by Scott St Germain
Side Bar #1296
Saucier, MS

These predicaments I get myself into is what my wife calls ass moments (Another Scott Situation). I rebuilt our Universal M30, took it for a few test runs, and felt it was ready for a short trip to Chandelier Islands, about a 60 mile trip from our marina. Once we arrived at the northern tip of Chandelier we motored 12 miles south along the western edge of the islands. The area is unmarked and has 2 feet of water on either side of a winding 100 foot wide path that leads south along this western edge. While we were motoring a terrible sound was coming from the transmission. We decided to anchor and stay the night and fish the area. The only fish biting were catfish and blacktip sharks, very unfortunate. The friend I was with didn't listen to my warning about not catching sharks in an inflatable dingy and came back with one tube completely deflated. That night he was trying to light the grill on the aft rail and dropped my propane regulator overboard while changing out the bottle. We decided to cut the trip short and come home the next morning. That night, somehow, as I was walking from the head to the aft cabin I tripped over Tim's computer cord and it went crashing right through the main floor board and damaged it (the floorboard) significantly. Luckily, the computer was a toughbook and was not damaged; especially since we were using the Nobeltec navigation software and built in GPS to navigate.

Anyway, the next morning I started the engine and the transmission sounded horrific. I didn't even want to put it in gear to pull the anchor. I shut the engine down, checked oil levels and found the transmission oil to be black and metallic. I knew it wasn't likely we would make it home with this thing in one piece. I added Lucas and crossed my fingers. We would have to motor North for 12 miles against a stiff North breeze through this narrow cut back to the Gulf. Forward gear worked for about 3 minutes while I pulled anchor. Once we lost forward, I shifted to reverse and everything ran as quiet as normal. I realized I had two options: reverse for 12 miles at 1.5 to 2 knots or sail south to the MS River (added 30 to 40 miles) and sail NW back to the coast. I decided to try the reverse and that's what we did for 5 hours. It is much more difficult than I predicted to steer and navigate in reverse. I ended up making 2.5 knots on average in reverse. We made the north end of the islands and sailed the remaining 35 – 40 miles. I was able to back up the channel and into my slip at the marina.

We pulled the transmission and found the FWD drive gear completely "Chewed" up, and needing a new input shaft and input shaft bearings. I called around today and found that just those few parts would cost more than a new Hurth at $1019. So it looks like I'm going to be putting a new transmission in. Also, I hired a local woodworker to fix my floors. He showed me some samples of wood (bamboo and cherry) he has been using in many boats and condo's in the area. He epoxied these floors together for me and they look fantastic! I'll send some pictures once I have them in place. Actually, I think they may look too good for the boat; I can see my own reflection when standing above them.

Now I just need to patch the dinghy and buy a new regulator. So this one little fishing trip that would bear no fish is going to cost me almost three thousand dollars. From now on I will charter a fishing boat when we want to go fishing.