Mandalay Marina

We got up at 5am to catch high tide at 6:11am. We set all the dock lines and put fendors out, made the coffee and set out with 6 ft of water beneath the keel, E bound around the shallows. We then turned N into Rock Harbor, and found the channel buoys by flashlight as dawn was just starting. The water depth dropped immediately to 4ft, then to 3ft below the keel. We passed the second buoy set, and saw 2-3 ft of water. Past the 3rd set, and we're in 1-2ft. Needless to say, we're going as slow as we can on one engine and maintain steerage. It got as low as 1.2 ft by the time we reached the piers, where we spun Ashling for a stern-entry. Fortunately, we saw no less that 0.9 ft as we spun! We tied to the pier and finished coffee, waiting for the lift crew to show up.
About 7:15, we got started. This is a very big lift, able to lift beams of 27.5 ft and long boats; the straps can be more than 25 ft apart. Up and over, not a problem. We spent too much time finding proper boards to level her up, but in the end we were blocked.
I sprang into action on the propellors, and had them both off and the prop shafts out by 1:30pm. But the goodness didn't last, as I found we needed a part for the props that we don't have in our spares. Ok, we'll have to stay another night.

I had to pull the prop shaft seal sleeves, a replaceable part. Not not easily! The dealer said blithely, "It will slip right off if you heat it up." Not. I had to walk over to Advance Auto to borrow their gear puller. That got one of the sleeves, but the other was quite stuck. I had passed a marine service shop, so I ducked in and asked to use their vise. They were wary (liability is ever the issue), but in the end offered up their hydraulic press and a half-moon clamp. That took care of business very quickly! A 1.5 mile walk had turned into a 3 mile walk in the 88F sun of mid-afternoon.

Today, Tuesday, I put in the new seals and reassembled the saildrives and propellors (after the new parts arrived). Before that, we broke out the sander and prepped bad patches on the hull for new paint. Alexis painted the saildrives. We didn't have time to paint the props, but maybe tomorrow before we splash.Read more