Kentucky Lake is the Tennessee River dammed just south of Interstate 24. It is one of the odd rivers that flow from South to North in the U.S.A. What this means is it is up hill or against the current until you reach Pickwick lake, located on the Tennessee/Mississippi line. Although there’s not much current, it usually runs around 1 knot once you are in the narrow sections South of Kentucky lake. Once you reach Pickwick it is downhill with usually little or no current all the way to Mobile, Alabama. My first goal after leaving Kentucky Lake was to make it to Pickwick before the rains came later in the week.
After a small delay finishing a few projects we left at the crack of dawn on Tuesday, also my Dad’s birthday who came along to help me on the trip. We made good progress and anchored in a beautiful anchorage filled with a starry sky. It was cool but our webasto heater connected to a new fuel pump kept us warm inside. After a hearty meal of pork tenderloin, rice and a bottle of sextant wine to rinse it down we fell asleep only to awake to a layer of fog covering the river.
My hard working crew 
Birthday wine! 
Morning fog 
Bye GTB! 
After waiting for the sun to peek through the dense mist we decided to continue our journey watching our instruments and radar for anything lurking ahead. The sun came out and the fog cleared leaving us a slightly overcast day. We knew we had just enough time to make it to our anchorage before sunset and the Yanmar pushed the boat along nicely at 6 knots. Once we reached our anchorage, the slight current kept the boat into the current as I let out chain in the 20 feet of water. Being on the bow I had my dad put the boat into reverse to take some slack out. It didn’t seem like the engine was doing anything but I figured it was just the current and setting sun playing tricks on the water. I arrived back to the cockpit and tried putting the engine in gear myself. The engine was rolling over but no thud from the folding prop and no turbulence was coming from under the boat. I had a bad feeling as I went below to check the transmission. I was hoping it was just a broken cable or linkage. What I found was broken pieces of rubber scattered in the transmission compartment. I found the flexible coupler between the transmission and the propeller had disintegrated. In other words, we weren’t going anywhere. To make matters worse, we were still another 75 miles to pickwick, the closest place where we could make the repair.
Most boats only involve swapping the coupler out and it can be done with the boat in the water. Unfortunately, the design of our Dehler makes it impossible to change this part out in the water. There is just not enough room to pull the shaft forward to remove the old unit and install a new one. Even with the boat out of the water, it is necessary to move the engine forward. And to add a cherry to the top, we were anchored in the middle of nowhere with no cell service or internet. Fortunately, my Delorme has texting capability and I was able contact my good friend Ray to help out. Ray has made this trip, knows the waters and is always willing to lend a hand. Fortunately he was able to persuade Towboat US to come and get us, even though he was a third party. They still could not figure out why I didn’t call myself. I guess they thought cell coverage reaches across the entire inland portion of the U.S.A.
The trip between Kentucky lake and Mobile leaves you with coverage about 50% of the time, regardless of what service you have. Ray made the arrangements and we were scheduled to be picked up the next morning. After a night of watching curious muskrats swim past the boat and baby skunks stare at us from the shore in the middle of the night, we awoke to a beautiful anchorage, thankfully in the same spot. Bald eagles stared curiously at us as we surveyed our surroundings from “Kelley’s Island”. We anxiously made a light breakfast anticipating the tow from hell, and hoping for the best. Finally our heroes from Pebble Isle arrived on their red, flat bottom Boat US tow boat. After discussing what their boss told them and what my people told me, we decided to start out with a tow to the nearest marina, being Clifton Marina. Even though we were being towed, it worked out because we were being side towed and I had the rudder lashed straight ahead. This gave me the chance to search for a replacement part and to decide if there was any possibility of changing the coupler with the boat in the water. After countless hours on the phone with multiple companies, and countless redials during our intermittent cell service, we still could not locate the exact unit. We arrived at Clifton Marina to spend the night before making the final tow to Pickwick lake. Apparently that section of river is a vortex for disabling sailboats. There were two other sailboats at Clifton: One with a fuel/rpm surging issue and another with a hole through the side of the engine block. Yikes. After spending the evening researching parts and changing the part, we decided that the boat would need to be hauled to make the repair. After a rainy night, we woke to a gloomy, cool day and awaited our tow crew to return. Upon arriving, we tied alongside and off we went. Again, we used the time to track down a part which was not turning out to be an easy task. To make things more difficult, the prop shaft was changed to a 1 inch shaft at some point prior to my ownership. Most of the couplers we were finding were designed for a 25 mm shaft and they did not offer 1 inch models. Finally we found the unit we needed! The original unit was made by Vetus marine which we spent hours trying to find a model that would work. None of the measurements matched up. Finally we found a model made by the company Centa. While their service support wasn’t the best, we were able to track down the model coupler that would work for the boat. The next step was trying to find one to purchase. There are no distributors in the US for the coupler so we were forced into searching on the other side of the pond. We finally found the coupler we needed and ordered it through T. Norrison in Great Britain. We were planning on locking through and making our way to Lee Spry Marine on Pickwick lake. Due to the oncoming current and delayed departure, we made it as far as Grand Harbor marina before deciding the narrow remaining stretch would be too risky to travel at night.. I was planning on staying at that marina anyways as I had an amazon package waiting for me there so it worked out. The next morning we were towed the remaining 2 miles to Lee Spry. Once again, our little boat was being lifted by a massive travel lift. They set the boat, my dad and I tore the coupler apart and had our bags packed just in time for Emily to arrive and save us yet again.
While I was able to perform my own work on the boat at this yard, I was not allowed to sleep on the boat while on the hard. This proved to be somewhat of an issue given the 6 hour drive from home, and few reasonable hotels nearby. After spending a few days at home, I returned to the boat the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to start a bottom job before the part came in. The coupler was delivered in a record 3 days, during the Thanksgiving week from Great Britain! If that isn’t a record, I don’t know what is.
Another day in paradise
After making arrangements with my dad to lend a hand installing the new coupler, we left at 0300 to arrive around 0830 and install the new piece. As expected, it put up a fight, and we ultimately had to raise the engine and slide it forward to install the new kit, but we got it installed, torqued down, and cleaned up by sunset. Just in Time to make the drive back home again. I made arrangements with Lee Spry to lift the boat on Monday, hoping the rains and cold weather would hold off until the afternoon. Again, back in the truck at 0200 to arrive at 0800 and start working. Once the final layers of paint were set, they lifted the boat, drove over the basin and plopped the boat into the water. This time, I was able to move under my own power; A good feeling. I left the boat overnight on Lee’s dock and drove home to drop off my truck and ride back with my mom and dad the next morning. We made our way back to Grand Harbor Marina, in the snow, of course, and tied up for the night. We found our way to the local, if not only, bar in the area to celebrate before calling it a night to prepare for the remaining journey and wherever it would take us.
Never a dull moment, eh?
Tell Bob I said hi.
Will do! Life is definitely an adventure.