And so begins Dick & Donna’s ICW Adventure, Part II, The Return
We dropped the lines off the mooring ball at 0704 hours only to find we have no power to the prop. We did a quick anchor drop and began the process of diagnosing the problem. I found the shaft spinning inside the coupling and no sign of a key in the shaft/coupling or anywhere in the engine pan area. We searched the tool boxes and spare parts for a key or key material but found none. I did locate a round pin made of aluminum. I placed it in the keyway and drove it in. It looked like it was holding under load so we weighed anchor and got underway around 0800 hours. We motored 8 miles down the St. Lucie River and entered the ICW northbound. There was a light west wind so I rolled out the jib to give the motor a little assistance. We were making between 6.2 to 7.3 mph depending on the wind strength. When we reached Ft. Pierce, the wind piped up hard and came around on the nose. Wind and current kept us below 5 mph the remainder of the trip to Vero Beach. We pull into the municipal marina and share mooring #16 with two Canadian boats. Checked the weather forecast and it doesn’t look good for a few days. High, 20 -30 knot, northerly winds are expected to dominate. After dinner Buddy and I conched out leaving Donna to watch TV.
Location: Vero Beach moorings at MM 952. Boat distance traveled, 45 miles. Time in actual transit, 9 hours. Top speed 7.3 mph, average speed 7.0 mph
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