Almost disaster. As soon as the tow driver picked up speed the Admiral noticed that both lights on the bilge pumps were lit. She opened the floor door and heard the sound of rushing water and heard the pumps,,, AHHH!,, we're sinking.

Told him to slow down and we checked on the problem. Easy to determine because first off I thought the shaft had pulled out of the stern tube. Yes, we had a 1.5 inch hole in the boat where the shaft was and water was rushing in. Now i'm thinking we lost the Maxprop and shaft to the bottom of the bay so I hit the 'MOB'. I plugged the hole and when we were pulled out in the travel lift the shaft and prop were hanging off the strut. The only thing that kept it from sliding completely out was a collar zinc in front of the strut.

We're keeping that zinc. I suggest anyone who has space for one in front of the strut to install one for that reason alone. A new Maxprop would be about $4,000.

I had thought to put a hose clamp on the shaft in front of the packing gland a couple of days ago but forgot to do it.