We arrived back to Spring Cove Marina on Saturday 7/24 at about 11:45 AM. Good thing we left Knapp's Narrow's at 6:00 AM. We had a high of 100 deg that afternoon. On Sunday it was 104. Monday was cooler and we began preparing the boat to be hauled. I changed oil and filters including both fuel filters. We took down and flaked the head sail. The dodger was removed and the bimini stowed.

On Tuesday morning when we started loading the rental car Maggie became very nervous. She tried to climb into the trunk twice. Finally I let her get in the back seat where she happily stayed until the boat was hauled.

At 9 AM I backed the boat into the haul out slip. She was lifted out of the water and moved over the hard where the guys pressure washed the bottom and scraped off the barnacles. This is the first time she has been out of the water since she was commissioned in 2008.

In the previous blog Leslie mentioned water spraying into the engine compartment while we were underway to Solomons. Water was leaking at the PSS. (Packless Shaft Seal) Our normal cruising rpm is 2500. At that speed water was leaking around the seal causing the bilge pump to run every 8 - 10 mins. When we throttled back to 1500 rpm it stopped. This had us pretty freaked out. When you are in the middle of the bay and water is coming into the boat your heart rate increases dramatically. I pulled the bilge cover off so we could see into the bilge from the cockpit and we tested the manual bilge pump. We put out both the head and main sails and turned off the engine. The leak stopped. We were able to continue this way until we had to turn up the Patuxent River and into the wind. We furled the sails and limped in just under 1500 rpm.

While doing the PM on the engine I checked all motor mounts, mounting and shaft hardware. Once on the hard, we checked the shaft and cutlass bearing. Everything was intact and we found nothing that could be causing the leak. After arriving back home to Brunswick, I got on the internet and the PYI website. They are the manufacture of the PSS. I also consulted our local guru, Steve Pittman. It looks like all that is needed is a small adjustment to the PSS collar.

Spring Cove Marina will bottom paint the boat on or about 8/19. We will drive back to Solomons on Sunday 8/22 and the boat will be launched on Monday 8/23.

Once the boat is back in the water and everything is put back together we plan to head back to Brunswick.

Posted other pictures of the haul out in the Photo Gallery.