Thanksgivikkah?

See the two blade prop?

Happy Thanksgivikkah... The melting of Thanksgiving and the start of Hanukkah. Look it up, it's even a trademarked term now.
We've been holding at Carolina beach for a few weeks to have...wait for it...boat work done. Yes, better to get it done now before it got worse or we were in a remote place.
Seem the point where the propeller enters the boat, the stuffing box, was becoming more and more leaky. We knew this from the last survey but it was on the "eventually" list. Which is now. The mechanic we are using is excellent, and noted other areas that could be done that would save headaches later, such as a prop shaft( the original is pitted and worn), coupling and 3 bladed prop. Seems we weren't getting good use of our current two bladed prop and it was not the proper size for our engine output and transmission. Which could do harm down the road and uses extra fuel. Plus, we've noticed that we never had a lot of get up and go, which is more important now with getting through bridge openings, battling currents and tides.
We have not been suffering, as the off season rates are very reasonable for the beach condos. And after being on a boat, even a one bedroom condo is huge. And it has hot water. And laundry. A a 40 inch flat screen. I could go on. We've gotten soft, but are launching the boat tomorrow we hope, to check rpm's and alignment and get on the road.
South Carolina is next! Sounds good, it has the word south in it and the promise of warmer temps. The trip from Beaufort to here was good, with 3 bridge openings on the second day that was a bit of a mad dash but worked well. We saw first hand our get up and go prop issue as we tried to keep up with other boats and not get run over by ones behind us. Loads of dolphins as we moved south, a few playing in our wake and others coming near the boat to see what we were up to. We did hunker down in a marina the last day we got here for a few days with a strong cold front blowing up to 40 knots. Again we met great folks and had a good time. Big thanks to David at Masonboro marina for all the help, and to Charlie and Barbara for loaning us a spare heater during the cold spell which they insisted we keep! We are hooked on the heater now and any cold front will soon see its appearance. Thanks all!