Hi everyone,

On Saturday morning we left shoreham in my 19ft cabin cruiser for
Littlehampton, to take a look at the Regatta and then cruise up river for a
quiet weekend.

However, after a lovely journey whilst the sun was rising, we entered
littlehampton harbour at low tide. Whilst traveling up the centre of the
river Arun, we hit an unmarked, rock/shingle bank in the centre of the
river.

My 20hp Chrysler moaned as the propeller was jammed and then started to rev
very quickly.

I stopped the engine and dropped anchor, and lifted the prop out of the
water, only to find that there was no longer drive getting from the engine
to the prop.

I have not dismantled the leg yet (my boat is still stranded in
Littlehampton until I can get her back to Shoreham - need to arrange a tow
- somehow) but could anyone advise me on the likelyhood of actually having
trashed the gearbox (as opposed to just having popped the linkage off) and
if so, am I likely to be able to economically fix this?

Does anyone have parts for this engine for spares? Alternatively, do you
know of a good marine breakers that may be able to help with this??

I'm on a bit of a tight budget and this has the potential to ruin the rest
of the boating season for me :-( .

Thanks in advance.


Simon

M.V. Iona - Shoreham