The Boat is Repaired

Well the boat is back in the water now, The new shaft and cutlass bearing are installed and the strut was rebuilt with 8 layers of Bi-axial glass and epoxy. The motor over to a dock went fine with no vibration.

The next test will be on the sail back to Frazer Hog Cay across the Tongue of the Ocean about 45 nautical miles; and then across the banks to Bimini and then on to Florida.

The new bottom paint is Micron 66 and when I get hauled I will repaint the bottom with it, only $460.00 a gallon here

I plan to sail for Florida this week and then up the coast.


Taking a pass on the Abacos this year to get back home a little earlier.

Will stop to visit Jim my friend from the Erie Canal. Then I will be heading up to Green Cove Springs and will try to get home in time for the next grandchilds birth.

What has happened

I am sitting in the airport at Ft Lauderdale waitng for the plane to Nassau

Lets see... I left Galliot and headed up to Staniels Cay for some fuel 

before my planned hop to Eleuthera. Spent a couple nights anchored off Big Maajors to check out the swimming pigs. And yes they do swim out for treats. Bill Karen and I dingied in close and one big one swam out for his handout. We were taking pictures as Bill trtied to bait the pig into climbing into the boat... We'd have had a pig in the boat if we'd let him keep teasing the pig.

Next we sailed for Warderick Wells and got a mooring in the Emerald Cay bay and the next day we moved to the north field. I had made a boat board for the collection on top of the hill.

The next morning asa I was trying to drop the mooring I under estimated the speed of the tidal current and in motoring to avoid the boat behind me I got the line wrapped in the prop and the engine stalled and in doing that it bent the shaft and broke the strut. I managed to anchor in 20+ feet of water with about 150 feet of chain and rode out but the Bruce anchor bit well and I got the boat under control with only a minor chain rope burn and lightly smushed finger. After I calmed down a bit I dove under the boat to cut the painter and free the dingy. There was only a couple inches of line left to the dingy when it was free and the prop must have missed it by inches.

I checked the prop out and all looked ok but at the end of the sail to Eeluthera, as I tried to motor in the last 10 miles, the prop was shaking so bad that I could not go above idle speed. When the weather and water cleared enough I dove under again to discover how bad the strut was broken. I spent two days researching how to fix it and decided to make a brace to hold it in place and sail back to Nassau on my insurance agent advice to get hauled out for repairs.

We were going to wait two days for the seas to settle out in the sound but decided to leave early and it was a good thing we did. The waves were still big and winds gusty to 28 knots. But the sail over to Ship Channel Cay went well and after several tacks I made it up into the lee to anchor without resorting to my hurt drive line. The next morning I sailed out again but 5 miles out the winds died and Bill and Karen on Island Moon towed met the rest of the 30 miles into Nassau wher I very carefully motored into a slip at Nassau Hrabour Club to wait for the boatyard to lift me out.

After I hauled I discovered the bend in the shaft and the extent of the break... So here I am in an airport with a new shaft and with any luck I should be floating by the weekend...
Life is an Adventure
To be continued...