“Get out of Jail Free”

We feel like we just drew the winning card in Monopoly.  Installation of the new prop shaft went more quickly than I had planned & we might, just maybe, get out of here!

The boat was hauled out of the water yesterday morning with no fanfare.  Three 600-pound gorillas got the new 16’ long shaft hoisted & started threading it into the boat from the stern.  It went through the cutlass bearing on the strut easily, probably because I had a new bearing installed earlier this year & the new one was quite flexible.  But then they hit the cutlass bearing just aft of the stuffing box (which is probably original from when the boat was built 30 years ago).

With a lot of pushing & shoving, an ample supply of soapy water, and a few choice words of encouragement, the shaft inched its way into the boat.  As it progressed, one worker had to climb inside at the appropriate time to install first the packing ring, then the pillow block bearing, and finally the transmission coupling flange.  After a half day of fun and games, we had a new prop shaft installed.

Then our refurbished prop was installed, followed by the perpetual discussion of what order to install the two locking nuts (you boaters can relate to this).  I installed new aluminum anodes (for fresh water as well as salt water), took my photos, and by 3 PM, the boat was back in the water.  The process so far took about half as long as I expected.

Everything's so shiny, I hate to get it wet!

Today we allow the fiberglass hull to settle down after being in the slings for 10 days.  Tomorrow we do the final alignment of the drive train & sea trial.  After that, we can finally start heading south.  We’re hoping to get under way on Thursday, since the weather is looking good.  We plan to take 6 days to get to Chicago, and then we’ll head down the river system.  We might actually make New Orleans yet this year!