Propeller has seen better days

[Godot]

I finally hauled the boat for the first time in maybe 5 years. The very heavy coat of single season ablative actually kept the bottom reasonably clean the whole time here in the northern Chesapeake. A few barnacles here and there and towards the end a little slime which wiped off easily. However, not hauling meant I have not been keeping up on the zinc replacement. I think that is what caused this lovely degradation... Ouch. I can actually break pieces off with two fingers.

I'm going to try and get to a prop shop this week. I'm sure this will be a dollar or two.

[Frank]

Ouch....
They ain't cheap....
Hopefully not too bad $$

[Frank]

Any update Adam?
Rebuildable?
New?
Found a used?
Hopefully it wasn't too much...

[Bob J]

I've never seen a prop like that.
Could be caused by stray current corrosion. If you keep her at a marina, don't plug her in.
Course I've never had a boat in the water for 5 years without a haul so got no idea what to expect.

[Godot]

Not rebuildable. It is brittle and has lost significant diameter as well as the chips knocked out of it. And it is for a planing boat, so isn't really a sailboat prop to begin with. The speculation is that a previous owner has replaced it at some point.

I am having another built at Miller Island Props. It will cost a princely $860 and take four weeks.

The boat lives at a marina and since it was in the murky Chesapeake waters for so long I was negligent in keeping the zinc replaced. I'm fairly certain this is the cause of the deterioration and is a mistake I won't make again. I do have a galvanic isolator installed, so I suspect if there is any stray current it came from another boat. Or the bubblers running in the winter. A bronze prop on a stainless shaft without a zinc would end up eating the prop I'm told, so simple dissimilar metal corrosion I guess could be the cause. I will be checking all the bronze thru-hulls carefully.

Poor Seeker has been badly neglected, I'm afraid. She still got used a little the past few years; but not as much as she used to. I'm hoping to get her all fixed up over the next year. If I can get the courage to retire this coming September (the numbers look good; but an extended stock market crash could wreck me) I expect Seeker is going to get a lot more use than she has since I bought the new house. She is due to have some miles put under her keel.

[Frank]

Actually, pulling the trigger to retire is quite scary.
It's literally a paradigm shift in your reality!
I don't know anyone who has done it and regretted it...
Most say, they wish they did it sooner..
Have you thought about GICs once you retire?
At least it's guaranteed.....

A friend of mine used to say:
This isn't a dress rehearsal, this is the final act

Time truly is your most precious commodity...

[Bob J]

Problem with waiting to retire, takes one at least a year to decompress. That was my experience anyway. After not working for 5 years I couldn't just sit around this winter so picked up a part time job delivering auto parts. I need to get my boat down south so I never have to haul her for winter again.

[Godot]

Have you thought about GICs once you retire?
At least it's guaranteed.....

What's a GIC?

[Godot]

Problem with waiting to retire, takes one at least a year to decompress. That was my experience anyway. After not working for 5 years I couldn't just sit around this winter so picked up a part time job delivering auto parts. I need to get my boat down south so I never have to haul her for winter again.

That sounds like a reason to retire as soon as possible.

I was convinced I was going to leave this coming September. Now that it is only seven months away I am getting cold feet. Scary change.

[Bob J]

I think change is a bit scary for all of us. Hopefully you won't regret retiring. Best part is if you don't like it you can always go back to work...

[wolverine]

"JUST DO IT".

My plan was to retire at 67. That would have given me 27 years of service and I could draw the maximum SS. Things at work were turning ugly, I got my numbers and decided it was doable, so 2 weeks later I retired. It was unnerving the first 6 months. I had been working since I was 12, but then covid hit and I was glad to be home and not inside that state correctional facility with 2600 infected inmates. That was 7 years ago and now, although my pension is less, I don't regret it. Time is everything.