I made a road trip to locate, and purchase, an oilless air compressor. Craig went along to identify what I needed. (He also showed me how to get to the hardware store that sells them). On the way back we stopped at a different hardware store to purchase quick connect couplers for the air hose. When we got back to the cove, he loaned me his scuba regulator to connect to the compressor, and showed me what I needed to purchase to finish my barnacle scraping outfit.
Tossing aside the snorkel, I donned my mask and fins. Scraping barnacles is a heck of a lot easier when I don't have to come back to the surface for air every 30 seconds. It took me about an hour and a half to clean the hull. I got all of the through-hull fittings I could find. I spent a considerable amount of time on the prop area, making it look like it just came from the factory. When I was done there wasn't a hint of a barnacle anywhere on the prop, prop shaft, et cetera. While this may seem drastic, considering the prop was mostly barnacle-free (it had been cleaned just a few weeks ago), I had an ulterior motive. I needed to prove to myself that there was absolutely no way the barnacles were the cause behind the horrible, almost complete, loss of power I had experienced during the July 4th weekend.
Oh, one more thing. The current water level is a foot above normal, yet the keel is definitely digging a hole in the boat slip. I am going to have to find a deeper harbor.