It’s hot.

How hot is it?

Nah. Not going there. Let’s focus instead on what we’ve done while waiting to get the shaft.

---

We already admitted to seeking solace in ice cream shoppes and s-l-o-w-l-y perusing air-conditioned store aisles. Back at the yard, we watch the comings and goings. Like the day the crane arrived to remove the mast from our friend Bryan’s beautiful sailboat, Defiant.

---

Introducing, Sydney

Sydney is boat companion and service dog to our neighbor, Captain Tony, on Blind Faith, and she’s become the unofficial yard mascot.

---

Enjoying the View

While the scenery isn’t quite as pleasant as in the islands,

Speaking of LouLou’s, Holden Beach put on a spectacular fireworks show for July 4 from the restaurant parking lot behind us. Talk about a front row seat!

---

---

Chore Time

Naturally, we don’t just sit around taking in the view. We’ve also been doing chores.

Among other things,

---

There you have it, the highlights of our first few weeks in the yard (sans gross, sweat-soaked photos).

---

Our original cruising schedule had us arriving in Virginia mid-July for several important dates. With the ‘Mare laid up, we’d need to hit the highway. More on that in the next post.

Unlike our experience “walking the plank” to access the boat at the service yard last year, here we are completely out of the water, supported on blocks and stanchions, in the dirt (or “mud”, depending on the day). Which has led to questions as to what it’s like in our “deluxe apartment in the sky”? Ah, Mr. Jefferson, you had it so good!

In our case, to get on the boat, we have a sturdy set of steps with handrails. Nice! The top step is approximately two feet below the swim platform, so the process is to climb the steps to the top, grab the swim platform staples (thank goodness we have staples), plant one foot up on the swim platform, and hoist yourself up. Boatyard bonus: an upper body workout!

---

The view, while not picture postcard pretty, could be worse. At least it’s predominantly nautical.

---

As you can see in the photo of our steps, we have an extension cord to supply power, so we’re all set for some seriously nice glamping, right?

The problem with glamping aboard the SaltyMare? When we’re out of the water, sure, we have fresh water (330 gallons that can be refilled with two long hoses), and the waste tanks hold almost 100 gallons (need to be selective and use the yard’s bathroom). BUT! IT’S SUMMER and we have no air conditioning. That’s right, NO AC! Again, its summer! IN the sun. IN southern North Carolina. UGH, and muggy? Shoot, sorry no words. But we are seasoned island cruisers, right? No problem. We stuck it out for the first few days and nights… made it almost a week!

---

Whenever we ran errands, “someone” insisted we check every aisle in whatever store was involved. Yes, the AC is nice, but how many times can we look at every aisle in Food Lion or Costco without starting a game of bumper carts with the rest of the crowd?

---

…high humidity and AC… the beastie needs to drain, so in the morning, we had to come up with another plan if we wanted to continue this newly rediscovered joy of sleeping in comfort. (It only cools the bedroom. We don’t want to talk about the temperature in the rest of the boat.)

Where there’s a will, there’s a way, as they say. Other side of the room! Sorry, Honey! Into the head it goes, so it can drain into the shower pan. (Taking one head out of commission will necessitate more trips to the yard’s bathroom. But note the temp! Yeah!)

---

With the set-up “complete” (?) (that stand is a little sketchy), someone (okay, Susie) questioned the rain reaching and ruining our finely crafted cardboard/blue tape assemblies. Todd donned his first engineer hat and sprang into action.

---

Anyone else hearing Jeff Foxworthy? “You might be a red….” ha!

Silence is not always golden; not necessarily bad either, just complicated.

Our last post was quite some time ago, so we are starting to receive inquiries. Where are you? What’s happening? How’s the boat? When will you be moving again? Realizing we can only bury our heads in the sand for so long, here goes with “What’s up?”.

We arrived at Zimmerman Marine Holden Beach on June 22, anticipating (hoping for) a simple alignment issue. The initial trial run and subsequent alignment checks in the engine room showed we were aligned. No joy. That was not the cause of the vibration. Next step, we had to come out of the water for further diagnostics.

---

---

No simple causes were revealed. Which means we have to go deeper and pull the shaft, which requires a few steps. First, some work in the engine room on that end of the shaft, then off with the prop, and finally the rudder is in the way. To remove the rudder, back in the slings she went, to be lifted off the blocking so the team could continue.

---

Then the real disassembly began:

---

With her line cutters, prop, shoe, and rudder removed, it was time for the task of pulling the awkwardly long and heavy shaft, 2 3/4″ thick, 14 feet+ long, and about 300 pounds!

---

What a learning process, and once again we, and all parties involved, are impressed with the quality of a Selene. Not to mention, so far, the fellas have been gentle and precise with each piece and step. Thank you, Zimmerman Holden Beach!

So, do we have a cause? Weeeelllllllll….. it’s complicated…… Ha!

Briefly,

1. The heavy shaft and propeller spin to move the boat
2. The shaft needs to be sealed from water as it enters the boat to attach to the engine (We’ll replace the PSS seal for good measure)
3. The shaft is supposed to stay straight and needs to be supported – think wearable cylinders that hold the shaft in place/line but don’t rub too badly. They are called cutless bearings. We have two. The back one showed terrible wear; the front one, just normal wear.

The analysis from all involved, including the experienced gentleman at the machine shop – (not pictured but he’s an amazing 80, with 65 years doing this), is the problem is—– AGE of the shaft….

The consensus is that this is the original shaft. 18 years and more than 6000 hours of operation, sand/mud getting in the aft cutless, wearing on the shaft (it is weirdly worn), and the boat sometime in its life just sitting for an extended period (one section is badly pitted from corrosion). The shaft is still straight as an arrow but needs to be replaced.

Different stainless-steel alloys are available now, so we are upgrading the shaft along with the new cutlesses. Heck, even ordering a new line cutter! Our ‘Mare has been limping along on “bad shoes” doing her best and finally showed us the problem.

So, a new “blank” of Aqualoy 22 stainless steel will be shipped in and then machined into our new shaft.

Think “a week or so….”

In the end, as often happens in life, it’s complicated. And in this instance, it’s also HOT! What?

More on that later…

Did we say it rained as we arrived in McClellanville Monday? “Rain?” Nah, not just rain. Think toad-strangling DELUGE off and on through the night. Needless to say, we didn’t get to explore the charming town of McClellanville and check on its 1000+ year old oak tree that we saw two years ago.

Tuesday morning, with plenty of water under us, we tossed the lines to depart, only to have it begin to rain yet again.

---

A couple of hours later, as we turned into Winyah Bay, heading towards Georgetown, an incredible thing happened – the flies stopped their seemingly ceaseless attack! What? Hooraaaay! Fantastic!

Just north of Georgetown, we entered the Waccamaw River. The Waccamaw is a “blackwater” river, so called because the leaf debris leches tannins as it decomposes in the water, resulting in a dark brown tint. (Cue the Doobies, “Oh black water, keep on rollin’… ” Okay, it’s not the Mississippi but still…)

Instead of salt marsh grass there were beautiful trees – cypress, pine, oaks, etc. lining the waterway, and smooth silky water.

---

Gator Crossing

It was fun to discover that with the change in water, comes…gators!

---

Apparently the ICW runs right through a National Wildlife Refuge or conservation area or something similar – we saw all kinds of stuff besides gators!

We were headed for Osprey Marina. Bet you can guess what else we saw along the way. That’s right, plenty of Todd’s favorites, ospreys! And nests. In a sanctuary, wildlife has the run of the place!

---

Time went by as we oohed and aahed over the ospreys, tranquil river scenery and the trees. Susie does love her trees. Oh, and Todd his ospreys.

---

We spent a peaceful night at Osprey Marina in Myrtle Beach. Wednesday morning, we continued our trek north heading for the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club in Little River. That’s right, it didn’t make sense to us either!

Along the way, we were privileged to transit through two historic swing bridges, both built in 1935.

---

The peacefulness of the Waccamaw River slowly gave way to the Little River and Myrtle Beach “proper,” which means a return to civilization – more houses, condos, and touristy areas with the related boats and water toys. We made our way to the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club (technically in Little River. Oy vey!), the only marina in the area that had availability.

---

Thursday morning, we were off the dock early, aiming to arrive at Zimmerman Marine in Holden Beach, North Carolina during slack tide. Our timing in that regard was perfect, but par for this course this week, we docked in the pouring rain.

Why a service yard? The first mate noticed a vibration when the ‘Mare really starts to move. So, just like on a road trip, it’s time to see a mechanic for a precautionary check out by the pros.

And so, here we are, in line, awaiting service from the qualified tech…in the rain.

---

The day began with heavy fog, which slowly lifted to reveal a totally calm, reflective waterway.

The remainder of the five-hour cruise was beautiful, and we seemingly had the waterway to ourselves, allowing us to relax and enjoy the amazing views of this part of the low country of South Carolina.

---

Despite being a Sunday, we did see productive folks “working” the waterway. Just a bit of a reminder of why the thing was built in the first place.

---

The anchorage on Toogoodoo Creek was beautifully surrounded by marsh grass, and one wonders how a bird can remember where they fished before, as it seems to all look the same.

The downside to the marsh grass, at least this time of year, is Tabanus nigrovittatus, the greenhead or salt marsh fly. Or as we called them “those @$#%@ biting little $@#$@#!”

Luckily, upon anchoring we can close the upper hatch – all other openings have screens – before dispatching those $@#$@# that have entered the boat!

---

The scenery was lovely, and the $#@# flies were fierce! Armed with fly swatters, we twirled, whacked, hopped, smacked (sometimes each other), scratched, danced, and cursed! Yes, even Susie! All while watching the beautiful landscape, houses and some of the longest docks go by!

---

The attack let up some as we entered the traffic of Charleston Harbor. Goodness, their City Dock has to be the biggest around (no pictures, it’s too big! And we were still swatting the stowaways).

---

Exiting Charleston Harbor, we started through more of the real low country of SC. As far as the eye could see, marshland. And behind us? Yup, the “front/system/whatever” was gaining, and given our pace, most likely going to catch us. You know, ominous clouds, change in the air, and weird feel on the hair on your arms. We tried to outrun the storm. Ha! Remember, “we plan, God laughs!”

We pushed the ‘Mare into a gallop trying to get docked in McClellanville before the storm caught us. In the end, we are immensely thankful to the nice young woman at Leland Oil (marina) who came out in a blowing deluge to catch lines and help us tie up to the dock. We were all soaked through.

Next time we should use Todd’s underwater camera to capture the event!