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.

[Frank]

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

What's a GIC?

Adam, I sent a PM

[Frank]

I saw this today and found it extremely poignant...
One of my favourite old songs explained.....
Don't give up on retirement or boating adventure

https://fb.watch/FdMWRqeSaZ/?fs=e

Kinda goes along with this passage from wanderer...
I had it framed on my desk before retiring to keep it on my mind..

 "I've always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of "security." And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.

Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life? "
― Sterling Hayden, Wanderer

[Godot]

There are strategic questions regarding when to retire. A few months can make a real difference.  So...airing my financial laundry...

For the past several years I've been working for the US Government. My libertarian nature automatically rebelled against this, but it seems the universe wanted me here. Sometimes sequences of events conspire to place one in unexpected situations. As they say, "Man plans, God laughs."

In September I will just qualify for the MRA+10 pension (Minimum Retirement Age+ten years service, counting my military time) which will cover FEHB (Federal Employee Health Benefit), which I'll be able to keep, for me and my wife, and allow a few dollars of pocket change on top. Health insurance is a big concern for early retirees, and that is a big stressor I don't have to worry about.

I'm a long way from social security. I will be too young (57) to take any penalty free IRA distributions unless I go through the strict IRS rules and complications of SEPP (Substantially Equal Periodic Payments). I'd rather not if I could avoid it. It is an option, however.

I CAN take penalty free distributions from my Thrift Savings Plan (low volatility G-fund) using the Rule of 55. I'll have only been contributing for six years so while it is objectively a substantial amount, it isn't so substantial that I can replace my current income for two full years.

The house is a couple decades away from being paid off. The interest rate on the loan is sub 4%, though, and it costs less monthly than a typical decent one bedroom apartment in the area.

My wife will keep working for the next few years and has her own money. While I could lean on her, I feel that if I make the choice to retire early while she still works, I should maintain my household contributions.

I might choose to wait until April 2027. That will mean working one more winter, but entering retirement at the beginning of nice weather instead of a couple months before the darkness of winter might provide some psychological as well as financial benefits. This also means seven more months of full income (and the ability to squirrel away a few extra shekels), a slightly higher pension, and it will reduce the bridge to 59-1/2 to only 18 months or so which would be much easier to fund. I don't plan to leave in a down market if I can avoid it. There's nothing I can do if it drops right after I leave, of course.

So, September is the earliest possible date to leave without sacrificing my pension and health insurance. April provides some significant financial and perhaps psychological advantages. I am burned out and have already checked out of this job, though, so that seven months might be hard to take. Barring a deep recession or other disaster I cannot see staying past April 2027, no matter what the spreadsheets say.