Hello friends and family!
I wish I had better news, but first let me bring you up to speed on the events of yesterday before the plan moving forward.
I was finishing up on the St Clair River, just about to enter Lake Huron when Neverland suddenly just stopped moving forward. The engine revved but I wasn’t moving, so I knew something was slipping. I brought the engine down to an idle and tried to shift from forward, reverse, neutral..but nothing. I began drifting helplessly down the river. All I could think about was getting squashed by one of the huge cargo ships. I started drifting toward the US side and ended up near the bank with an artificial reef of poles below me. I called TowBoat and lucky for me, they were only 10 minutes away! Good thing because the Paul R. Tregurtha came steaming by a few minutes later.
The TowBoat captain was unsure how to desnaggle me from the reef. Ultimately, he convinced me to jump out on the bank and try to push the bow out. So I jumped out and was able to push the bow out. Problem was I was then unable to jump back onboard! The TowBoat captain yelled for me to just follow the bank until I got to the marina. So as I slogged soaking wet up the road, I could see Neverland under tow just below me. Lucky for me the marina was only a mile away.
Safely at the marina, we started assessing the situation. I was worried about any damage that might have occurred on the reef, but we don’t seem to be taking on water, so all is good there.
The marina’s chief mechanic (Pete) met me and we became fast friends. We tested everything and he determined that the transmission is shot. It simply wore out.
Crazy enough, I have a spare transmission on board! This morning, Pete was going to place the spare transmission on a dyno and run it to see if it was an option or not. However the marina is very popular and VERY busy, and I waited for most of the morning, getting some cleaning and laundry done. They had several boats come in that were taking on water, and that takes priority over anything else.
This afternoon, it became apparent that there was really no chance of a quick repair. Pete wants to take both transmissions and rebuild into a new bulletproof one, but they are in the middle of winterizing boats, their busiest time of year. And if parts are needed, there is a very long wait, as it is difficult to get transmission parts for a 50 year old boat. All that to say, they are four weeks out from starting on my boat, and so I’ve made the decision to have her pulled from the water.
I honestly could not be more blessed. These folks have been outstanding, and I can’t imagine a better place for Neverland to camp out.
Over the next couple of months, I’ll have time to do some much needed upgrades and paint. I’m actually looking forward to getting these things done. My initial plan was to drag Neverland to Chattanooga however I could get her there and then do all the updates. Now, I’m shifting gears and doing everything up here to make the last 15 days to Chattanooga enjoyable.
I need to:
Fix the autopilot
Paint the hull and cabin topside
Redo all the exterior teak
Fix the floor in the aft cabin where the recent repairs were done
Fix leak in turtle hatch covering the aft cabin
I know you guys may be wondering with the issues I’ve had lately if I have any regrets. Absolutely not. Even with her disabled at the moment, I worked on the boat today getting things ready for winter. I had Jimmy Buffett music blasting and a cold beer at hand. I felt incredibly fortunate. I have had a wonderful adventure so far, and met some INCREDIBLE people. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.