G23 Prop Fell Off .....

[Scooter G]

A prop (and a shaft) is a beautiful thing! It's sooo pretty, haha.
Thank you Idaho Water Sports, and Nautique, for helping this move along quickly.

[seattlee]

Another sheared drive shaft, 2014 G23 with 120 hours on it. Was cruising at 20 mph in open water (40 feet plus) and felt a vibration. We didn't hit anything. We were 7 miles from home on the uninhabited portion of the lake at dusk. I limped the boat back home at idle and when i put the boat in reverse to put it on our lift, the prop fell off as the remaining portion of the driveshaft gave out. I recovered the prop next morning with snorkel.

The local Nautique dealer was completely useless (couldn't even figure out what part to order) so I next-day aired a new driveshaft from Nautique Parts and persuaded a local marine shop to install it before a family reunion where we had people flying in from CA and FL.

The broken shaft did have the key extend beyond where the prop was seated (about 0.5 inches toward V-drive), whereas the new driveshaft has a shorter key slot that is not visible while the prop is installed. Hopefully the shorter key slot will prevent future driveshaft shearing.

[Scooter G]

7 miles of lucky for sure, you were wise to milk the limp run back. We didn't have any warning when ours took a sink to the bottom,.
Thought we had heard the last of these stories (thought mine wrapped it up for eveyone, lol). You should be good to go with the new shaft and $2000 dollars later. I'm surprised the Nautique shop was acting clueless, if they have been around for a while they have probably done a multitude of replacements, don't you think?
Good job, sounds like you have a trophy to hang on the boat slip

[zmnypit]

2017 G23 H6 with 211hrs just had the shaft snap. Was taking the kids to a rope swing about 5mi from the dock. Was cruising at 25mph ballast empty when I started getting a bad vibration in the steering wheel. Throttled down jumped in the water to make sure nothing was wrapped in the prop which there wasnt. I proceeded to turn around. I could still feel the vibration so started heading back to dock around 8mph and 1500 rpm. Made it half way there before it snapped completely off leaving us stranded and without a boat for memorial day. Will contact the dealership tomorrow morning and see what they say. 2nd owner but warranty was transferred in 2020.

[GMLIII]

Even if out of warranty, dealer should cover this repair

[Scooter G]

Agreed with GMLIII, Nautique has been great at jumping in to cover these. Dealer just has to get file the claim, and then hurry up and wait for the parts. You've got $2000 worth of parts here, not including labor. You might consider ponying up to cover speeding up the shipping. Then start sending the Dealer pizzas every Friday around lunch time, until it is done. You are going to be out 3 to 4 weeks at best, depending on how backed up they are...
Time to get caught up on yard work and projects, sorry.

[zmnypit]

Dropped it off at the dealership this morning. Nautique is covering it all. The parts got ordered today but being a holiday weekend it will be Tuesday or Wednesday before they ship i would imagine. He said it's less than an 3hr job so should be back fairly quickly. I did offer to come get the boat and install it myself if it was going to take weeks.

[Scooter G]

That might of predicated a little speed in the installation process, but doubt the Dealer would let you do the install on a "Warranty Repair" even though it's out of warranty. They make their money from the labor reimbursement via Nautique, they probably won't want to give that up.
Glad to hear it's moving along.