Guided Discovery: Oops, we nick another prop

We woke Thursday morning to an overcast sky and a high likelihood of rain as we sat 100 plus miles east of a shallow low pressure center over Lake Erie and fronts to the north (stationary) and south (warm). These conditions suggested a high likelihood of rain with calm winds along with a low possibility of thunderstorms. We decided to travel as these conditions do not pose a problem due to Guided Discovery’s sophisticated electronics.

We're between two fronts

We departed Fenelon Falls at 8:30 AM and began our journey across Balsam Lake, which would represent the highest point of our journey at 840 feet above sea level. At 9:47 we entered the Trent Canal at mile 163.4 on the west side of Balsam Lake. This VERY narrow canal runs for 6 very shallow miles (Note: 6 feet of water is the Waterway’s official controlling depth) to the Kirkfield Lift Lock (the second liftlock with a 49 foot lift). The canal has a 10 KPH speed limit, which is just slightly above idle for our boat. 18 minutes into the canal we crossed under a vehicle bridge and struck a submerged object. Despite the slow speed there was still a decided bang.

A grey day on the Trent Canal

Unfortunately, we could not check for damage, which is accomplished by running the boat through the power curve. At 10:43 we arrived at the Kirkfield Lift Lock, which was as spectacular as Peterborough but not as much fun as it was raining. Kirkfield is unique for two other reasons; 1) it marks the beginning of our descent to the Georgian Bay and 2) it marks the point on the Waterway where the buoys change sides. Up to Kirkfield the reds were taken to starboard. Now they must be taken to port.

Approaching the Kirkfield Lift Lock

View of the waterway 47 feet below

Continuing slowly down the canal and totally alert to potential obstacles (who knows, I just might have missed the first one) we had second prop strike in the vicinity of buoy red S406. Frustrating!

The Trent Canal ends just north of this unusual arched bridge where we entered a small lake with a 12 foot water depth. This gave us the opportunity to check for prop damage by running the boat through the power curve. We encountered noticeable vibration at around 1200 RPM (11 MPH), which increased as the speed reached 26 MPH (2200 RPM). Unfortunately, we confirmed that the hits had damaged the one or both props.

Arched bridge marking the end of the narrow shallow canal segment

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We traversed locks 37 through 41 dropping another 75 feet to Lake Simcoe. As we traversed lock 37 we reported the location of the prop hits to the lockmaster and asked him for advice on where we might obtain repairs. He advised us that he would be in touch with the lockmasters downstream and that they would provide information. Again the lockmasters were very helpful. They gave us several recommendation and we settled on Crates Lake Country Boats in Orillia (the number 1 Regal dealer in the world).

At 2:47 PM we exited Lock 41 and began our 10 mile crossing of Lake Simcoe, the biggest lake on the Waterway. We crossed the open water at 1030 RPM (9.2 MPH) and encountered waves less than 1 foot arriving at the Narrows and Crates Lake Country Boats.

The next morning Crates lifted the boat. There was to visual damage to the props, which suggested that we had struck two submerged logs. Had we struck a rock the blade edges would be torn up. We than ran a field check be mounting a metal ruler to the rudder and touching the edge to a blade. Then we turned the prop 360 degrees watching to see if the blades passed without touching the ruler. The port prop passed with flying colors. No gaps. The starboard showed 1/8 inch of distortion on 2 opposing blades.

No damage is visible as the boat comes out of the water

While Kevin, the prop technician, installed our spare props, the service manager drove the removed props to United Propeller and Machine, a Prop Scan shop located right in Orillia. This was very fortunate as prop shops are few and far between. United Propeller agreed to give us an assessment (computer scan) by day’s end. Kevin also performed a “dial test” to determine if there was damage to the shafts. Fortunately there was none and the cutlass bearing were also sound (showing only slight wear after 1,000 hours).

Good news. United confirmed the results of the field test. Only the starboard prop was damaged. Further, since the damage was minor they could get the props back in two hours. Bad news. The repair made to the starboard prop, while correcting the balance – as confirmed by the computer scan, did not address the slight bends on the two blades. The Service Manager acknowledged my concern and we loaded the prop in the truck. This time I accompanied the prop.

Amanda Holloway, United’s General Manager also acknowledged by concern and agreed to recheck the props. Unfortunately, the machinists had left for the day. Amanda agreed to receck the prop on Monday and Crates agreed to deliver it to us at a marina on the Georgian Bay.

The only glitch in this whole series of events was the bill. Crates charged $900 to lift the boat, twice any amount that we have paid to lift the boat on the three previous occasions. That said their labor (1 hour at $168) for swapping the props was totally reasonable and they did not charge us for two nights of dockage.

After wrapping up, we launched the dingy and dingied about 5 miles into the colorful Port of Orillia, where a street fair was in progress. We ended the day with a lovely dinner at a restaurant called Zats.