Fri Sept 2: One Last Night at Hurst Marina

What a weird boating season it has been…

We spent last night in an old hotel in Peterborough, Ontario. (I must say, we both enjoyed the water pressure in the shower!) Early this morning we headed out for the 30 minute drive to the Trent Lakes area, where the master prop guy has his shop.  And what a shop it was! Hundreds of newly repaired props hanging on the walls, waiting to be picked up. What a combination of math, metal working and art to fix all these damaged propeller.  He told us that this has been his busiest year ever……

Poor little old prop../

The lovely guy gave us a 4-blade prop on loan (no charge 😮) and our re-built (basically new) prop will be waiting for us in Kingston. He even did all the lifting, since we suddenly remembered Rick’s collarbone, which had been on the back burner the past couple of days.

Ima give Rick a (limited) space here to tell you all you never wanted to know about props (propellers):

Rick here. So I got a crash course in how propellers work.  I mean it makes sense, but I never thought I would have to think about it in so much detail.  Our existing (damaged) propeller has 5 blades and is 26 inches in diameter with each blade having a 19.5 degree angle off the center spindle.  The best thing is that our propeller shaft (the drive shaft that comes out of the back of the engine/transmission) has a very standard 2 inch diameter.  So, John, at Kawartha Propeller, offered us a loaner propeller that he thought would work for us. The loaner is a 4-blade, 24 inch diameter with 23 degree curve off the spindle.  So I could try to explain how the loaner is similar to our propeller but Melanie would make some comment  about how I bored our 4 readers to death if I tried to explain pitch and fluid dynamics (which I don’t understand myself), so just trust me when I say we we’re happy to have a loaner with the same shaft size that would move the boat forward!

After we picked up the propeller in Buckhorn, Ontario we made a B-line (the area was beautiful and we passed the Trent Severin Canal which we will travel on next year) back to Hurst Marina arriving a little after 12 pm.  We wanted to make sure to deliver the new propeller asap so the mechanics could put it on before leaving for a long Labor Day weekend. In the meantime, since we had the loaner car, we drove over to the grocery store in Manotick to stock up on a few things we need to stay alive (like chips and feta). 

Then we had to get all the shopping up the ladder at the back of the boat.  It’s very strange to be on the boat while way up in the air.

When we returned from shopping the propeller was installed and we were ready to get back in the water. In less that 24 hours they had hauled the boat, removed the damaged propeller, installed the loaner and put us back in the water. Not to mention had given us a car. Amazing service from Hurst Marina!

No prop-BAD

New prop-GOOD!!!

It was late in the afternoon so we decided to stay in the marina one more night.  The boat was dirty so we took advantage of the marina water to give her a good scrub.  We were so happy to have her alive and well again that it was a pleasure to clean, for a change!

And we went to war on the spiders. Up to now we have embraced their diet of all our bugs, but now they have taken over and have surprisingly big, green poops!! DEATH TO THE SPIDERS.

We slept well, back to rocking gently on the water, and feeling grateful.