Last month I had a minor collision in the middle of Lake Martin around 8 am. I presumed I had hit a floating log that was deep enough that I could not see it. I stopped and raised the motor but saw no visual signs of damage or oil leakage. At 3 that afternoon I lost my lower unit. 3 hours later I got to take a look at it on the trailer but still no idea what exactly had happened. My mechanic informed me that my skeg was bent and that all of the oil had been lost which resulted in shearing the drive shaft and complete destruction of the lower unit. Good thing I have insurance! The only problem is they refused to cover the claim because of heat damage caused by a loss of fluid. My mechanic then checked with Yamaha just in case it could be covered by the warranty and discussed my situation with the insurance. Unfortunately the warranty had been expired about a year. Not to mention with the collision damage I did not expect Yamaha to cover an obvious insurance claim. Complete lower unit $3060 plus labor. A few hours later, Chuck with Yamaha called my mechanic and told him that they were going to GIVE me a new lower unit as long as I covered the labor purely out of customer relations. I couldn't speak for an hour. Yamaha - my gratitude will be shown in every motor purchase I make from now on ... THANKS