2016 DB engine coupler broke-gctid824397

[Critterracing]

ok maybe you guys can help me understand why this happened.

labor day monday out with the family, were 15min into our cruise and we hit something under the water line. i pop it into neutral then try forward and all i get is grinding like its going half into gear, reverse is the same thing. we were going about 30mph. i checked what i could but didnt see anything.

i anchor us up since were drifting close to the shore and call for help. i passer by stopped and offered up a tow. took 1.5 hours to get back. coast guard followed just in case.

couple days later marina called said the couple is broken and the bellows is full of gear oil. not good. he's recommending new bravo3 outdrive, new gimbal assembly, transom assembly, pretty much everything new.

im not a marine mechanic but i was able to see the out put shaft was worn pretty bad and nothing was turning smoothly by hand. both props are bent. he advised with a boat this new and who knows what other damage is lurking inside the drive and the force it took to break the coupler thats what caused the gear oil leaking into the bellows that we should replace everything.

i submitted my claim to the insurance company waiting to hear back.

opinions? sound like my mechanic knows what he's talking about?

thanks

Aldo

[Pcpete]

You must have been moving right along. There are failsafes that often times would have broken and limited the damage but you must have hit it just right. Yup, let the insurance company handle this one. Just about every moving part after the flywheel is going to have to be replaced.

[Nauti_Mike]

BIIIs have solid hubs so all the stress of hitting something is transferred into the drive and breaks things. This locks up the drive and with the engine turning the coupler is designed to fail to protect the engine. When all this happens the drive wants to twist sideways which can break gimbal ring and bellhousing.

I would let the mechanic and insurance adjuster work it out.