Sailing to the Galápagos Archipelago

Emergency Boat Repairs

David diving on the prop after we anchored in Academy Bay.

Soon after we anchored, David changed into his swimsuit and used his snorkeling gear to dive on the prop. It was important to clear the fouled prop as soon as possible because it could affect the safety of the boat (we might need to motor if the anchor dragged).

While David dove on the prop, Marcie stood on the swim ladder at the stern to assist and to make sure David didn't run into any problems. David reported that there was a huge mass of light polypropylene line balled-up around the prop and shaft. He dove repeatedly and hacked off hunks of line, passing them to Marcie who passed them to me, on deck.

David managed to remove quite a bit of line (that included several big and nasty-looking fishhooks), but there was plenty more line still entangling the prop and shaft. The worst part was that some of the line had fused together around the shaft, due to the heat of friction as the shaft rubbed against the line.

It was very strenuous diving and working on this type of problem. David concluded that the fouled prop would require more time and effort than could be accomplished in one session of free-diving, so he postponed the rest of the repair until later.

Here's a pile of line, plus a few nasty hooks, that David hacked off the prop in the first big diving session.