Bent spark plug electrode

[MuskyTime]

I replaced my plugs this spring on my 2007 DF175. Ran great all spring and on a 2 week trip to Canada putting 70 miles on each day. Never had any problems at all with the motor always ran great.

Driving in the last evening of the trip at about 45 mph get about 1 mile from camp and I can feel the boat slow a little and drop down to 40 mph (no change in throttle). For the last mile or so the boat would regain speed and then slow back down. I could not hear any audible difference from the motor, humming along as it always did. When I came off plane the motor was running noticeable rough and shaking slightly. I thought it seemed like a timing problem so I removed the plugs and found #3 electrode bent down with no gap.
After re-gapping engine runs great.

Only thing I can think of as to how the electrode got bent is it came new this way and I missed it upon install? Or maybe I dropped it before I installed it?
Couple questions....

Could a plug with no gap still fire good and build up a deposit and then fowl?
Should I borescope the cylinder and ensure the piston did not contact the plug? Hard to believe this is even possible?
What else could have caused the electrode to loose it's gap?

Thanks!

[Harper]

If you're able to borescope it, I would. Check your intake manifold and make sure you didn't injest one of the diverter valve plates (VSV system). There hasn't been much posted on it lately, but the DF175 has had a few occurences where the plastic plates that comprise the VSV system have come loose or broken off and been injested by the engine, with varying degrees of damage. It's not a very common occurence, but it does happen. There is one plate in each of the four runners of the intake manifold. You have to remove the intake manifold to inspect the situation, and the valve plates are right by the cylinder head mounting flange. The valve assembly is not available separately from the intake manifold, so the only fix, in addition to fixing any damage done, is to replace the entire manifold.