There is a joke that goes around from time to time. “Everything on your boat is broken, you just don’t know it” and I’ve been feeling that this April.

First, our shaft seal started leaking because I tried to reuse the set screws, which you’re not supposed to do, so water sprayed everywhere, evaporated, and left a salt crust. So $8 later, and we have new set screws, and that problem is solved.

Next, we hop out onto the ocean, have a great sail up to Carolina Beach, have a few days there, and then have another great sail up to Beaufort, NC, and of course, at 2:00 am there, I’d felt the price of overthrusting the autopilot wheel unit because the belt snapped. 2:00 am till 8:00 am of hand steering to get us in the inlet and to a spot we could anchor to fix that problem.

And of course out AIS was having a power supply issue and the antenna cable was loose. So we had to fix that as well.

Next we made our way to Oriental NC where we stayed a few days before heading out to go to Belhaven NC. The plan was to check in with TJ’s Marina and Boat Yard to ask about staying there next fall to replace the engine with an electric. But about halfway there, our transmission died. Seems as though I didn’t make sure the bolt was tight enough when we’d changed the fluid so all the fluid was lost and now there is no more transmission.

We were able to sail into a small cove for the night and discover our failure. The next day, we set sail again, this time for Beaufort, NC, where we are currently waiting for the wind to change on Sunday/Monday, since the tides here are wind-driven.

The new transmission has been ordered, and on Monday we’ll be towed in, lifted, and put on stands. Next week, we’ll be removing the dead transmission and working on other projects to pass the time while we wait for the new transmission’s arrival. With luck, we can get it in easily and be back in the water quickly.

After all, we’re trying to get up to Provincetown before Memorial Day, which I’m not sure is going to happen at this rate.