Monday 8/31/09 Morning started with a dense layer of fog covering the marina and surrounding river valley. So thick that you couldn't see across the fairway to the next row of slips. By 9 am it started to lift and at 9:30 the mechanics came to take Aqua Villa to the travel lift for haul out. Once out of the water the initial inspection showed little evidence of an impact. No curled flukes of the prop. No big bend in the shaft. Struts still in place. Then they turned the shaft and noticed it looked slightly out of round and had been pulled back about 1/4". After blocking the boat to make it stable they got to work pulling the props and shafts. By noon the props were on there way to Minneapolis to be checked and the shafts went to a local shop in La Crosse. Now we wait. You never know how long repairs will take. It always seems that the shops urgency meter never goes as high as yours. This turned out not to be the case here at North Bay. They stayed in touch with Moose throughout the process. By 5 pm we knew that the starboard prop had all four blades curled just a bit. By 10 am Tuesday we knew that the starboard shaft was bent, straightened and on it's way back. By noon the props were done and heading back to La Crosse. Amazing!
Once the shafts arrived they started putting them back in place and found that the engine/transmission had also moved a tiny bit thus goofing up the alignment. They worked on the alignment and got it back to an acceptable tolerance and by the end of the day the props were back.
Wednesday 9/2/09 Morning came along with the fog once again but by 9:30 am had lifted. The call came that they were ready to splash Aqua Villa. Again, Amazing! By 1 pm we were back on our way.
Just a note about the staff and service at North Bay. Fantastic! Friendly. Accommodating. Neat. Prompt. Informative. I would not hesitate to take my own boat there for repair work. The shop guys are even required to wear the little hospital booties on their feet when working in or on the boat. That's how it should be but isn't always the case!
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