Planes and boat problems

We returned to Banderas Bay in time for the Altruism festival, where all of the major restaurants in the area donate their time, food, booze and entertainment to 25 local area charities. You get to sample a signature dish from all of the great restaurants on the bay and enjoy great entertainment for only 250 pesos ($25.00). We flew home on the 1st of June after a final going away lunch with all of our cruising friends from the Ha ha. When we decided to go cruising, I did not want to give up our airplane so I asked my friend Bill Cross to fly it while we are in Mexico. Bill took the Bonanza Pilot Proficiency Class with me and really got into flying again. He and his wife Landra were taking the Bonanza on a Pacific Bonanza Society tour of hotels across the country, when the engine quit near Apple Valley, California. Linda and I were in Tucson at the time at the Bar Convention. Bill did a good job of handling the emergency and landed the airplane on a dirt road and he and Landra were not injured. Sadly, at the end of the roll-out, the right wing struck a pole, skewing the aircraft around and damaging the prop as well as the wing. I agonized the next few days over whether to replace it with another Bonanza, and after some research on Trade-a-Plane, decided to go ahead and get another plane. I identified 4 that I wanted to see and was making reservations on Southwest Airlines to go to Albany, NY, Akron, Ohio and Orlando, Florida, when Teapot Tony, our boat watcher called and said " we came within an hour of losing the boat!" I had flown down to PV to deliver some new zincs for the prop and when the diver installed them the next day, the PSS (permanent shaft seal) came loose from the prop shaft like a nut on a bolt, and let 2 feet of water into the boat. David, one of the marina employees heard the smoke alarm going off (the large cables on the starter had been blown off and set off the alarm). I had committed to buy another airplane and now it seemed even more important in order to fly parts down to the boat. Linda flew down to inspect and clean up the damage, staying on board Tanoshii with our friends Dick and Carol, while I flew to the east to try out some other planes. I selected N671vc in Albany, New York, and we hired an electrician to rewire the boat, rebuild the starter motor, replace several pump motors, and rebuild the generator. Needless to say all of this took much longer and cost more than anticipated resulting in a shortened cruise in 2005 2006