June 24th 2018
The joys and challenges of sailing far from home:
What is sailing? Many definitions can be found in dictionaries, technical books, and of course on the web. Most say something akin to: “The action of sailing a ship or boat”, or “the application of technical skills in guiding a ship from one destination to another”, or ”a voyage or excursion on a water-borne vessel”. These all, while having an element of truth, are laughed at by seasoned boaters the world over for their simple-minded description of sailing.
Better and more descriptive definitions include: “Fixing your boat in exotic locations” and, “getting your body in strange positions in hot, cramped spaces so you can think clearly about the tools and parts you needed to bring with you but didn’t”, or “maintaining a complicated device called a boat or vessel while floating in a substance incompatible to human habitation or life and corrosive to most of the things your vessel is made or”.
A good example of these more accurate definitions is a couple of recent days. Cruising with Mary Beth’s parents for the 2nd time. We upped anchor and began the trip under good weather with MB’s parents and our daughter Kate planning to follow us a bit later.
The trouble spot - where the engine connects to the propeller shaft
About 10 min into the trip with MB at the helm and me tidying up the deck and the anchor for the day, there was a strange noise and we lost propulsion. The engine was still running, but we were not moving. MB took it out of gear and tried both reverse and forward while I started hauling things from the locker so I could see into the engine compartment. The propeller shaft was not turning even though the engine was in gear-not good! We shut down the engine right away and dropped anchor. This was a bit awkward for other boats as we were in a fairly narrow channel with shallow water on both sides of us, and of course there was not enough wind to sail so we were stuck where we sat until we could get her moving again. This, by the way, is a foundational truth of sailboats: If you have wind, the engine will work fine and vice-a-versa. Meaning, of course, since we had no engine, we had no wind either.
An examination in the engine compartment by both of us showed conclusively that we had no clue what was going on. Then MB spotted a metal bit laying under the engine which we identified as the shaft key. This is a square piece of metal about ½ inch on a side and 2 ½ inches long. It fits in a groove on the propeller shaft and connects the shaft to the engine so that they move together. Ergo, if that is not in place, the propeller does not turn when the engine does.
Many questions popped into our heads, however, they were not accompanied by any answers. This was part of the boat that we had not ever taken apart, but it seemed that was about to change.
After about 5 hours of working below I was finally able to get things back into place well enough that we were comfortable motoring at slow speeds. Keeping revs very low, praying, and worrying, effectively kept things at status-quo for the day and we eventually made it to the town of St Michael’s where there is a boat yard and some parts availability. We walked a mile and a half to get some new set screws and spent some time working on it today, but we’ve concluded that we have too many things we don’t really understand and are out of our league, so we’ve talked to the boat yard and they will come out “tomorrow or the next day” and see what they think. We’re hopeful that we can get things fixed quickly and be on our way, but boat repairs are never fast and we may be here for a few days.
On the positive side, before we decided to talk to the boat yard, we walked a mile or so to a marine supply place to get replacements for the set screws we would need to make the repair. We also had our starting battery fail in a nearly spectacular way so we needed a new one of those too. There was an auto parts store a bit further down the street so we went there. They did not have the battery, but they called a marine supplier in another town who brought the battery to the dock near us and did not charge any mark up on their price or charge us for delivery! We continue to find people who are kind, generous and just help brighten our days through their generosity and support. It’s a reminder to us all to do the same when we can.
St Michael’s is a cute town, so it’s a good place to be stranded for a few days. We also treated ourselves to ice cream cones, so it was not such a bad day at all!
David