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Dave & Cheryl Furbee came back to the boat with me at the end
of October so we could inspect the boat. A Winter Gale had come through the
area & I wanted to check on the new solar panel and ensure that the boat was
OK, plus had a rebuilt alternator to install.
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Broken Spreader on Radar Mast from Gale force winds at the
dock.
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The solar panel was still intact though - that kept our
batteries charged and the bilge pumps working while it sat at the dock for
over a month.
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We had some other minimal damage from the high winds - some
seams out on the bimini canvas, popped fasteners, rub rail damage from
pilings, scraped paint - etc, but the boat was still floating!
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November 18, 2008 - Leaving Ohio for Chestertown MD to reboard the boat
on the Chesapeake Bay.
BRRRR!! ITS COLD OUTSIDE!
A winter snow storm passed over just as we were
leaving for the boat - and it was headed to the Chesapeake.
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We had to scrape snow and ice off the car before we left for
the Chesapeake.
I'm not sure snow and ice is my idea of fun boating weather!
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Once we got to the boat it was only in the high 30's during
the day and dropped into the 20's at night!
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We almost died the first night back on the boat - quite
literally.
We used this portable generator for power to run the heaters.
Here it's up on the dock the next day with our power cords plugged in.
However last night it was in the corner of the aft deck outside the cabin
(right). Dave & Cheryl & I had done this previously on the last inspection
trip, and had no problems. |
This night though the winds were blowing pretty hard, and
blowing exhaust from the generator right through the cracks in our sliding
aft deck doors. Lisa and I both got up sick during the night, stood up,
passed out and hit our heads on the cabinets as we fell to the floor in a
stupor. We managed to get the generator shut down and then froze under a
sleeping bag with outside air temperature in the 20's. We were both sick as
dogs but managed to recover uneventfully by mid day the next day. -- another
gift from our guardian angels.
I wrote a short boating article on this for our local US Power Squadron.
CLICK HERE to read it (MS Word)
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Chestertown Marina - we managed to fuel up the next day - Nov 19th,
plus get the fuel filters changed - it was too COLD to do much else!
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Nov 20th - departing down the Chester River for the
Chesapeake.
Both Lisa (above) and I (right) are trying our best to stay warm!
Ski gloves, ear muffs, face masks, toboggans and heavy winter coats.
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Well, I guess if winter boat moving doesn't work out, we
could always rob banks.
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Lisa sitting on the galley counter serving as lookout down
the Chester River.
We quickly learned that we were better off piloting from below and staying
warm.
There was virtually NO boat traffic -- I wonder why? |
I still had to go above for better visibility in tight spaces and for
docking the boat,
but that's a lot better than FREEZING OUR BUTTS OFF the entire time!
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Chesapeake Bay was not about to let us go
easily -
Curses - foiled again!
Limped to a T-Dock in Kent Narrows to check fuel system.
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The starboard engine shut down from fuel starvation after
having passed under the Kent Narrows bridge - out in Easter Bay about 3
hours from when we started. I had just changed the fuel filters
yesterday and they looked fine, but I limped back to a T-dock at the Narrows
(left) and changed the filter again. The engine started right up - that's
weird since the filters looked good, and we had plenty of fuel.
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The plan is (or at least was) to head down
the Bay in two long days to make Norfolk Va by Nov 21st.
As they say - CRAP HAPPENS.
45 minutes after departing our temporary repair dock the
engine quit again! We were not quite into the main Chesapeake Bay. We were
at the mouth of the Miles River so I made the decision to go upriver to St.
Michael's Maryland to get a slip so that I could work on the boat and figure
this out before heading out into the main Chesapeake Bay.
- Our first delay - and SNOW AND ICE IS HEADING OUR WAY!
St Michael's Maryland - just before the snow & sleet started |
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Our Florida Keys, Marathon Power Squadron Burgee
looks way out of place as the snow falls all around.
This was NOT in the plans for boating South!
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What's wrong with this picture?! - drinking coffee on the
dock to stay warm,
and trying not to slip into the water from the snow and ice.
Did anyone cover this in the safe boating classes??
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Lisa trying not to slip while boarding the boat - St Michaels
Town Docks.
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Snow and Ice cover the Flybridge Instruments.
We have GOT TO GET GOING SOUTH!
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The problem is that I still have to work outside on the
engines in all this cold!
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We ended up being in St Michaels for a total of 3 nights. I
had to rent a car in Easton,
in order to drive around and buy engine parts - had to drive over 30 miles
to one place
just to get a distributor rotor. As it turns out later, there weren't any
problems at all with the engine - but one step at a time to figure it all
out. |
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One nice thing was the affordable Crab and Steak House right
at the marina.
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St Michael's was an interesting place. Since we were here for
3 days we did get a chance to walk around a bit - at least down to the
store, and had breakfast one morning at the local Saloon. If you'd like to
see a few more photos of St Michael's and the snow while we were here,
CLICK HERE.
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Sunday November 24th - Depart Again for
mid Chesapeake Bay
(or so we thought)
Calvert's Marina - Solomons MD - Very friendly place for
boaters.
Us on the lonely floating dock with the NOAA Hydrographic Boat.
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Fuel Tank Problems - probably because of Ethanol in
Maryland Fuel: Here we are again (boat on the
right), at the end of the floating docks in the Solomons Maryland - over on
the West Shore of the Chesapeake. We had intended to make it much farther
down the Bay - but had the same problem - losing the Starboard Engine
because of fuel starvation (it seemed). I thought of continuing on, on one
engine, which I could do, but I must be getting older and wiser because I
decided not to push my luck - my other engine was to "get us home" if the
other died. If I continued on and then THAT engine quit I would be quite
literally up the bay without any engines -- so, discretion being the better
part of Valor -- we limped in to Calvert's Marina in the Solomons.
Each time I'd tried to fix this problem it all worked fine
after I reassembled everything. This time I had some luck, the engine was
still not running and I went directly to the Carb fuel line to start
checking it backwards. Sure enough, the engine would start fine with
starting fluid (so not the engine), and NO FUEL was coming out of the fuel
pump. Took apart lines between the pump and filters and there was tremendous
suction - so pump OK. The day before I had completely purged the lines from
the tank to here, so it HAD TO BE a blockage at the inlet in the tank. This
was probably due to the fact that Maryland mandates Ethanol in it's marine
fuel - which is TERRIBLE for marine engines. In our case the old fuel tanks
probably have varnished coatings on them from lots of years. That's fine as
long as it stays a coating - but the ethanol starts to dissolve everything
in the tank. If it's small enough the fuel filters will catch them and
I'll keep changing those. The problem are the big chunks in the bottom of
the tank - when we're in a sea with the fuel sloshing around they make their
way back to the pickup and cut off the engine. Vacuum holds them there. When
I disassemble things (or let it sit overnight) the vacuum disappears and no
more plug!
I have no effective way to clean out my tanks where I am
though, so I have to come up with a way to manage the problem and hope the
lump will completely dissolve over time - or get to a place where I can have
them cleaned.
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Gregg Trent - Parts Dept - Washburn's BoatYard.
Helping me assemble parts for my newly designed Fuel Bypass and
Equalization System.
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Every boat with multiple tanks and engines
should have a way to switch fuel back and forth between them. This one
didn't. It was on my eventual "to-do" list but had not been a priority -
until NOW at least. Washburn's BoatYard is a REAL
boatyard, situated at Calvert's Marina. The upper management there was very
helpful to me, in spite of the fact that they were swamped with major
projects on mega boats. When they found out that I didn't actually need help
in doing anything - just getting lots of parts - they helped me get a list
together from the plans I'd drawn up that morning, and Gregg Trent (left)
helped me get them all together.
My soon-to-be fabricated fuel system bypass at left, short of
all the fuel lines I had to run in the engine rooms. I spent the entire day
putting together this system so that I can run off either/or tank, and also
equalize out differential fuel usage. I positioned it so that all I have to
do is open a hatch and reach in to turn the valves while the boat is still
underway, and not even get into the engine room to do it. It may have taken
me a few days to figure this out, but we finally did it.
We arrive at Calvert's on Sunday afternoon, and departed
Tuesday morning after we got all of this installed.
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Here's the NOAA boat docked beside us in the Solomons. It's
used to sound out waters for charting purposes.
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Lisa got some good photos of a Swan that took a special
liking to her.
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CLICK HERE
if you want to see more of Lisa's Swan photos.
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This thing even tried to come up into our boat!
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Here we go again! (We hope) Depart Tuesday Nov 25th.
Departing Solomons to make a LONG run down
Chesapeake Bay to Norfolk.
There are small craft warnings out and the weather doesn't look so hot.
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The weather looked pretty ominous behind us, but all my
indicators - radar, weather charts, satellite, said we could beat this
frontal system out of there! Lisa was concerned.
But it worked! - we beat the weather system and headed down the Bay. We left
about 6:30 am.
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Weather was rough for most of the day. First following seas,
then calm, then beam seas, building to a strong bow sea. Seas got to
be about 4-5 feet.
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We ran for 7 hours without a hitch. BUT THEN IT HAPPENED
AGAIN!
This time I was prepare though - as the engine started to shut down I
quickly went aft, opened the hatch, and switched the engine to the other
tank. IT WORKED! - the engine never even totally quit.
Later that day I started it again on the starboard tank and it worked just
fine. Yeaaahhhhh!!!!!
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It's really nice to pilot from below with the heater running! |
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Commercial Fishing boat heading out to see from Norfolk Va
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Approaching the old fort at the entrance to the Elizabeth
River into Norfolk & Hamptons - arriving about 10 hours after our departure
- just at sunset.
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The wind and seas today just about beat our bow staff and
burgee to death!
Blew the staff back on it's mount and broke the stainless steel wires
holding the burgee.
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Totally surrounded by the U.S. Navy Base in Norfolk we're
tied up at sunset at the Willoughby Harbor Marina at the bottom of
Chesapeake Bay. Lisa and I thought the Bay was never going to let us leave!
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Lisa's fixing something for us in the Galley.
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Stay tuned for the next exciting exploits of Capn Greg and
Admiral Lisa.
The photos going through Norfolk and the Naval station will be in the next
section from Norfolk to Ga.
