The one in which our propeller breaks

We are indeed a sailboat, but that doesn’t make the engine any less important. Getting in and out of harbors, setting anchor, docking, speeding up when the wind is light are all ways we rely upon our engine. And the engine can only move the boat if the propeller attached to it works. A few days ago, we found ourselves dead in the water with a broken prop.

We had spent a great set of weeks in Tenacatita and Barra de Navidad. More on those in other posts. We had connected with a great set of boat families and spent hours hanging out, swimming, snorkeling, surfing, and exploring together. We raced each other in boats of all kinds and shared what we had — from meals to fishing strategies. The kids were a tight knit posse of all ages and background—roaming from boat to boat and hailing each other on the radio.

But some things are meant to be temporary — the party was coming to an end and everyone was starting to head in different directions—north, south, and west. We set our sights on Zihuantanejo — our farther point south before turning around and heading north towards the Sea of Cortez.

We left Barra just after sun rise, expecting a nice 36-40 hour passage south (and mostly east). We motor sailed through the morning, making water to fill up the water tanks. As we neared Manzanillo, a major commercial shipping harbor, we crossed a number of long fishing lines in deep water (2000’ or so) — these lines extend for miles with hooks and floats every 20 yards or so. When crossing them, we slowed down the engine and put it into idle to make sure we didn’t snag any free floating lines. On the last one, as we brought the engine back up to speed, we felt a terrible vibration. Something bad. The whole boat seemed to shake.

Quickly we stopped the engine and went below decks to inspect the prop. One of the coolest things about our boat is a little window in the bottom of the boat that lets you see the prop. You just lift up the aft bunk and there it is - super helpful for exactly this circumstance. Something is wrong, but you aren’t sure what. Without the window, one would have to jump into the water and attempt to swim under the boat — very hard to do safely in the open ocean with a moving boat.

The view of our propeller thru the inspection window below the aft bunk - the pin sticking out in the upper right hand of the photo is a clear sign something is wrong.

Within seconds we figured out that our propeller had lost a blade. Our propeller has 4 blades and it folds when not in use to reduce drag when sailing. Somehow, one of our blades had fallen off! The terrible vibrations were from the prop now being super unbalanced. How could this have happened? And more pressing — are we in immediate danger?

The good news: we were not going to sink - the propeller shaft had not come loose and there was no water coming into the boat. The rudders still worked. The sails worked. The bad news: we could no longer use the engine as those violent vibrations could cause catastrophic damage.

Fortunately, the weather was fair - good winds on our beam. The sea state was fine - 1 to 1.5 meter seas from the stern quarter. The visibility was good. There wasn’t any boat traffic immediately bearing down on us.

We had two choices - continue to sail south to Zihuantanejo or turn back towards Manzanillo—there are few safe harbors in between. Had we been further south, it would have been a toss-up, but as we were only 10 to 12 nautical miles south of Manzanillo, turning back made sense. Looking at our options in Manzanillo, we ideally needed anchorage with lots of room to maneuver given that we would need to sail all the way in and set our anchor under sail. Bahia Santiago fit the bill, and we could get there before dark.

We tacked around, set the Code 0 and steamed north. It was a beautiful sail, and we communicated with our onshore contacts about our new plans.

We sailed into bay past the fish pens and tucked up as close as we dared with sail alone. After setting the hook and furling the sails, we droped the dink in the water and used it to pull the boat in reverse to fully set the anchor.

A first major sigh of relief. We were safe, at anchor, in a protected harbor from the weather. No one was hurt and we could all catch our breath. We went to bed relieved… but woke up before dawn with the realization that we were going to have to move the boat somewhere where we could fix the problem.

The blade as I first dove on it - I opened up the other blades to get a better look at the hub

The evening before, we had dived down on the prop and confirmed that the blade was gone and the major pin that holds it in place was hanging on by a thread. The secondary set screw was still there but the primary set screw was gone. We sent an email to the manufacturer — a UK company called Burton’s —detailing what happened and asking for assistance and advice.

You can’t just pop on any new prop on a boat. They aren’t really like tires. Every prop has different size, weight, blade, pitch, and so on that is tuned to the boat. Besides, we know that our European 45 mm propeller shaft would make it very hard to find a prop in Mexico that we could just “drop on.”

Fortunately, we were delighted to find we had received a reply from Burton’s overnight. We immediately called them and the gentlemen who wrote us picked up the phone. Amazing! Having worked with various suppliers, this was exceptional service. He was helpful, informative, discussed options, and quickly followed up.

We learned that we could not just replace the one blade because all the blades are specifically balanced as a set. We had to get 4, but Burton’s had a set in stock that fit our boat and could ship them the next day. We could likely replace them in the water, but hauling out to double check everything would be prudent.This is about as major a set of wins as you can have within 24 hours of something like this happening.

But we weren’t in a place where we could easily get mail - what address would we give? The Big White Sailboat, Bahía Santiago, Colima, Mexico? I don’t think DHL would accept that. Even if it would or we could find a local agent (totally possible) it would likely take a week or more to get the new blades. And we aren’t SCUBA certified and don’t have tanks. All of my diagnostic had been done with 40 second gulps of air and then coming back up. No way I was going to able to install a new blade without some help or an air tank.

It quickly became clear that while we were safe where we were, it wasn’t going to a great spot to spend time or effectuate a repair from. Also, like most anchorages, it provided protection from some weather but not all. If we got stuck there and bad southeast wind blew or the swell shifted, we could end up on a lee shore with no motor. We would need to sail north.

The nearest TravelLift was in Puerta Vallarta, about 150 NMs against the current prevailing winds. Probably 2 - 3 days of beating into the wind. Closest harbor was Barre de Navidad, where we had just left the day before but it has a tricky entrance that requires power assistance. It doesn’t have a TravelLift, but does have people we know, docks available, and a bit of a marine industry. We could likely make it there in a day if we left quickly. If we couldn’t make Barra, we had other nearby options to anchor.

We picked Barra as our goal and sailed off anchor. This was easy in the open anchorage with no boats around and a freshening southwest breeze. We had a nice beat out of the bay and then tacked to head north and east. The wind was light and the currents were varied - it was slow going. We fought for every single mile. We used every single sail. Luke constantly advised on sail trim. We checked forecasts. We watched every ripple on the water. Everyone was in it to win it.

We deployed our dink before we left and towed it with the outboard on. It was our ultimate insurance policy - if we got becalmed and a current pushed us to danger we could use to push the boat out of trouble. Once we arrived in Barra, we could use it to navigate the entrance. It for sure slowed us down, but it was key when we got to Barra.

We told ourselves we could attempt to go into the Marina at Barra if we got there before sunset (7 PM). We watched the clock the whole way, and as the wind painfully veered more and more west, we had to beat into it and zig zag north. Every tack away from shore was painful as it didn’t close the distance to Barra, just gave us the angle we needed to sail there.

At 630 PM we eked our way around the point that leads into Barra. We were greeted by our friends in their dink. They had come up to help us get in and provide roving support. They had also provided reports saying the entrance to Barra was calm enough for us to attempt this. By 645 PM we were just at the entrance. If we hadn’t made it, we would have sailed across the bay to Melaque and dropped the anchor. If we hadn’t been close, we would have tacked out to sea and spent the night sailing north.

We lashed our dink fore and aft on the port side of Eventide. Mamie got in the dink while I manned the wheel. We used the VHF radio to communicate about thrust direction and speed. And with lots of folks’ help - including friends on the dock to catch lines - we were on the dock by 715 PM. We had made it. We were in a safe harbor in almost all weather. We were with people we knew. We were at a place where we could get the prop sent. We could get help or other parts if we needed to.

You can see our trip south - the one with the big left turn in the bottom right-hand corner. You can also see our trip north, the one with the zig zags near the end. You can also see all the places we sent satellite messages to communicate with our onshore contacts.

The next day we slid over to a dock where we could spend some extended time, again with the help of the community. We borrowed an air compressor and dove on the prop. This is when we really discovered just how lucky we had been.

When we bought the boat, we had the propeller, shaft, and cutlass bearing (thing that holds the shaft in the strut) serviced because there was a bit more movement in the shaft then we would have liked. The physics of propellers just speak of forces. A large diesel engine (our engine is what is in many Volvo SUVs) connected via a simple hydraulic transmission to a 5+ foot steal shaft that is 45mm (~1.75”) thick that has a 30 pound set of copper shaped into propeller blades. This all works as the boat moves up, down, port, starboard, backwards, and forwards - sometimes violently - with the prop spinning at 1400-1800 rotations per minute for hours and hours and hours at a time.

When I dove on the propeller at the dock, I discovered is that the prop had not been put back together properly. And not just some minor oversight, but a major one that meant it was only a matter of time before this happened.

Essentially, every blade is held onto the “hub” with 3 pieces. A large pin holds the blade on and allows it to rotate. A set screw goes through this pin and screws into the hub, locking it into place.. A secondary set screw goes on top of the primary one to prevent the primary screw from backing out. The blade we lost and all of the other three remaining blades were missing the primary set screw — the thing that locks the pin in place. The secondary one had been screwed down to provide some friction on the pin, but it was only a matter of time before this worked lose.

The area circled in blue shows the proper assembly for a blade.

The assembly that was on all 4 blades

The proper assembly - without that crucial set screw going thru the pin it’s a miracle this didn’t fail sooner

With this insight in hand, I realize just how lucky we were. If the lug nuts hadn’t been put back on after your tire change — the tire will eventually fall off. Same with the blade — and we had this error on all 4 of the blades. It is a miracle that we had made it 5000 miles since this service. And considering all of the challenging circumstances that we have been in where we relied on the motor—tight harbors, near rocks, tough seas—we got so lucky that this happened in wide open water, in fair weather, with an anchorage only hours away. I shudder to think about other circumstances where it would have been much worse.

This story is not done. We have 4 new blades coming - currently on a plane from UK to Guadalajara. We will attempt to replace all four so we can sail back north with the engine as back up. We will likely still get a haul out so we can fully inspect it before declaring this fully behind us.

There are so many lessons we have taken from this - but mostly we have gained confidence. We were able to get ourselves and the boat to safety, diagnose the problem, rely upon the community we have become a part of, and learn more than we expected to about propellers.

In some sense, this captures much of what we love to much about this adventure. Each experience you gain builds your repertoire. Our experience racing in Puerta Vallarta allowed us to eek out those extra miles to Barra. The community we got to know was there for us when we needed it. We felt comfortable sailing on and off anchor after being in so many different kinds of anchorages in the past 6 months. Our work to fix the lip seal on the shaft had already taught us a bunch about the propeller shaft. I could go on - but I think the point is made. Each skill builds on the other and there are moments when they all come together when you need them the most.