Not moving today... we did have a visitor knock on the boat this morning... Georgetown City Police visited... asked how long we had been at the dock and explained we were not suppose to be staying here for extended period... I explained the situation and that we were disabled and unable to move. I told him that we had the required part ordered and waiting for it to arrive... he said I should visit City Hall and explain our situation and that he was sure they city would work something out with us.

After breakfast I headed to City Hall... was told it was two blocks away... two blocks was more like 10 blocks but an easy walk... :) I explained our situation to a lady in the administration office and she left and talked to someone... not sure who but came back with... No problem for us to stay at the dock until we could get the boat fixed... and that they would let the Police department know it was ok... also that we could stay on the dock at no charge... FREE!

We made arrangements with a bar and grill... Buzz' Roost to have our part shipped to them... they were more than happy to do this for us... even gave us a 10% discount for eating there... they were super nice!

So we have the part ordered and being shipped overnight to us on Thursday... it should arrive to us on Friday and depending on the time it arrives Friday... we'll be back underway Saturday or Sunday.

Trip totals to date:

Distance: 946.11 nautical miles
Hours: 151 hours 26 minutes
Avg Spd: 6.25 knots
Days not moving: 5

Not moving today... sitting in Georgetown, SC due to the shaft coupling issue that we discovered yesterday... update on this issue is... the company that makes the couplings makes them per order... so you place and order they make and ship it... soonest one will be available to ship will be Thursday the 17th... hopefully it can be shipped overnight to our location so it will arrive to us on Friday and repaired on Saturday and be back underway on Sunday... kills our goals of making it back to Florida for Thanksgiving but it is what it is.

Option 2... continue ahead on one engine... slower and tougher to maneuver the boat but we would be making progress... still would not make it back to Florida by Thanksgiving as it would take us longer due to the slower speed and traveling with one engine does pose a safety issue... a lot of places ahead of that have some strong currents... Georgia has water depth issues and take the chance of damaging our one good engine's running gear... actually the port engine has a bad wheel (propeller) from the steel rebar that we picked up in the Delaware Bay... weighing al of these issues makes option 2 not a real good choice.

So, for now we are sitting in Georgetown. SC till we can get the new coupling and installed.

Trip totals to date:

Distance: 946.11 nautical miles
Hours: 151 hours 26 minutes
Avg Spd: 6.25 knots
Days not moving: 4

We departed from Bucksport Marina at 0845 hours and headed south on the Waccamaw River... the current was against us and we were only able to make 4.9 to 5.2 knots... not bad since we only planned to go to Georgetown, SC today and the Waccamaw River is awesome! It was glass smooth and the trees lining each bank were mirrored in the water... absolutely gorgeous!

Very little to boat traffic... did see a couple of boats pass us heading south while we were still at the docks.

As we departed I had to turn the boat 180 degrees as we had docked facing north due to the current... I put the starboard engines in gear and a heard a tapping noise for maybe 10 seconds and then it stopped... assumed a branch had gotten tangle in the propeller during the night with the current... there was a lot of debris floating in the river.

We arrived in Georgetown, SC and docked as the Georgetown Public Docks... while docking I noticed that I was not getting any help from the starboard engine... as if it was not even in gear... made it the dock ok but when I was helping Susan with the stern lines I noticed that there was no prop wash coming from the starboard engine... after getting fully secured to the dock I went to the engine room to check things out... I found that the shaft would spin freely inside the coupling... well actually there are two parts to the shaft coupling... a smaller portion that the shaft connects to and then a larger diameter section that the transmission connects to... it is a Federal Flex Coupling... the large diameter section is mounted to the smaller section with four bolts that are rubber shock mounted... the design is suppose to absorb vibration and also allow for slight misalignment of the shaft to the engine... the four bolts had evidently vibrated loose and with the centrifugal force of the coupling spinning had backed themselves totally out of the smaller section... this was allowing the two sections to spin freely of each other... no connection... so, the noise I had heard for a few seconds as we left the dock... was actually the last bolt or bolts coming loose and spinning around the small section of the coupling... if you want to see the construction of this coupling you can view it at...

http://www.gpcprop.com/pdf07/Federal%20Flexible%20Couplings.pdf

The coupling is what I would call brand new... it was installed as "new" November of 2010... just a year ago... so will call the yard in the morning and check on any kind of warranty... the bolts that came loose are a factory assembly... should be covered by some type of warranty I would think... ???

Thinking about today's speed and what happened with the coupling... we were probably going so slow because we were basically running on one engine all day... wish I had a speed through the water indicator... it would of let me know... :(

Anyway, we were secure to the docks at 1330 hours... we traveled today for 4 hours and 45 minutes covering 24.55 nautical miles and averaging 5.17 knots.

Trip totals to date:

Distance: 946.11 nautical miles
Hours: 151 hours 26 minutes
Avg Spd: 6.25 knots
Days not moving: 3