Well I suppose I can call the repair and new prop a success. We went out with the local group to Cottonwood Cove marina on the Missouri River near Blair Nebraska. 26 river miles from NP dodge park. The skeg tracked true, seems to be even more responsive in turning than before, but I suppose that since it is larger, that may account for it. The flat disk that I borrowed from the Timi seems to be what the drive with power steering requires. I had no pull at any rpm either direction, always easy to turn both directions, which is supposed to be how it works by design right? The big news was the prop. The 4 blade 25p Mercury Trophy prop performed well, no ventilation or blowouts. Push the Z right up on plane every time. We had four large adults plus lots of gear so we were fairly heavy, no top speed runs, but did a fair 35mph at around 3400 rpm which made for a nice quiet smooth ride on the river. I hope to get it out on the lake soon and do some more testing without so much stuff on board. As for river runs, wing dams, and shallow water its been my experience that the depth finders are effective only when your floating or coming into the beach. There simply is no time to react while on plane. I will face the mighty Mississippi river again in the future, but plan to be better prepared. In the end it did cost a prop, but the 25p laser II that was on it was never that fantastic of performer anyway, and I was considering a four blade anyway. The skeg cost about $25.00 and add in some power, filler, Argon, paint/primer, with $200 prop so I consider it to be a costly mistake, but far more reasonable than if I took the Z into a marine repair shop and had the work done. Since it was successful, I will post a quick description of the skeg replacement process in the vendor/resources section. Thanks all for you advice and kind words of encouragement, helped me and the Z get through a rather dark time together.
