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 being completed in these last three days.
Thursday, June 4
Except for Lola, we are all anxious to get out of here! Lola, our 2-1/2-year old Maine Coon, loves sitting on the window ledges in the cottage, watching the birds and squirrels—she rarely has that kind of opportunity on the boat.
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| Lola taking a cat nap after birdwatching all morning. |
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| Pamlico Street in Belhaven at 9:30 AM this morning. (Pamlico Street runs north and south and about half of the shops were vacant.) |
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| The south end of Pamlico Street. |
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| A sidewalk painting at the entrance to a vacant shop on Pamlico Street. |
Nothing was being done on our boat this morning--the boatyard manager had an off-site appointment and when he is away, nothing gets done (which he openly admitted).
I was very disappointed in the progress for the afternoon--the only real progress I saw was that our transmission had been cleaned up and painted. A lot of work remains to be done tomorrow, including a boat that is stored on jack stands must be moved before we can be splashed. I really doubt that we will be splashed tomorrow as promised.
I started taking photographs of the damaged parts, hoping to get some insurance funds to cover some of the damages.
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| The above two motor mounts were replaced--the one on the right is completely shot while the other is partially shot. |
The situation in the Bahamas where we ran over a large patch of sea grass (Tuesday, January 7) and it wrapped tightly around the propeller could have initiated the problem. After that incident we noticed some vibration coming from the propeller and more engine noise. Sometime thereafter, one motor mount probably failed, allowing even more vibration. The vibration probably intensified from that point which allowed the shaft to fail due to fatigue.
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| The break in our 37-year old shaft is near the top of this image. |
Friday, June 5
Work started early on our boat this morning. The transmission was being reinstalled when we arrived at the boat around 9:30 AM.
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| Work on the cleaning and waxing the hull was underway when we arrived in the morning. (This was expected to take all day.) |
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| Even though our 5-year old dripless shaft seal was in good condition, we decided to replace it during this haulout. |
We drove to Washington NC and had lunch at Burger King and then stopped at the nearby Verizon store so that I could get a new iPhone SE--this took a little longer than we expected. We got back to the cottage at 3 PM.
I decided not to go to the boatyard until after 5 PM so that I didn't get in anyone's way. So, shortly after 5 PM, I drove to the boatyard to check on progress. The work on our boat was completely finished (including preliminary engine alignment) except for the waxing and buffing of the hull which was about 3/4 of the way done. So, hopefully, everything will be completed tomorrow.
Saturday, June 6
Saturday was supposed to be the last work day for the boatyard to get the remaining boat work done. The only remaining tasks included completing the waxing and buffing of the hull, splashing the boat into the water, and doing the final engine alignment (in the water).
A big (hauled out) power boat (it also had a broken propeller shaft) was situated on blocks and jack stands and positioned in the boatyard so that our boat could not be accessed by the travel lift. Moving this power boat was necessary before our boat could be splashed.
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| The crude outdoor shower at the boatyard was one of the reasons we didn't stay aboard. |
When we stopped by the boat at noon, one guy was waxing and buffing the hull (like yesterday) and only the port side was being worked on and even it wasn’t done. Clearly, the hull would not be completed at this rate. The power boat that was in the way still wasn’t moved. I raised some hell with the owner/manager by text message since he was somewhere out of town in the morning.
In the late afternoon a thunderstorm rolled through the area and any work (that was ongoing) in the marina stopped altogether. So, another promise for splashing our boat this afternoon was not kept. The power boat that blocks our way out was not moved and the waxing/buffing of the hull was not completed and tomorrow is Sunday.
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During the last 4 months, I feel like I’ve aged 5 years! Stay tuned for our last days in Belhaven and our remaining trip north on the ICW.
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