Dying a slow death

[CaptainCJ35]

I just needed somewhere to vent for a minute.

This year a lot of life issues got me off to a late start for the season. Some happy, some sad. As a result my boat wasn't launched until Father's Day. But after my first quick trip in the harbor I knew AZURA wasn't running right.

After almost a month of troubleshooting various issues, I felt the boat was ready for perhaps it's most important journey it will ever make... namely my honeymoon. The plan was to bring the boat from Boston to Newport (where the wedding was taking place) and then embark on a two week cruise to Block Island, Edgartown, Nantucket, Hyannis, Cataumet and Provincetown.

AZURA never made it to Newport. After a slog behind a tug and barge against the tide in the canal, I decided to pull into New Bedford harbor and fuel up at Fairhaven Shipyard. At the gas dock I noticed my bilge pumps running overtime. Openning the engine room hatch revealed one of my shaft seals had given way and water was pouring in around 15-20 gpm. Fairhaven was gracious enough to give me an emergency out-haul.

The wedding went off the next day without a hitch (I had to have someone pick me and my father up) and I can't say enough about the event staff at Regatta Place. They were tremendous. Meanwhile Fairhaven was replacing the shaft seal quickly to get me back underway. A few days later my new bride and I were back in Fairhaven to embark on our journey.

We headed off to Edgartown, deciding that Block Island was now too far out of the way. Upon reaching the mooring field in Edgartown, my heart sank as my pumps were again running full bore. A quick radio call to the Edgartown Harbormaster, they were able to clear me some dockspace. With their help we were able to slow down the inflow of water to a trickle using the spare shaft seal and some C-clamps. There AZURA sat for the remainder of our honeymoon, using her as a waterfront condo on Edgartown Harbor. Again, I cannot say enough about Charlie and his staff at the Harbormaster Office. Truely went above and beyond with their help and being as accommodating as possible.

After several outstanding days tied to the dock in Edgartown, not at all a bad place to be "shipwrecked", we brought AZURA to Falmouth harbor at a snail's pace. MacDougall's was able to haul us out and begin the diagnosis. After 1200 hours, both dripless shaft seals were worn out. The bearings on the port side were fried, would heat up excessively and cause the seal to fail. The shafts themselves need to be replaced as I found out today. One more round of thanks to Dan Murphy at MacDougall's for fast tracking the repairs as best he can and being a consumate professional.

It could be a lot worse, but losing a whole season like this is slowly killing me. I don't know if I could have prevented the events that unfolded. I don't know many people who pull their shafts "just to see". It's likely that running over countless Clorox Bottle lobster pots hastened the demise of my shaft seals, causing stress to the whole assembly time and time again. But to only have been out on the water twice this season, and both times with AZURA trying to sink herself, it's like a slow painful death.

Hopefully, with some luck, I'll finally salvage some of the season and be back underway by late next week.

OK... venting over. Oh, and as had been mentioned in another thread earlier in the week, it really doesn't take much for a nice cruise to change into a potential catastrophe... here's what almost put AZURA down for good.

[Fortunate One]

CJ,

That's a tough break. But at least you caught it before it let in too much water.

I'll tell you what, I'll send you a few PM's throughout the season. Perhaps your schedule will allow you to make it out with the guys and I.

Hang in there, Capt Bill Brown has helped me keep things in perspective as he came close to death last January.

"These things can be fixed."

Try to find the bright side, like the boat wasn't sitting on the bottom at her slip.

[Tuna Meltdown]

CJ, if you need to get out and fish let me know. Like you eluded too, it could have been alot worse. Look how my old boat ended up.

[CaptainCJ35]

Thanks for the kind words of support guys. If either of you are ever down a crewmember, shoot me a PM, I'd be honored.

If I couldn't appreciate how you must have felt last year Danny, I sure can now... still a fraction of what you went thru. Did they ever find the cause?