Dead In The Water

So we were on our way to the 2008 Spring Cal Boat Owners Puget Sound Rendezvous and as we entered the Edmonds Marina we had to pause a

second while another boat came out through the opening in the breakwater.  After they had passed, we engaged forward gear and suddenly we had high vibration and no forward thrust.  Well it turned out we had a small amount of thrust but it was essentially useless.

Luckily the guest moorage in Edmonds is just inside the breakwater and easy to coast into…  So we made very slow progress into the slip and tied up.

Today I went below and checked out the scene and the above photo is what I saw.  The flex coupling is shredded into to pieces so the propeller is completely separated from the transmission.  This photo also explains the vibration and burning rubber smell.

Unfortunately, I’m worried about the chances of finding a replacement coupling this weekend and so far our attempts to remove the broken one have yielded several trips to the store for tools.

Luckily Edmonds is actually closer to home than our home port of Everett so leaving it here isn’t necessarily the worst thing.