Day 299

Today was a one lock day. We passed the lock and travelled to an anchorage behind Big Boyd Island. It was an anchorage recommended by one of the boaters the night before. He did warn Kevin to avoid the rocks as you entered the anchorage.

Kevin passed what he thought was the rocks he was to avoid but there were others and we hit one big time. There was a big jolt, followed by other jolts and the engines cut out. Kevin recovered things nicely and got the engines started again and determined that we had prop damage. We anchored to assess things further.

We spent a few hours contacting nearby marinas/service people/shops. It being latish on Friday, we were lucky that most people answered our calls. We finally figured out that traveling to Buckhorn the next day to Buckhorn Marina and their associated propeller shop was our best bet. They were very helpful and gave us a recommendation for a diver to try to come on Sunday and assess the damage and remove the props.There are no marinas within 100 miles or so that can lift us out of the water to get work done, so everything needs to be done in the water. We also started the claims process with the insurance company.

We stayed anchored for the night.

Day 300.

We limped along at idle speed 5.5knots for 20 miles to get to Buckhorn and anchored out across from the marina. I went and snorkeled under the boat and took pictures of the props. They weren't pretty pictures. We took the photos over to show the service department and they weren't hopeful that the propellers could be repaired.

Day 301-302

At about 11am we made our way over to the fuel dock at the marina and the diver came. He took closer photos and got some of the keel damage too. We got together with the service/prop people again and we all felt the best course was to remove the props so they could get a good look at them. The diver tried to get the props off but they were stuck on so tight that they broke a piece of equipment used to take them off. That was it for till the next day and new equipment could be gotten. The next day the diver was able to take the props off and they said that they couldn't be repaired. The diver also tested the shafts and feels that the starboard shaft is bent and needs to be repaired/replaced. The prop repair company here is terrific. They did lots of legwork on getting us new props. We will be getting 4 blade props instead of the 5 blade props we have had. They assure us that we will be happy with them and if not we can return them. The other big benefit is that the 4 blades are cheaper and the insurance company will like that better. It's a hard cost to swallow....5K per propeller (the 5 blade is 6K), not counting shipping and labor.

Day 303

The prop company here has been able to order and ship the propellers so they can get here tomorrow (Thurs.) We should be able to get them on and tested tomorrow and be on our way to Bellville, Ontario on Friday. It will take us at least 4 days (and 30 locks) to get to Belleville. In Belleville we'll get the boat lifted out of the water, pull the propellers again, and determine if the the shafts are damaged.

Once the hull dries they will also be able to repair the fiberglass damage on the keel.

If this timing works out ... we'll be able to leave for NH on Thursday to drive to a wedding. That will also give time for the boat to be repaired out of the water, while we are gone.

Of course the insurance process has been cumbersome being in Canada and in an area where we can't lift the boat out of the water. They have been pretty good to work with and of course don't want us to do any work until we get estimates but we can't get estimates until we can see the damage and get to it. Hopefully it all will be approved.