Any theories on what caused this?

[buckbuck]

2017 212X with about 20 hours on it. I went out today to help @Brian eilrich dial in his new Wake Wedge and he found this when screwing in the drain plug. He has no knowledge of damaging it and we can't find any marks to suggest it got hit. What do you think? Bad casting?
By the way, he beat on his boat pretty hard today and it didn't get any worse.

 

[Bruce]

Wow!!!

What material is that constructed from?

 

[mraz72]

the marketing guys are now working on the name of that "feature"

 

[buckbuck]

@Bruce my guess it is the same material as the intake grates. Some type of aluminum alloy?

 

[Bruce]

@Bruce my guess it is the same material as the intake grates. Some type of aluminum alloy?

From the pictured edges it looks aluminum to me but the cracking looks like something I would expect from fiberglass.

Is any water leaking into the bilge?

 

[buckbuck]

ha! never even crossed our minds to check. Lots of wake coming across the swim platform today so I don't think we would have connected the dots anyway.

 

[Neutron]

I would have never went out after seeing that.
Should have lots of water intrusion i would think

 

[Speedling]

Debris at speed could hit it after it clears the hull.

 

[robert843]

He hit something or backed into something almost looks more likely since the hull looks fine. That whole piece on the 240 looks plastic.never really felt it to see if it was something different.

 

[haknslash]

Whoa! What are the black marks from? I would not take it out damaged like that.

 

[Bruce]

I believe that the "metal" structure is glued and bolted to the hull. It appears that the drain plug portion is only glued to the hull at this point. If it were to come off I believe the drain hole would be left exposed allowing a significant amount of water into the boat.

 

[Britboater]

On mine the drain hole is completely seperate, so if you removed the keel you'd still have the plug in place.
I'm very conscious when backing towards the beach not to let the keel anywhere near the bottom, from looking and feeling the material it seems it's cast, can you get cast aluminium? A good ding IMO could crack it but if a flaw was there only a light impact would revel the fault.

 

[Seadeals]

The black marks just look like sealant to me from when they attached it to the hull. If backed in at a beach and too shallow, I can see a wave rocking the stern down on the rudder cracking it if the bottom was hard or it was a big wave. I think it needs an impact to fail like that.

 

[Evildwarf]

based on the markings and careful measurements....perhaps this:

 

[seadude]

Looks like the articulated keel was forced to articulate the wrong way!

 

[Cambo]

When I first saw that new addition my thoughts were that will break or get damaged very easily. If you tie up at the shore with the stern at the beach if its to shallow that will be the first thing to hit especially when wakes from other boats come to shore and make the boat rock . Another way is powering up in shallow water even 3 foot deep the stern drops and that could easily drag on the bottom.

Take a look on the bottom do you have any scrape marks ? Not the hull but the back end of the rudder . The pictures crop that section off .

Material looks like cast aluminum could be a casting flaw that part probably has a lot of force applied

 

[mraz72]

after reading Evil's post, I have one thing to say

we're going to need a bigger articulating keel

 

[Bill D]

That's a bummer and looks expensive! I don't know that I would be concerned about water intrusion. It doesn't look integral to the hull. But it sure looks like it bottomed out on something. Is there any damage to the bottom of the rudder? I wonder if that could even happen on the trailer while backing into a driveway or up to a curb or something. The stern of my boat gets pretty low transitioning from the street to my driveway.

 

[Julian]

I'd definitely want to get my eyes on the through bolts in the inside of the hull. I think there are 2 or 3 and they are clearly visible from the clean out try "hatch port". I'd be looking to see if the bolt head on the lowest one is still attached, or pulled into the fiber glass....

I agree...looks like a bottom strike to me....probably wouldn't have had to have been a big one....just the weight of the boat sitting on the keel when backed into a beach, and a small wave....and thunk...half the boat weight dropped onto the keel...

 

[Thor]

That will buff out, I wouldn't be concerned