Broken Down in Belhaven

—Blogpost written by Bob

This stop in Belhaven NC was unplanned--it resulted from the breakage of our propeller shaft while on the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal.  S/v Rainy Days was towed to the River Forest Boatyard more than a week ago and her repair was still underway during these three days.

Monday, June 1

At mid-morning we drove to the boatyard to light a fire under the boatyard owners and get things moving.  We wanted to get out of here!

We found out that the replacement propeller shaft was completely manufactured and the propeller had been bored out to a 1-3/8” standard taper. The hang up was the machinist was promoting a custom-made bushing for $500+ (more than the cost of a new propeller) and the boatyard owner wanted to simply buy a standard bushing for $150 +/-.  We talked to the machinist in Morehead City by phone and he was not very cooperative in answering my question about how he intended to make the key work through the thicker bushing. (I found out later that the answer was a simple "step key" that is supplied with the new bushing.)

The boatyard owner called a prop shop, also located in Morehead City and found the exact size standard bushing in inventory that was located in the western part of North Carolina—it was sent out today via FedEx overnight shipping. 

Our 3-blade propeller was first installed
in February 2017 using a nylon
bushing.  Last year I replaced
the nylon bushing with a
bronze bushing.

I urged the boatyard to get busy with the other work (cleaning the hull and painting the bottom) while waiting for the propeller shaft and bushing since we have today and the next couple days without the worry about rain.  

Tuesday, June 2

We were on the road to Morehead City by 8:30 AM to pick up our replacement propeller shaft from the machinist and to pick up a bronze bushing shipped from the western part of North Carolina to the prop shop, also in Morehead City.  We were determined to get everything back to River Forest Boatyard so that the repairs could be completed soon.

We arrived at the machinist shop shortly after 10:30 AM--it was a 2-hour drive from Belhaven.  The shaft was finished and the prop was bored out but the bushing hadn’t arrived yet.  We went out for a Starbuck’s coffee and had a take out lunch from a Panera Bread. We even did a little window shopping, while waiting for the bushing to arrive via FedEx. 

Realizing that the the machine shop closed down for the day at 3:30 PM, we decided to pick up the new shaft and our prop before they closed and head over to the prop shop to wait for the new bushing to arrive. (The machinist mentioned that the poor fit up of the old bronze bushing caused a 1/32” misalignment which probably caused a significant vibration to be experienced through the shaft.  The old busing looked like it had been made from bronze sheet instead of manufactured from bar stock.  It now seems appropriate to changeout the cutlass bearing too.)

The propeller end of the old shaft
with old bushing and key in
place. (There was a lot of
wear in the vicinity of
the cutlass bearing.)

While we were in Morehead City, River Forest Boatyard back in Belhaven was working on the motor mounts.  One of the motor mounts was completely shot and they replaced it with a new one (with 100 harness rating to match the other three).

While waiting for FedEx to arrive at the prop shop I asked John (at Big Rock Props) if he could measure the pitch of my prop—he offered to do it without charge.  While measuring the pitch using the computerized apparatus (it turned out to be 13”), he discovered that the pitch of one of the three blades was 1/2” more than the other two.  He mentioned that this difference would produce a noticeable vibration. So, we commissioned him to balance the pitch of the blades—he could complete the task by noon tomorrow. (He will also completely clean and polish our bronze prop. The cost was $150.)

Since we have to return to Morehead City tomorrow to pick up our reconditioned prop, we decided to pick up the bushing tomorrow too since it hadn’t arrived yet by 2:30 PM.  We then drove two hours back to our rented cottage in Belhaven and called it a day.

The bottom was painted today!

The old cutlass bearing just ahead
of the propeller probably
should be replaced.

Wednesday, June 3

Sunny and windy was a good description for the day, as we waited in the cottage for word on the status of the new bushing since it never arrived yesterday. Eventually, after not hearing anything, we drove to New Bern (on the way to Morehead City) for lunch—we had (mediocre) pizza.

Just after we finished eating lunch we got a phone call that the bushing finally arrived in Morehead City. An hour or so later, we picked up the new bushing and our reconditioned propeller at Big Rock Props. We drove back to River Forest Boatyard after making a brief stop for ice cream in the historic waterfront area of Washington, NC. We dropped off the new prop shaft, the new bushing, and our reconditioned prop for tomorrow’s installation.

Half the length of the hull of the 
starboard side has been
cleaned and waxed.

Stay tuned for a lot of progress over the next couple days...

Thanks for following our blog!