Thank You Dennis !!!

Dennis of S/V Celebration working on our starboard saildrive.


I don't know of any boat owner that likes to have their boat hauled out and do work in the boat yard. Dealing with the known issues is not fun, but there is always the dread of the unknown that you will find or accidentally break when you are doing something else that makes everyone dread the yard. It is a time feared by most of us.

Our biggest unknown and fear for this haul out was to replace the seals on the starboard saildrive. We knew the seals were leaking because we had water in the starboard sail drive oil. If you will remember on our first cruise, the port sail drive was leaking. We stopped at St Augustine Marine to get it fixed. They not only did not fix it, but broke the upper housing of the sail drive. Do NOT ever go to St Augustine Marine !!! We can highly recommend Helseth Marine Services in Vero Beach, Florida, who fixed our port sail drive, however we could not find anyone in NC who came highly recommended to work on our sail drive. So that left this task up to us.

Wayne was having nightmares about the problems he could run into while replacing the seals and did not feel comfortable taking this on alone. We are very fortunate to have some very talented and knowledgeable friends. Dennis, on S/V Celebration, is one of those friends. Although his expertise is not saildrives he knows how to work on engines and machines. He agreed to help us.

Dennis and Wayne studied and planned prior to the haul out to determine what needed to be done. Saturday it was time to replace the seals. After taking everything apart, they determined that the shaft would also need to be replaced...it's a boat so you expect problems. Luckily we were prepared and had all of the necessary parts. It was a long, all day project, but it was successfully completed. I wish that I had had a video camera to record the smiles on their faces, the high fives and the "happy dance" they did when everything finally came together! Thank you Dennis we could not have done it without you!!!

Len and Bev from S/V Louie Louie joined Dennis, Wayne and I for a bon voyage dinner in Beaufort.

There are still tasks to complete while we are here in the yard but the major one is behind us. So the rest of our time in the yard may not be so bad and we will be ready to go when our new props arrive.