Shaft couplings

No, I’m not referring to some pornographic movie.

The shaft coupling is a device used on the boat to connect the propeller shaft to the transmission at the back of the engine. Ours failed yesterday and sheared off the bolts holding everything together. Peter Jacobs, the captain who is accompanying me, is now officially to be referred to as Peter the Great. He has managed to remove the damaged shaft coupling, find the model number, determine that it was the wrong size/strength for this engine and gear arrangement, have the mechanics order us a new and stronger model for delivery tomorrow, and arrange for them to come down tomorrow to install it.

It is not a permanent fix, because something even stronger is needed if the boat is ever run with the throttle wide open, but this is the quickest way to get us moving again and should hold up in normal operation to get the boat to Mobile.

So now, best case, we fix the boat tomorrow, travel overnight to Chicago and arrive there Wednesday morning. At that point, Peter the Great could go back home and Deckhand Jaames can join me for the next leg.

Onward!