Well, bad news fellas. I brought it to a shop and faced the crappy reality of owning a boat. My prop shaft is in fact bent, as the service tech showed me the wobble as he spun the prop. His original intention was to replace the entire lower unit, but first asked if I had insurance on the boat. I told him I did not, as I didn't think it was necessary, given that this isn't a $30,000+ bass boat I bought new of the show room floor. He was understanding and said I may want to consider it going forward for incidents like this. He said it would cost a pretty penny to replace the lower unit so if I wasn't going through insurance, we wouldn't go the route. His intentions are now to pull and inspect the prop shaft and send it out to be straightened. He said he will have to re-seal everything and obviously get a new prop back on it. I was quoted roughly in the $1,800-$2,000 range. I'm still a little sick over it, but what's a guy to do, it has to be fixed. 

 

The worst part about it is that he said the prop damage was minor and could have been fixed with a refurb. Unfortunately, running the motor like I did afterwards (purely due to inexperience and lack of knowledge) is what most likely caused the shaft bend. Is it normal to have the urge to put the boat on the front lawn with a FREE sign?? 

How anybody drives a boat without insurance is beyond me. You should always always always have insurance...what would you have done if you accidentally hit somebody? Insurance is cheap. Hopefully your gears arent ruined. Those will run 800-1000 alone. I would just get a new oem lower unit if I were you. Price will be close to the same for a 50-60hp....and get insurance.

I most definitely will be getting insurance going forward!

No, what's too bad is you not know how to fix it yourself.  Even with all new parts, it would cost me about a $500 to repair.  If a used one can be found, it's about a $300 repair. 

A little mechanical knowledge is golden when you start messing with boats, well actually most anything when you have to pay the stupid high material cost and labor rates it cost to have some one else do repairs these days. 

It would give me cold chills to even think about having to have someone else fix anything for me.

2 hours ago, Way2slow said:

No, what's too bad is you not know how to fix it yourself.  Even with all new parts, it would cost me about a $500 to repair.  If a used one can be found, it's about a $300 repair. 

A little mechanical knowledge is golden when you start messing with boats, well actually most anything when you have to pay the stupid high material cost and labor rates it cost to have some one else do repairs these days. 

It would give me cold chills to even think about having to have someone else fix anything for me.

I hear you...but time is worth more than money at this point in my life, to me.

 

A good shop could have that back to me in a few days, where I'd only be able to work on it on weekends...sacrificing days on the water.

Very sorry to hear about the damage.

 

My first year of owning a boat I toasted two props and luckily didn't bend my shaft even with running it on a damaged prop both times. I haven't taken it in to be looked at, but it runs at no noticeable difference and it's only a 96 force 75hp. So even if it was bent, it'd be more $$ to fix than the motor is worth. 

How's the fishing been up north though? It's been pretty great down here in the Milwaukee area! 

After reading, I was getting to far in left field so I deleted the content of this post.