Very early in our Great Loop adventure, other boaters shared with us the definition of Cruising:
Cruising: [krooz-ing] verb – fixing your boat in exotic locations
Engine Room Chair Pose 
Reclining Galley Pose
Just like any home, boats need maintenance and sometimes repairs. In most cases we do the maintenance and repairs ourselves (and by “ourselves” I mean Kenton fixes things and I hand him some tools or get him a cold drink when he’s done). As you can see, working on a boat sometimes involves Boat Yoga.
There are times when the boat needs to be lifted out of the water to have work done, and we have relied on capable marinas encountered along the way. Boat mechanics replaced old shaft seals and destroyed thrusters (courtesy of debris in the canal). This is where the definition of BOAT became obvious.
BOAT: [boht] acronym – Break Out Another Thousand
A short time after we had cruised through the last lock of the Eastern Erie Canal, we felt the boat pull to one side. We paused at the Three Rivers Junction and determined we had lost all power from the starboard engine. The engine was running, but there was no propulsion from that side.
We veered to starboard (turned right) and started up the Oswego Canal.
We traveled through locks using just the port side engine along with bow and stern thrusters to keep the boat straight. (Boat photos courtesy of a friendly lock tender.) We thought we might have the boat looked at in Oswego. If we could fix the problem quickly our plan was to enter Canada the next day.
We pulled over to a wall between two locks, tied up and then Kenton used a mask and underwater flashlight to evaluate the situation. He got the impression that “something was missing.” Sure enough, the starboard prop was gone. Completely gone.
We called different marinas and mechanics, made a plan for the morning, and then walked up to the nearby town for dinner and music at a local restaurant.
We spent the night on the wall and then retraced our steps to the previous marina so they could pull the boat and assess our situation. This is where Boat Units came into play.
One Boat Unit = $1000
As the mechanic assessed the situation, we learned we had a missing prop because the shaft had snapped off. We needed to have a new shaft fabricated and a pair of new props attached before we could return to the water. Seeing the Boat Units that would be needed to solve this problem, we contacted our friendly boat insurance agent!
We hope to continue our voyage soon!