First, the weather made a dramatic change for the worse. We slept with the windows open and a fan on last night because it was so warm. Got up this morning, and it was still nice and warm. The forecast called for a cold front to move through during the night, but it was a little slow approaching. I poked my head outside and told Trevor it was warm enough for shorts. Then the wind shifted. Within a matter of minutes, the front moved in, and the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees. It was windy, choppy, and rainy all day. We'll be sleeping with the down comforter tonight, and our space heater is running. Weather in the south is just crazy.
With this fun weather change, you can imagine how psyched I was to dive in the water and check out the damage from yesterday's sea monster encounter. Trevor talked to a couple of marina guys about where the nearest dive shop is. 15 miles away. And it still involved me going in the water. But, they said, we can haul it out for $6 a foot and you can work on it while it's hanging there. Yes, a $10 scuba tank is considerably cheaper than $162 haulout, but it wouldn't involve me diving in strong current, wind, and waves. Not to mention we were making a huge assumption about what was wrong. We were pretty sure it was a bent prop, and we were hoping the shop here would have a replacement. But there were no guarantees about either of those things. If it turned out to be something worse, we'd have to get the boat hauled anyway. Plus, we could have a look at things while the boat was out of the water and feel a little more confident about our repair. So, we decided to spend the extra money for a dry Captain and a little peace of mind.
However, I had to drive the boat over to the lift first. Normally, this would be cake. But there were a couple of things working against me. First, there's a bloody lot of wind, waves, and current dragging me around. I'm pretty good at driving the boat, so this wouldn't be a big problem. Except when you have a bum propeller, the boat doesn't have the power and maneuverability it normally does. Didn't think about that one.
So we untied the boat and shoved off the dock. The wind took us. And pushed us around like we were nothing. I tried and tried to steer, tried forward and reverse. But I had hardly any control over the thing. We were hurtling sideways toward another dock. Oh crap. We were gonna hit. Hard. But then the Dread Pirate Trevor saved the day! He got on the front of the boat where we were going to take the brunt of the force, and just as we were about to hit, he used his mighty might to keep us off! Amazing! Then the boat swung around, and we were lucky to have a fender right where the boat hit the dock. Hoorah! Catastrophe averted! Trevor is a hero! Bring on the fanfare. Oh wait, we were only now able to go forward. Yay, forward.
I drove the boat over toward the lift. Well, the lift is at the end of a really narrow ditch. Okay, it's bigger than a ditch, but only a little. And again, the wind pulled me around. And the boat had so little power with the busted up prop that I could barely maneuver into the cove. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to get us in. Fortunately, the wind died once we got in there, so it was a little easier. Yay, we were at the lift!
The lift is a funny thing. It's just a couple of heavy duty (really heavy duty) straps that go under the boat. The the lift operator cranks them up, keeping them even, and lifts the boat right out of the water. Seeing the boat in a sling is a really weird thing.
Doesn't that look weird?
Anyway, Dad was there to help. While Trevor and I were staring at how sad our boat looked just hanging there, Dad wandered over to look at the prop. You know, the whole reason for the ordeal. Well, he started laughing. Laughter is a wonderful sound when you've had a full day to think about how horribly broken the boat might be. So we wandered down. And this is what we saw.
"But what the heck is that?" you ask. What the heck indeed. Some kind of plastic bag. But not your run-of-the-mill cheap plastic grocery bag. No, this was a shrimp boat salt bag. Designed to hold 50 pounds of salt and not tear or break in rough seas or when kicked by a deck hand or nibbled by birds. Heavy duty plastic. And our boat did not like chewing on it. You can see how twisted and tangled that thing is. It's a miracle we made it into the marina at all yesterday. And a super-awesome-crazy miracle I didn't wreck the boat trying to drive it today. Came uncomfortably close, but didn't wreck it. (Did I mention Trevor is a hero? Because he is.)
And the propeller is okay. Not bent or dinged or even scratched. So no repairs necessary! Here I am being relieved there's no serious damage.
And here's a picture of what the bag looked like once we got it off.
And here's the boat looking a little exhausted from the whole ordeal. Notice the tilt. But Dad was giving it dad-like reassurance that everything was okay.
So with the boat in good working order again, we put it back in the water. In a tight maneuvering space, I handled it like a pro (if I do say so myself). Amazing what a working propeller will do. Such a difference! And I needed that extra oomph. We brought the boat back to our transient spot, circled around to point into the wind. And the wind was ripping through there. I'm normally a very slow docker. I like to ease in so if I run into the dock, nothing gets hurt. Well, there was no slow to it this time. The wind was pushing me backwards toward Mom & Dad's boat. So I put the hammer down and slid the boat right in. Pretty nice driving. Go me! And my handy docking crew of Dad and Trevor were awesome, too!
It was a good day! No, a great day! I didn't have to go swimming. The boat is okay. We have groceries. I installed a new bilge pump. Trevor did laundry. Delicious spaghetti for dinner. Oh, and pizza for lunch. Couldn't ask for more. Except maybe some good weather so we can get out of Mobile! We may be stuck here tomorrow, too. We'll see what happens.
Happy Day-After-Thanksgiving!
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