Another step closer

The boat may be back in the water today. I talked to Mike at QMS and he has replaced the prop shaft, prop, and cutless bearing and balanced the engine. Hopefully, today he is replacing the exhaust riser, which fell apart in his hands as he was checking it for structural integrity. Tim called yesterday from the marina and wondered what color to paint the bottom. It was red before, so I told him to make it red again.

If the paint gets on there today and Mike has replaced the one thru-hull fitting that he says needs replacing, the boat might be back in the water by sunset today...or maybe not. In any case, it will be in the water and ready to sail by the time we get back to FL on 3/12. Bradley is going to get a ride to the marina from the Keys on 3/16 and if all is ready, we may be ready to sail away for Tavernier on 3/17, celebrating St. Patrick's Day in the Intracoastal Waterway somewhere.

We are anxious for this journey to be over.

One Step Closer

Well, the boat has been hauled out of the water and the bottom pressure washed and is sitting on a stand in the marina yard. She now has a new prop, prop shaft, cutless bearing and is one step closer to being back in the water.

The boat had set in the water for so long that one blade of the old three-blade prop had fallen off thanks to electrolysis and electrolysis had destroyed the cutless bearing and the prop shaft was useless. Mike from QMS Marine in Tampa used 9 sawzall blades to cut off the old stainless steel prop shaft and had a new one milled and got everything put back together again. He still has a couple of thru hull fittings to work on and then, when we get back down to Florida in March, the boat goes back in the water and we see if everything works. I have great faith in them!

Hopefully, in March, Eye Quit will carry us to her new home in the Community Harbor in Tavernier.