Ouch!!!!

That really did hurt. My last blog talked about the Class II rapids and incredible debris at Locks , 9, 10, and 11. I knew we had some type of tree stick in the port props. I had to reverse the engine to kick it out. Then for the rest of the day, I could tell there was a vibration and noise that was not the same.

Well, look what damage it can do. We limped into Winter Harbor Marina in Brewerton NY, who had a 70 ton lift and an excellent mechanical staff. They pulled the boat within a half hour of arriving and you can see what we found. The log had knocked our strut over one inch, which the drive shaft runs through. That pulled the whole drive shaft over which ruined the cutlass bearings. Plus the props on both sides were pretty beat up.

So we are setting on the hard, and using this time to clean the boat, paint the bottom, and get some other stuff done on the boat that we needed. But it is hard to sit, when we feel like the clock is ticking on getting into Canada, then on to Lake Michigan before the inland hurricane's hit.

It will take another couple of days to get the props back, so we rented a car today to go exploring parts of New York that I have never seen. We are headed to Niagara Falls for a night, then back to the Finger Lakes of central NY. There are tons of winerys and bed and breakfasts to stay at, so we thought we would consume our next two nights with sight-seeing.

I will post another story, because it is not fair to the Erie Canal for the sudden rain that hit us and caused such turmoil. Once we were past the creeks that were flooding into the Mohawk River, it really is a beautiful piece of engineering. So stayed tuned. Marc