On Thursday morning, August 18, Brio finally received the attention she sought a week earlier when she lost a blade on one of her four propellers. She had to break her watery bonds and rise into the air. Then she advanced onto hard ground (nicknamed "the hard" by boaters) so the work could progress. When all this was done, she was "splashed", another boater term, and she reentered her watery domain. All of this is shown below.
Step one is to drive the boat into the cove where the Travellift can lower its slings around the boat. Once the slings are positioned correctly so the boat can be lifted up without damaging any of the underwater devices on the boat, the Travellift begins to tighten the slings and eventually the boat begins to "magically" rise out of the water.
Above, the slings are adjusted. Below, the "magic" happens. Notice the Travellift operator below for a sense of scale.
Next comes the "surgery." The problem is with one of the two props, those gold-colored "flowers" under the stern, or back of the boat. They'll work on the left, or port, props.
Here's the break where one of the 5 blades is missing (and now lying at the bottom of the Bay of Fundy).
It appears that there was a fracture in the blade before and it finally broke while we were motoring up the Bay of Fundy.
Here's the new 5-blade prop, on the ground. It's not coated. That'll be done next winter when she's in a heated shed back in Massachusetts.
First, off comes the old, coated props.
Then the new props go on. That's Geoddie, "the prop guy." Off with the old ...
And, below, on with the new.
That's a good-sized socket for the wrench!
Above, you can see the "duoprop" of two props.
Attaching the new props requires some real grease and some elbow grease.
Here's one of the masterminds, Geoddie Ring. He's third generation propeller expert, born and raised next door to the Yacht Club. He loaned us his pick-up several times so we could go food shopping. Very generous fellow.
Now Brio heads back to the water.
And back she goes into the water with brand new props.
We tested her after we backed her out of the haul-out cove. She just took off the way she always has now that she has all her props working for her. What a pleasure! Now she's ready for Friday's trip down the Reversing Falls and then off across the Bay of Fundy to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.
Our deep gratitude to Ryan DeCosta of Burrs, Charlie Murphy of Murphy & Sons, and the many workmen of the Royal Kennebeccasis Yacht Club, including Scott, the foreman, and Geoddie Ring of Brothers Cove Ventures.
Cheers,
Brio
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