It's been a rough week.
My polar-bear dive into the freezing, murky water under Dragonfly a few days ago revealed to me that the propeller was broken. A blade had snapped off.
But after Dragonfly is hauled out of the water - again - it turns out: there's more.
This all follows a day of frantic phone calls trying to figure out what size, shape, etc, replacement propeller I need for my boat, and where to find one, getting it delivered, then figuring out HOW to replace it. I had hoped that a diver might be able to come to Stingaree and change it out there, but that plan fizzled out. Then I had to find a shipyard that was not TOO far away and could haul me out. Seems there are numerous shipyards on the Bolivar Peninsula, but they were all rigged for vessels much larger than mine.
I was eventually referred to Pier 77 Shipyard. Yes, they could haul me out and fix my prop - but they were on Galveston Island, 25 miles away. That's a long, long way to go for a boat without its own propulsion. And no, SAILING down the Intracoastal Waterway was not practical. A sailboat needs room to maneuver, and the ICW is very narrow, and you gotta share it with monstrous barges and towboats.
Fortunately, my insurance policy thru Geico and BoatUS covered the cost of towing us there. It's kinda ironic, however, that it doesn't cover the broken prop. My policy specifically excludes wear-and-tear and mechanical breakdowns. (Now if my disabled boat had crashed into another boat or something and caused damage, yeah, that would be covered …)
Capt. Dave from BoatUS arrived promptly at Stingaree Friday morning and tied onto me. He pulled me out into channel, flipped me around, and began the tow. Capt. Dave, I might add, was as knowledgeable and professional as can be! But that long trip tethered to his powerboat was pure misery. It was cold and windy as hell, and I had to man the helm the whole time to keep my vessel in line behind his. (I apologize for the lack of photos - we tried.) Then when we finally got out into Galveston Bay, the towering, wind-driven waves beat us to pieces.
Eventually we made it into the Pier 77 harbor and tied up to another vessel. Then Joan and I, and Snow the cat, had to get everything we needed, plus any perishable food, off Dragonfly and transported to a local hotel.
Saturday morning, we went back to shipyard for the haul-out. (Note: this is the THIRD time I've done a haul-out on this vessel. The 1st was for my survey, the 2nd was for my bottom paint & seacock replacement.) Once Dragonfly was high and dry, I was finally able to see the full damage up close and personal: both prop and strut were broken. See photo above. That piece of material hanging straight down is supposed to be attached to that rectangular area above.
It's hard to say which one broke first. It's not likely they hit anything - the keel and rudder protrude several feet below the prop. One scenario is that the prop wore out and broke, and then all the wild vibration broke the shaft loose. We'll never know.
Meanwhile, the new propeller has NOT yet arrived. I made arrangements to have it delivered to Pier 77. Where is it? Hopefully, it will arrive early next week.
Wait - there's more. One thing I discovered on my excursion up and down the ICW was that the depth sensor is not working properly. Gotta have that essential piece of equipment to navigate the shallow waters I plan to traverse. Once the prop and strut are repaired, we will need to dock in a marina here in Galveston so I can check that out.
All this work will add up to at least a couple of boat bucks, once I include the cost of hotel and marina and transportation and such. Well, President Joe Biden is supposed to be sending me some money I can use to pay for it all.
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| Dragonfly from across the Stingaree Channel |
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| Rode my bike to the beach |
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