Mysterious prop clanking

We took Herbie up to Uxbridge today, ready for her new stove to be installed. I was quite pleased she went so well after lying still for three months in the freezing cold. She even started first time.

However at Cowley lock, as I stood on the lockside wating for Kath to bring the boat in, she reported a loud clanking from the propeller. Once in the lock, I went down the weed hatch to see what we had collected. Nothing. Not a sausage.

So off we went again and very soon -clank clank clank. "Perhaps the prop is falling off" said Kath, ever the optimist.

Back down the weedhatch. Blimey that water is cold when you have your arm in it for a minute or two. No sign of anything. Wait a minute - a bit of fishing line on the shaft, I'll get rid of that anyway. Eureka! On the end of the fishing line, dangling like a pendant necklace below the prop shaft, a copper fishing lure. It hung so low that an arm in the water couldn't detect it, and the fishing line was as invisible as it is designed to be.

Of course as soon as the prop got up to speed the lure was whirled round and struck the prop or the bottom of the boat causing the clanking. A quick snip of the line and problem solved.

We're back home now after having left the boat at Uxbridge, but I'll be back aboard tomorrow in readiness for our early spring/late winter cruise. With any luck the new stove will keep us toasty warm.