated.

The power of the current engines is not different than what has been in boats for many years to decades. Even relatively unweighted Gs have experienced the issue and many other boats with similar to greater ballast levels have not experienced this type of shaft failure. I therefore do not believe that the torque at the shaft level is unique to the Gs.

Drive shafts of similar design (key groove, threads, taper) and props of similar weight have been used without significant metal fatigue problems for many years to decades in other boats and models. Nothing unique really in the design.

There is no evidence that has been released or in images that the machining of the shaft is improper.

This leaves the quality of the steel being purchased is either not what is being stated (possibly from only one supplier and the shaft manufacturer has not been tracking suppliers until now), or the processing of the steel is inappropriate leading to significant loss of strength or lack of hardening.

[scottb7]

I am sorry, but i would have to agree that the post is inadequate. I do agree that it takes time to figure it out, but it has been quite a while.

Normally I would say that paying big bucks for a boat does not get you any more than paying little bucks for a boat, so quit your complaining. But frankly if I owned a g and had to consider being with out a propeller on a lake, potentially on a windy day, blowing me toward rocks on shore, I would be very upset. Let's face you get prop vibration if you get a chunk of weeds on your prop. So basically when you put your boat in reverse to spin off the weeds, you will actually potentially be shearing of the 2nd half of the shaft as 1/2 of it may have already broke loose. And what about the early season and late season, when you are the only one out on the lake and no one else has their boat even in the water to help you...Seems like every g boat should come with a frickin electric trolling motor until they figure this out. That is my solution...

[sja]

Having viewed this thread since it started a while ago, I really do appreciate Ryan's analysis of the problem as it offers plausible answers to many of the questions that have been posed. Nice work.

[Ryan1776]

Scottb7,
Not to stir the pot, but what could the Nautique rep said that would have made you happy?

Look, I get your point on being on your boat and nobody else around on a windy day getting blown towards shore, but man, that's a perfect storm type stuff. And I don't know about you guys, but I don't have any storage and I always have an anchor on board.

And as far as a "catch all" solution, it's not giving everyone a trolling motor. You'd do an across the board recall and just swap shafts. They cost less than a prop including labor. And they certainly cost less than a prop, a prop shaft, and hull damage repair, and towing fee...etc etc etc.

SJA- thank you! and no problem, just trying to show the manufactures' side of things.

Ryan

[Laptom]

I hope Nautique is performing some stress testing on 100 or more shafts.. Better yet: quality wise I cannot imagine they have not did that in 2013....