Temp OB Mirage Drive Failure.

Last Sat. morning I was a fishing fool.. there was blue runners everywhere.. even saw a 4' king jump out of the water. Caught a 18" bluefish and was having a GREAT time.. until it was time to start working my way back in. I was about a mile and a half or so in the ICW from the boat ramp and my vehicle when all of a sudden.. my OB started veering right to left.. sort of like rocking the boat. I quickly moved up.. undid the drive.. pulled it out.. and inspected... found one flipper was halfway disconnected at the little sliver peg. I pushed on that side and the peg went back in.. I reinstalled it.. locked it in good.. and went back to the pedals. Maybe two steps and it did it again.. I started having a sick feeling.. thinking oh geeeeez... the drive has broke.. and I was planning on fishing all three days off. I did NOT want to pull out my old yak.. but if it was broke.. I would have had no choice. I repeated the above step and tried (while praying) to get it back together again. I reinstalled it while fighting the hard current.. which was pushing me out farther. I got 4 steps in this time and then I pulled it out completely.. leaning it against the front end. I removed my paddles and started on the LONG trip back. After I finally pulled the yak out of the boat ramp, I grabbed the drive and REALLY looked at it. It wasn't broke... there is a small 'star' screw that had worked it's way out. It was out just enough not to latch the little peg. I remember I had a star driver but wasn't sure it would fit. I went home.. rinsed everything off.. brought the drive inside after it dried and applied some goop to the screw after the driver fit. (couldn't believe it fit.. had it for years.. never even used it on anything). I tightened it good and let it dry for about 14 hours and took it out the next morning.. it worked great. It appears that is the only "star" screw in the entire drive that I could find. I would also advise everyone who has a mirage drive to purchase a star driver to fit. You never know when you will need it. That driver now has a purpose and a home.. in my fishing bag. I hope all that endless paddling back will have not been in vain... and someone will get some use out this.

Great repair job! That's a good lesson for us all to check our drives occasionally. Those Allen head screws can back out, allowing the mast to become loose or fall out, so they need to be inspected often.

After reading your post, I went out and checked mine. Turns out my chain needed adjustment. Thanks for the heads-up!

I know about that sick feeling, been there, done that, even wrote about it too. If you want to avoid that sick feeling keep a replacement drive unit with you and carry the tools to fix all things that can break. Plus, as Roadrunner said, keep your drive unit adjusted and check for loose screws from time to time. Like a bicycle, parts can not only wear, but come loose.