Back Underway

We are happy to report that we are repaired and back underway.  The AMAZING team at Carolina Beach Boat yard took great care of us and got us back in the water in just one day!   Three men, two giant  3' wrenches, a sledge hammer and an acetylene torch got our strut straightened right out.  The repaired prop went back on and we were right back in the water.  

Heating up the strut to bend it back in place

3' long wrenches for leverage on the strut

Repaired propeller.   Good as new!

Make Me Smile back in the water where she belongs.

While we were in the yard, we each worked on small projects that are easier to tackle in a boat yard.  Hilary sanded and repainted the cover for the outboard motor and Bert worked on some modifications to the pieces he machined for the permanent dingy davit installation.  

Bert's temporary machine shop

Today we traveled 45 nautical miles (52 statute miles) from Carolina Beach to our first anchorage since we started this final segment of the trip.  Actually this is our first overnight anchorage since we purchased Make Me Smile two years ago.  Another milestone for us.  We are in Mile Hammock Bay - Camp Lejeune for the night.  The reason we stopped here is because about 5 miles ahead is the Onslow Beach Bridge which is being replaced and has restricted opening times.  The reported opening times are before 8am, between 12-1pm and after 5pm.  In the picture below, the red dot shows our anchorage and the yellow circle is the Onslow Beach Bridge.  Later this evening a call will be placed to the bridge tender to confirm openings for tomorrow.  We hope to be through before 8am.

The red dot is where we are anchored. 
The yellow circle is the Onslow Beach bridge with a limited opening schedule.

Other boats anchored with us in Mile Hammock Bay - Camp Lejeune

Once we successfully pass through the Onslow Beach bridge tomorrow we will be on our way to Morehead City where we plan to stay through Monday. 

On the Hard

After hitting the submerged obstacle on April Fools' Day, we are on the hard, but overall have all good news to report.  We were able to arrange for a haul out mid-day yesterday right here at Carolina Beach.  As expected, we have a bent prop blade.  The prop is already at the prop shop for repair and we are optimistic we'll have it back today.   What was not expected is the port side strut is also bent.  The good news is the yard believes they can heat it and bend it back without removing the shaft and strut.  Bert will likely need to re-align the port engine after this work is complete.

Make Me Smile - on the hard

Bent prop blade on the port side

Prop removal so it can be sent out for repair

There wasn't much we could do while the boat was being blocked in the yard so we took advantage of the time to go for a run / skateboard tour of the area.  We routed a trip over to the ocean at Carolina Beach.  Carolina Beach is a very nice area and we are fortunate to be on the hard here.  Lots of things for tourists to do.  After we complete the Great Loop, this is a place for us to return to in the future, maybe with an RV.  The area of the beach near what used to be Carolina Beach Pier is closed, but there is a park farther up where the beach is open.

What's left of the Closed Carolina Beach Pier

Carolina Beach Pier area
Lots of huge boulders have been brought in to provide a barrier.

Farther up Carolina Beach is open
4 wheel drive vehicles are allowed park on the beach.

After spending some time seeing the area, we came back to the boat to start boat projects.  As long as we are on the hard, we decided to make full use of the time we are here and the remaining daylight.  Hilary started by buffing out the cosmetic paint scrapes after our collision in Jacksonville.  We have color matched automotive paint for the hull that requires a mixing ratio of 8:1.  The painting went very well and the damage is repaired but it turns out a red solo cup is not a suitable mixing vessel for automotive paint.  Who knew that 9 teaspoons of paint could make such a mess!!!!!

The bottom fell out of the red solo cup, along with 9 teaspoons of blue hull paint.

The ladder didn't clean up too well, but rubbing alcohol and about 20 minutes of scrubbing got Hilary cleaned up.  Glad to not have a blue foot all summer.

Hilary is in need of a new pair of flip flops as there was no saving this one.

Before Repair

Before Repair

After Repair - Good as New!

Bert was able to put more caulk on the new thru-hull fitting we installed right before we started the trip as it had a very small leak.  Today we have more projects planned in combination with getting out to see the area some more and enjoy our time in Carolina Beach.  

The marina and boat yard both knew of the submerged obstruction we hit and encouraged us to file a report with the North Carolina sector of the US Coast Guard which we have completed.  Our understanding is the more reports the USCG receives, this increases the likelihood of them marking and/or removing the obstruction so other boater's don't sustain damage. 

Should we stop traveling on Holidays?

St. Patrick's Day and April Fool's Day are not traditional holiday's but we are considering stopping travel on such days as those days are seeming to be the days we struggle.  You'll recall St. Patrick's Day was a tough day for us with a soft grounding among other things.  April Fool's Day was not near as challenging, but we did not get through the day without an inconvenience.  More on that later.  The good news is we ended the day as planned, tucked away in Carolina Beach Harbor on a mooring ball.  We are protected on all four sides and got to enjoy a sunset on the bridge after the day's events.

Sunset View - Carolina Beach Harbor

Carolina Beach Harbor - very protected mooring field

Mooring Ball with a "saucer" on top to hold the mooring pendant.
This "saucer" keeps the pendant out of the water and keeps it nice.  
Upon departure, the expectation is to put the pendant back in the "saucer".
This is the first one of these we've seen. 
Most often the pendant is floating in the water and pretty nasty to handle.
Hilary always wears gloves when attaching to a mooring ball.

Backing up a bit, our two night stay in Georgetown was satisfactory.  As expected, rain came through on Sunday morning, but was of no inconvenience to us.  In the afternoon Hilary was able to go for a 10K run and Bert joined on his electric skateboard.  We were able to complete all errands on the route we mapped out (Harbor Freight, Walgreens and Wal-Mart).  Once the groceries were put away, we headed out on foot for the 1.5 mile walk to the Georgetown Boardwalk where we relaxed for a bit listening to live music and enjoying some nachos.  The homes and flowering bushes all along the routes were just stunning.  Many homes built in the 1890's or very early 1900's.  We also came across a place with a ton of jeeps.  For those unaware, Bert knows quite a bit about jeeps.  This particular jeep is unique as the grill is not  traditional.  This particular type of jeep was used on aircraft carriers, a CJ 10.

CJ 10 Jeep

Enjoying some time off the Boat in Georgetown, SC

Flowering bushes are everywhere in this part of the country.

On Monday, we had a long, uneventful and peaceful 60 nautical mile (9 hour) journey to Ocean Isle Marina just into North Carolina.  We left early and arrived just before 4pm closing time and were able to get off the boat for a quick 5K run / skateboard ride.  Monday night a line of heavy thunderstorms came through but the worst was over in about 15 minutes.  We have been very fortunate to avoid traveling in the rain so far.

Yesterday was a shorter day at 36 nautical miles (4.5 hours).  The day started great.  A walk for Hilary, a chance to sleep in a bit for Bert, nice breakfast, etc.  We were underway shortly after 11:00am.  Each day we seem to get stretches of the river when we are running with the tide/current and stretches when we are running against the tide/current.  Our typical cruising speed is about 9mph.  Yesterday in the Cape Fear area, we encountered a very strong current against us dropping our speed to under 4mph.  The outgoing tide against us was impressive to say the least as you can see it rushing past the green buoy below.  As we've written before, what is it with these names?  Does a river really need to be called Cape Fear????

Strong current pushing against us as we headed up Cape Fear river.

Speed dropped to 3.5mph due to current against us.
An hour earlier we were cruising along over 10mph.

Now we get to the April Fool's Day part, and this is NOT an April Fool's joke as we would never joke about prop damage. We were just getting some speed back and preparing to head into Snow's Cut and were about 4-5 miles from our destination when BOOM!, we hit something submerged.  We hit hard.  We were in the channel, exactly where we were supposed to be, it was a falling tide, but it was not low tide and we had plenty of water under us.  We know from other boaters that these things do happen.  We had been warned of a log/tree in the area the day prior and were on the lookout.  Near as we can tell, it is a submerged tree/log or section of dock that, has not sunk to the bottom yet.  Immediately we felt the shudder on the port side.  Uugh!  

The last few miles we traveled with just the starboard engine, through some pretty sketching shoaling.  Once we got on the mooring ball, we immediately started calling around to see where in the area we can get a short haul, but it was exactly 5pm and everything was closed.  Bert got out his mask, put on his bathing suit and dove the boat (in 66 degree water) to do a visual inspection and indeed, one of the blades on the port side is bent, badly. 

This morning at 8am, we'll start calling to see if we can get a short haul and what it will take to repair/replace the prop, or props, so we can get moving once again.  One of our friends we were talking to on the phone put it in perspective, in that this is the boater's equivalent of a flat tire.  So true.

So......we are safe and we are grateful we were close to our destination for the day when it happened.  But you can also see why we think we should stop traveling via boat on holidays.   

We can use everyone's positive thoughts that we can locate a lift nearby that can accommodate us for a short haul today and we can get prop repaired/replaced, hopefully this morning.  We have a lead on the short haul, which is the first step, so we are very hopeful.