On our inaugural cruise in mid-May to a raft up in Oyster Bay with our D dock neighbors, Serenity sucked a bag or something nasty floating in Huntington Harbor into one of her intakes. Don't ask for more specifics - 2 months ago, I was blissfully unaware of what an intake even was. I thought it was related to the act of breathing. Anyway, the bag or whatever resulted in us having to change an impeller, but luckily, that's all it was. Though we didn't know that at the time, our trip was ruined. Happily, the boat was ok.
"We have to turn around right now and try to get back to the dock". What do you mean "try" I asked with the slightest note of a tremor in my voice. Forty minutes into what was supposed to be a carefree weekend with our friends, my knees were knocking and my throat dry. Needless to say it was a VERY tense ride back to the marina. In the middle of trying to understand what had happened, I decided to call our project manager at Kadey Krogen. Guess what? I called and guess what? He picked up his phone on a Saturday morning, the weekend before July 4th! Gregg suggested all sorts of things, most of which found me fumbling around in the engine room. Should I tell you that in order to get into the engine room, I had to fling our beautiful persian carpet nearly out the cockpit door in my haste? I checked all sorts of things, coolant level, made sure the through hull lever was in the correct position, checked that water was coming out of the exhaust in the stern, etc. No dice. Gregg correctly assumed the intake was blocked, but all we could do was limp back to the marina and pray.
Evidently, our prayers worked. As we approached our slip, things suddenly got very quiet. Serenity took care of us in the harbor, but now Tom and I had to get her docked with our nerves on edge. I have to tell you, I leaped to follow Tom's instructions, with not one protest or question. As the bow of our neighbor's gorgeous sailboat got ever closer to Serenity, I somehow found the strength I needed to push us off the piling with a boat hook (I even knew where to find it under stress)! We were now shouting to anyone on the dock to grab our lines to help us into the slip . I can't tell you what happened in any kind of order, but I can tell you that Tom and I got Serenity safely into her slip.
She was finally all better several weeks later, after getting a new impeller (whatever got sucked into the intake completely shredded the impeller). I'm told by veteran boaters that having to replace an impeller is an everyday occurrence and no big deal. It sure was a big deal to us! In the meantime, we enjoyed her at the dock, entertaining our friends and family.
Our little Tucker (remember he was born last May 15) loves the boat. At 14 months, he smiles with delight when he arrives. His crib, toys, books and raft are aboard. Though we haven't taken him on a trip yet, he will be a perfect co-captain when we finally do go out with him - probably not til next season.
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