January 5th 2017
This is the first day of our actual journey. We began bright and early this morning. I got my shower starting at 6:30 am. Then we went through the boat to secure everything. Boy we were at dock a long time. We forgot about travel and the need to make everything fast. Then we started going through the leaving procedures. Again, it has been a while since we left the dock. Finally, we went through the locking procedures.
We started the engines, called the Lock Master, and reminded him that we did not know what we were doing. He gave us the same advice we heard from all the wise teachers. Go slow. We loosed the lines and started out of the slip. Now I have never run the boat from the lower helm. It was as if I had never run the boat before. We eased our way out of the marina and into the lock. All went well. Pam lassoed the bollard with ease.
As the water went down, so did the temperature. We played a game of keep your end of the boat off the wall. I was at the bow and it seemed to be against the wall most often. Once we were out of the lock we began our journey down the river. I transferred the controls to the upper helm and found that the depth finder was not working.
I had been working “under the hood” and thought that maybe I disconnected some wires that I should not have. No problem, after a while I would have Pam captain and I would crawl “under the hood” again to reattach the wires that I bothered. We could use the Furuno Chart to stay out of trouble.
We settled down for the 30-mile trip to our anchorage. We had looked at this segment of our trip at least 5 times. We picked several alternative anchorages and No Name Bayou was our first pick. After travel for several hours, I had Pam take the helm and I started working on the Depth Finder. There are only two connections to the display. One is the transducer and the other is the power supply. I checked the voltage on the power supply. It had 14 volts. Not the problem. Now I am clueless.
In the meantime, we were fast approaching Clinch River and Kingston. It was then that I realized we had passed the anchorage of preference. We proceeded down river until we came to the next of our anchorage options. Once there, we prepared to drop anchor. We maneuvered into position and I pressed the down button. Nothing. I pressed the up button. Nothing. I had Pam press both buttons on the upper helm. Nothing.
Now I am scrambling to find the cause. Pam is controlling the boat like a champ. She kept us in position so that when I found the problem we were ready to drop anchor. However, I could not find the problem. Time for plan B. I retrieve the backup anchor rode from the Lazarette and attached it to the Danforth. We once a gain get into position and I drop the anchor manually. We back off and Pam sets the anchor. It does not hold. She resets and it appears to hold. Big breath. But the wind is blowing us back into the shallow water. This is not good.
We decide to move to the next place. I bring up the anchor and we set off to Hatt Cove. As we approach we both decide this will be much better. The wind will blow us away from the shallow water. By this time our great mentor Valt has given me words of wisdom. The windlass has a reset button in the engine room. As Pam approaches the best place to set anchor I run into the engine room and the main power switch for the windlass is off. I turn it on and head to the bow. I press the down button and eureka the anchor goes down.
We set the anchor; it holds the first time. The anchorage is very pretty and we have settled in for the night. Well not quite. While in the engine room looking for the windlass power I noticed that the raw water pump is leaking water. The very same pump that I replaced the impeller on a couple of weeks earlier.
So, before I can go to bed, I must replace the O-ring. Fortunately, I have a good one handy. It only takes a couple of minutes to replace, but almost an hour to clean up the water and mess.
After this I get to eat dinner clean up and get ready for bed and a better tomorrow.
Bye George 