Another Day Under Our Belt!

More positives today than negatives.  First, they finally got JonNe' out of the water and on the hard!  As she came out of the water, there it was, the prop and prop shaft!!  It was caught on the Rudder Skeg and hadn't completely exited the boat.  The Boat Yard Manager, Tony, told me he really liked that safety factor.  We both laughed as we realized we will not be here as long as we feared.  Marathon Boat Yard asked Tony to take photos of the prop and propshaft as they believe we hit something and therefore not their responsiblity for paying to fix it or even fixing it.  Tony inspected them once the boat was firmly on deck and commented that in his professional opinion, there is NO damage caused by external influences.  So he sent the photos to Marathon and talked with the owner.  Tony's comment to him was basically "Man up, they just paid you $24,000 for a new engine and labor, just fix this and get over it".  We like that attitude!

So we are here in the Marriott for the weekend - nothing gets done in a boat yard over the weekend.  We will ask that a new prop shaft and cutless bearing be installed before we take possession of the boat again.  Monday we will know more.

While the prop shaft is out, I went ahead and changed out the Smart Switch on the bilge pump (sits down in the bilge and is very difficult to get to with the prop shaft in place) - had to go to West Marine to buy some new electrical connections to complete the project - and ordered a new bilge monitor to install on Monday afternoon.  With that, we will be comfortable in the knowledge the bilge pump will continue to work correctly.

For right now, we are safe and sound and will re-evaluate when we will leave this coming Monday or Tuesday.  In the meantime, meet us in Coconut Grove tonite for sundowners - we will buy the first round in celebration!  We miss you all, and thanks for being there with us!