No worries, it was by design!

About a month ago I couldn’t move the boat even with the engine at full throttle. This was causing me a lot of anxiety and bad feelings towards Oleander. Fortunately two of my friends moved back home for a month and welcomed me to their place. So that’s where I went. The boat and I needed separation and counselling.

The weather was not cooperating with two storms causing me to cancel 2 trips this month!

Finally today seemed like a good day to put the boat on the slip and check what’s going on: does she still have a propellor? What does the bottom look like after having been at sea for almost 3 years?

This didn’t look too bad:

However, when I got closer to the propellor:

Too many barnacles, no wonder the propellor didn’t work. After hosing down and scraping it off:

I will do a better job later this coming winter I hope but now I have to put a bit of anti-foul paint on tomorrow very early for some protection against the nasty barnacles.

But overall she looks amazing after such a long time in the water:

She’s a fine vessel, lovely lines:

Tomorrow she goes back to the berth, and this time I hope under her own power!