Well, the wife and I decided to blow off work on Friday and take to boat around to Ocean City, MD from Annapolis. Little did we know the adventure that was in store for us. We left around 0720 and once we got north of the Bay Bridge it was absolutely beautiful, flat calm and clear as can be. We made to the C&D in great time and topped off the tanks at Summit North Marina ($4.75/gal ). Came out of the canal in to the Delaware River, jumped up on plane and ran a few miles. Then all of a sudden the starboard engine jumped out a gear, or so I thought, at near WOT. No bang or thud of hitting anything no warning just from a relaxing cruise to red line in a split second. Once I checked everything a regained may composer we stated calling Mercuiser since the engines and trans are still under warranty. The whole time make way on the port engine at 7 kts. After hours on the phone, the decision was made to go ahead and call Tow Boat US. We explained what happened and told them we were trying to get to OC, MD. Tow Boat US, Indian River didn’t even bat an eye, they said no problem and had us continue south as they come north. We met at Ship John light where they hooked to use and then we were in for a long tow to OC. We arrived in OC around 10:00 pm with heavy fog and about 10 feet of visibility. They docked us in the commercial harbor over night; the fog was way too thick to try to get into OC Fishing Center to our slip. I was greeted with a taunting cheer from the crowd at Harborside and cold one in hand from the guys at Fisherman’s Marina and called it a night. The next day we arranged to have a mechanic come take a look at the trans., but it would be a few days until they could get to it. In the mean time I decided to take a dive to check for debris around the shaft or some other problem. The port looked fine not a ding in the prop or any line around the shaft. As I move over to the starboard I noticed the lack of a shadow in the murky marina water. I was greeted by the blunt end of the shaft sticking out of the cutlass bearing and the dent in the bottom when the prop impacted the boat when in broke free. Thank God it was only a glancing blow.
So just to let you Delaware and Jersey guys know, there is a newly reconditioned 18X18 prop on the bottom somewhere out in front of the nuclear power plant.
On the bright side, my trans are probably fine and my tanks are still full and once I get things fixed I’ll be ready to go.
I want to give a big thanks to Tow Boat US, Indian River, Short’s Marine, who tried to help us and the Fisherman’s Marina crew that greeted me with the best tasting Natural Light that I’ve had in a very long time!!!!!