Wow I thought I was hard with equipment!

BellevilleMXZ

Noticed the last few weeks at my Marina, probably a half dozen large (30-55ft) boats on the hard with major drive/prop damage. One 30ish foot Regal from out of town had both duoprops units ripped right off. Today while gassing, was talking to the mgr., and mentioned a 54 footer that looked to docked in a weird spot. He said they were still waiting on some parts......asked what was wrong, he said he hit some rocks hard also, .......ins. bill is 160k........props, shafts, both vdrives.....even tore the cat diesels off their mounts. Crazy.....I felt like such a moron when I banged up my props last years, I guess its more common than I think!

Michael T

@BMXZ, ....and the water levels are really low this summer. A LOT of boaters have damaged drives - not just the odd damaged prop!

chamberb

We are down 3 feet this summer, cannot be too careful!!

Black_Diamond

Wow. Lake Mich / Huron are up 4' in the last 3 years. 

MDboater

BellevilleMXZ said:

......One 30ish foot Regal from out of town had both duoprops units ripped right off. 

That's one way to address the composite drive problem.

TonyWalker

When we were cruising the Trent-Severn, the link shown below connects you to the "go to prop repair shop."  They have a captive lucrative market.  I mention it only because they do an absurd amount of prop straightening and replacement business.  The Trent-Severn is a narrow but well marked system of winding canals and channels walled off by massive rock formations some of which are lurking just below the surface.  There was no point in being adventurous and going faster than trawler speed as this would be strictly a losers game.  You would for sure wind up in the "prop shop."

http://www.buckhornyachtharbour.com/prop_repair.html

Dream_Inn

Tony, did you somehow get your boat up in there?  Is there a cut there from Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay?

TonyWalker

Yes,  via the Trent-Severn Waterway.  It is an assortment of man made canals connecting a variety of lakes to form the route.  Starts at Trenton on Lake Ontario and ends at Port Severn on Georgian Bay.  A beautiful tour thru the countryside of southern Ontario.

TonyWalker

I think it took us about 10 days to do the trip thru there.  I wish it could have been for a longer time.  It was the 10 day highlight of our loop trip.

Michael T

....and now 35% on your dollar!!!!!

Dream_Inn

Looks pretty cool!  So, did you skip Lake Erie then? 

TonyWalker

We did Lake Erie going from Lake Huron to Detroit and then into Lake Erie.  We spent a bunch of time and the south end of the Detroit River where I grew up.  We visited Put-in-Bay for a week during that portion of the trip.  This was a memory visit since my folks boated when I was young and we went to PIB practically every week end from the down river Detroit area. 

TonyWalker

As a youngster, my family had a 38 foot double cabin 1936 Mathews.  At her cruise speed of 8 miles an hour it took 5 hours to cross the western basin of the lake over to PIB.  I thought we were the reincarnation of Christopher Columbus making that voyage.  We did that trip aboard the Salt Shaker in about an hour and a half.

Dream_Inn

Great memories Tony!  I've got plenty of smaller lake boating in Ohio as well growing up.  You gonna make a plan to loop again??  If so, you need to make sure to stop in so we can meet up again in Annapolis!

TonyWalker

And then we got a different boat, a 46 foot 1948 Chris Craft Corsair (Think the model name was Corsair) in 1950.  This boat was the cat's meow.

 

On one PIB trip we got suckered in to a day of huge Lake Erie Seas.  Once my dad realized the waves were only getting bigger, he decided it was easier to continue rather than to turn back.  We did tack a couple of times to ensure the entrance to PIB would line up with the heading we were able to maintain.  We were the only arrival at the bay that day.

 

We were asked many questions about our trip from folks on the PIB docks.  These waves were the left overs from a very recent 3 day "blow."  My dad got the WX forecast by calling the Grosse Ile Navel base and asking.  They said no issues--but that meant no issues for airplanes.   We estimated the waves at 12 feet, the official wave heights were 15 feet.  My brother was in the deck house down below the flying bridge and later told us that the starboard side of the boat would lay into the water on a severe roll and water would squirt in the key hole of the sliding deck house door.

 

My dad later wrote Chris Craft a letter describing the trip and how wonderful the boat performed and he would never say a bad word about the brand again etc, etc.  They replied, saying this was one of the few letters they received from an owner with any praise at all, let alone that much praise.

TonyWalker

Yes, a trip similar to our 2010 trip is on our bucket list.  If we get to pull it off, Annapolis and a visit with you and your family will be a must do.  Here I am, retired with a willing eager admiral and a capable boat and we still can not seem to get away for long trips.

Handymans342

Tony cant even make it 2 hours to the Cape!