Integrity Cruise

Day 287 - To Marathon Boatyard in Marathon, FL

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Day 287 Tuesday, February 7th: We had an appointed time of 8:30am to have Integrity hauled out so we were up early making last-minute preparations. We arrived at the TraveLift site at 8:15am and were told to tie off to the seawall while the lift operator finished another job. We did so and unloaded all our gear.

About 9:15am. the lift operator showed up and we pulled Integrity into the slings. The operator began lifting:

As soon as we were clear of the water they placed a gangplank so we could get off the boat. Ruth was taking pictures like crazy. Here is Integrity high and dripping with a port list. That thing hanging down is a piece of the sling. You can see the grate over the bow thruster at the front of the boat. That's about when the lift operator confided he had never operated that lift before!

Of course Bill headed for the thruster and peered into the tunnel. What he saw was heartening! It was a bundle of rope wrapped around the prop:

That uneven black stuff was an 18" piece of crab pot polypropylene line that had gotten sucked into the prop.

A little further inspection revealed this:

That's another, bigger piece of the same stuff. The lines had apparently drifted into the marina in Key West just before we pulled in. Since we were at the "foot" of the basin, they blew down and were lurking just below the surface as we were trying to dock the boat. We had no idea the main prop had a problem, but the 220 hp engine overcame it handily.

The rope from the thruster looked like this after a few seconds of unwinding:

And the piece from the main prop looked like this:

The thruster is all clear now!

We got a ladder and Bill climbed up and tested the thruster. She ran like a new one!

The protective zinc on the main shaft was missing, so the yard replaced it. We also noted that the many shallow spots we had plowed through over the last ten months had polished both the marine growth and paint off the tip of the keel:

Everything seemed OK, and we lifted and "splashed" Integrity:

We pulled back to the seawall and reloaded our gear. Bill went to pay for the lift and zinc, etc./s We were relieved we didn't have to stay in the yard while waiting for parts or a new thruster to be air shipped.

We took Integrity back to Faro Blanco Marina and tied her up in the same spot we had been in three hours earlier. Then Ruth went shopping for groceries and Bill changed the main engine seawater impeller (routine maintenance item).

For supper, Larry and Wynn (WyLaWay) joined us at the "Chiki-Tiki Bar and Grill" to celebrate our relatively good luck of the day.

We were treated to one of the better Keys sunsets tonight:

We slept like logs!

Position tonight: N24 42.207 W081 06.490

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