at Westport Marina started Saturday, August 24; finished Saturday, September 28.
A month-long haul-out! This happened because after Penelope returned from one of her summer cruises on August 19, a leak was noticed where the propeller shaft exits the boat. Not nice!! On August 24 we got Penelope to Westport Marina in Sidney. Part of the way Penelope was towed by Ben with his boat "Sully", otherwise Penelope sailed.
It turned out that Penelope's "shaft log", a sleeve that goes around the propeller shaft, was very worn. Also, we noticed that the strut holding the propeller shaft outside the boat was bent and developing some cracks. So, a new shaft log and a new strut were ordered... but the delivery took weeks.
In the meantime the boat was sanded and polished and re-painted, battery and charger changed (they had been damaged due to the leak). Lots of people worked on the boat. The shaft log and strut replacement were done (getting the old strut off also meant taking the fuel tank out to get at the bolts).
Saturday September 28 was the time for putting Penelope back into the water; we left the boat in Sidney for two days - just in case...! - but nothing terrible happened. Penelope motored back to Oak Bay (motored, since there was no wind) on September 30.
Barry had done the actual shaft log and strut replacement and the re-alignment of the engine (since the strut is now straight and not bent, the engine needed to be shifted a bit), and he did the final alignment on October 7 after the boat had been back in the water for some days.
Except for the constant need to tidy and clean up, Penelope should be a better boat now, and all set to go!