I know the image makes me look like a failure as a boater - maybe I can learn to take better photos?
I am going with the theory that I did not damage the drive train but this prop is scrap aluminium now. I'm cleaning up a spare and we intend to relaunch early tomorrow morning (barely got on the trailer at about 10:00 hours and tide falling fast).
Then we need to run the new combination and see if the spare prop is close to performing like the old one did. I doubt it will do any better if I grind in on rocks at cruising speed, though.
I am not sure if the part of the skeg broken off is essential - likely it's main purpose is to protect the prop in a less violent collision.
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Don't be too hard on yourself...happens to anyone who spends enough time on the water. I'm sure you paid in full with embarrassment.
A good welder can fix your skeg. Looks like you lost a fair chunk of it.
Put the M.V."Balder Dash" back in the water this morning and took a two mile run to check things out. Everything seems OK and she scoots along smoothly. The hull did not even touch as far as I can tell.
Got some advice on the dock from a couple I built for years ago about GPS plotters: they have a "Naviman" and tell me it is just fine. I think we need one so Tloml will likely make it my "Fathers Days" prezzy.
In the meantime here is a fine story from Cunard about the "Carpathia" which rescued all survivors of the "Titanic":
http://wearecunard.com/2012/04/guided-by-a-greate r-hand/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG4F0NmGpg4&featur e=youtube_gdata
Blended Scotch Whiskey!
“Man's life's a vapor, and full of woes; he cuts a caper, and down he goes”
We sang that at 6 years old in elementary school music classes.
"Down and down and down and down and down he goes!"
The girls in those classes sang with the same gusto and lack of understanding that I did then.
It was just a tune, after all.
Looking back: I wonder who put that in the curriculum.
lack of a skeg might mean less steering authority if you chop the throttle and nothing there to protect the prop.
Tloml does not want to wait for the prop shop so the boat is back in the chuck with a serious lack of skeg. M.V. "Balder Dash" ran fine today. There is a lot of flotsam these days because of the Spring Tides so I was doing the "chunk avoidance" dance.
In fact the leg was welded up about 15 years ago when we slid over a log sideyways and snapped the leg off completely. Coast Guard first asked me how much oil I figured had been lost. I said: "Whatever the lower unit on a mercruiser holds"
Eventually Julian hears all this on on the VHF and makes his way out to put a line on me and tow me back to harbour.
When the bullet hits the bone:
also another comes to mind:
Between a rock and a hard place.
See ya tomorrow. Take care!
"to go on chipping the high points off the numerous rocks in the lawn?"
I did not say!
Curious about your weather tonight. I just got an email from a friend in Calgary - there's some serious snow going on there! Beautiful, yes - but still. It is supposed to be tending toward spring!
No snow here and the outlook shows lows above freezing for the week. I'm hoping.
Calgary is almost as far away from here as The Bay of Fundy - well, not quite in miles but weather wise it is probably farther.
Propellors: I was thinking of painting small icons of rocks and logs I have hit in a row on the bow like WW11 airplanes recorded "kills". 'Course the rocks and logs are still OK so maybe I'll just hang the various props on the wall.
It's 2058 here and in two minutes I can hit the pillow
Had to play Rob's music one more time. My prop collection has mostly been recycled long ago. Usually I can get the local shop to balance it up and fix the spun hub. This one I mangled further trying to pry it apart in the water so I don't expect to repair it.
You have a good work night. Tloml just informed me it's OK to come to bed.
Life does carry on:
We have our Sittadog, Roxy, back here for a day or two.
Roxy's human was informed at work today that her nephew had just died from an athesma attack (25 years old) while chasing a chiwawa he was dog sitting. She is flying to Edmonton tomorrow if the flights are running (Air Canada Pilots are calling in sick time). I thought we had gotten through this Friday the 13th OK but I will not be chasing Roxy around the place tonight.
That is not a good looking prop. Once while working on Lake Winnipeg I hit a submerged log. The prop didn't look that bad but the drive shaft broke on our 50hp motor. It's a good thing we carried a spare 10 hp or it would have been a long paddle back to the trailer, 5 miles with a 20 foot wooden yall loaded down with a large winch, 3 people and about 40 gallons of fuel.
Good luck finding a replacement prop, with the pitch you need, to get the performance you want.
We pulled a friend off the beach one day with both main and "kicker" outboards non-functional. The trouble with the little motors is that they are used so rarely. It's not that I have never needed a spare small motor - I just don't want to haul it around for years and find it will not run either.
Friday 13:
"Sailors were particularly superstitious in this regard, often refusing to ship out on a Friday. According to unverified legend (very likely untrue), the British Navy commissioned a ship in the 1800s called H.M.S. Friday, in order to quell the superstition. The navy selected the crew on a Friday, launched the ship on a Friday and even selected a man named James Friday as the ship's captain. Then, one Friday morning, the ship set off on its maiden voyage... and disappeared forever. A similar, entirely factual story is the harrowing flight of Apollo 13." Tom Harris, Howstuffworks
This death is not that close to me - I did not know the fellow, only know his aunt. It is somehow topsy-turvey when the young ones check out early though.
Hi there Eugene:
Tloml and I have an ongoing discussion: since she has never hit anything as damaging as I have (she runs the boat with guests and "best beloveds" on board quite often without me on board) she concludes she is the more competent. I am in favor of this fantasy maintaining itself!
Going to visit a fairly mature fellow I helped build wood storage for some years ago. He is a "forestry engineer" and has maintained a wood lot for many years.
I need a few 4x4" posts for the railing I'm working on but mainly I need to pick his brain for an approach to logging our property.
When we built the storage shelters he was selective logging the woodlot and had been for years. A chain saw and an old snorting skidder were his main tools. About once a year he brings in a mobile sawmill and saws up the logs.
Now that the boat is off the trailer I'm thinking of putting a mill on the frame of the boat trailer.
Sure makes you appreciate the ease of telephoning an order for "S4S" lumber. (Sized 4(four) Sides)
(google didn't help much)
Also, be careful! If you break her boat trailer you'll be in big trouble!
:o)
SIL came for supper with a new GPS plotter in the box - he said maybe the 730$ outlay might pay for itself in accidents avoided. I may pull the boat out again tomorrow to install the transducer for the new machine. This new item has sounder wired in but it means I have to install well below the water line.
My plan is to find another tandem "Road Runner" trailer and set up a mill on it. Also an "A" frame and winches to pick up the logs. The last thing I need is to bust the boat trailer just now.
We had scheduled our "go-to" young fella to rototill the garden today 'cause though I could still do it I would not be able to do anything for some days afterward. Would not be surprised if the fella calls it off today.
I had some 20'x 1/2" rebar delivered to the job and snipped it into 6+' lengths with the "Zip-cut". Made a post driver a few years ago from a 4' length of heavy pipe with an old ball hitch welded in one end. Tloml can drive the lengths of rebar a foot or so into the ground with the "slammer" and bag tie the plastic mesh fencing to make any shape of fence she wants around the garden. So far the deer and bunnies have respected this perimeter - without the fencing nothing she plants will get beyond the sprout phase.
The plastic mesh fencing is only 5' high and deer can easily jump that but I'm guessing that they can not judge how high the black mesh actually is - there are other garden areas that are much easier to munch on.
Even little Florida deer can easily clear a 6 foot fence, but they don't like to jump if they can't see what's on the other side.
Thanks for clearing up the snorting question.
Good call on the trailer!
:o)
We are guessing just what a deer might think but the fencing system has worked well. Some folks around here build 8' fences and others shoot the deer - either way is a lot of work.
Just phoned the "Lowrance Guru" and he installs transducers inside the hull in a bed of marine silicon. Gonna try that.
You have left us stumped on Gators blog as to what we are supposed to do with the Lincoln thing. If you care to elaborate or explain, please do so.
Rob: "ABCDF_G"
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