When we left the free dock this morning we felt incredible vibrations on BOTH engines when put under power. Jeez, I thought it was only the port (left) engine but no such luck. We did about 30 minutes of boat gymnastics in the harbor putting each engine/prop under forward and backward stress which did seem to loosen some of the bound grass enough that we could continue on to our next stop today. We were only able to travel at about 1200 RPM/8 MPH but we finally made it to an area where we were pretty sure the water was a decent temperature and most likely clear of grasses.
After about 36 miles and 5 hours we made it to Presque State Park in Erie PA without any new issues. Once we were anchored Michael got out the mask, snorkle and dive knife and headed under the boat to see what was up. Both drive shafts, propellers and the rudders were encased in grass from last nights attempt at anchoring. The shafts and all other pieces and parts were about 8 inches thick with entwined grasses. Luckily the props were essentially usable due to the earlier gymnastics we had done in the morning. He was able to cut all the grass away and even found a surprise. Somewhere along the way we had picked up a length of rope along the starboard (right) drive shaft and somehow it got entangled around the shaft and through the propeller and entwined around the nut at the end of the propeller. That could have been a major nightmare.
He got everything cleaned up and hopefully we will be problem free tomorrow morning and on our way to our next destination along Lake Erie.
Oh, and to add to our fun, as seen in the the fourth picture you might see a little film on the water. Seems as though we now have a hydraulic leak from our trim tabs. For now they are up and staying that way until we pull her out of the water to see, now what! The fun just keeps on coming…
The very good news is that both props are in excellent condition and show no sign of hitting anything or of bottoming out in any of the shallow water we encountered along the way. Yay!
Keep on checking back to see how much fun living on a boat full time can be…Love to all, Gina and Mike
