Pt Judith RI

November 20, 2014

A Day of issues Charleston SC Wildlife and issues

Start with the issues.  We ran into a low tide and couldn’t get through.  We had to wait 2 1/2 hours for the tide to rise so we could continues.  We had hoped to get a long way today but between waiting for the tide and waiting for a swing bridge to open for us we only got 40 miles.  Not good distance however we saw some awesome wildlife.

First while we were waiting for the tide Tam saw this bald eagle.  Very majestic.

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Then came the dolphins.  We actually saw several of them but finally got some pictures.

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Then when we anchored the boat we saw another bald eagle sitting on top of the mast of a boat next to us.  This was a young adult and he was up there preening himself.

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So an interesting wildlife day.

Then comes the bad news.  Yesterday while going through Charleston the boat started vibrating badly.  It happened while we were in gear.  The sump pump started running frequently.  We checked the drive train area and saw water coming from the place were the strut hand been repaired last year.

The issue was manageable with the sump operating so we motored down the ICW 2 miles,until we located an anchorage and threw the hook.  After we anchored I went below and checked the strut repair.  When I grabbed the 2 forward bolts they came out.  I believe they sheared from when we had issues with the line going through the prop the other day.  So now we had water shooting up 3 inches, like a fountain, out of those holes then running to the bilge.  The first good news was the sump pump was keeping up with the flow of water.  Well the other day when we went into Georgetown to get the new alternator belt we also picked up a couple of 3/8″ hex cap bolts.  I thought I would replace the alternator bolts as well.  However they did not fit so I set them aside.   Well yesterday they were over sized for the hole but they cross threaded and created a very tight fitting bolt.  I used both of them and the leak stopped.  The water stopped running and the sump pump did not go off all night long.  Some one was looking after us because what were the chances of buying just the right bolts the day before I needed them.   Thank you Lord.

We will test out the bolts and see if that they continue working and hopefully we will be able to find stainless steel ones and replace them with stainless.   For now we will continue our journey.  I wish we were close to Point Judith because Don could get us what we need.  Hi Don, Ann, and Tim.

Well we had better get going next blog will Saturday.

“Living The Dream”

   “Sometimes the Nightmare”

      Tammy & Steve

 

T

October 3, 2014

Going to Fuel up and leave Pt Judith today

Yesterday was slow waiting for the weather to clear and we got bounced around for 2 days now.  It seems too have broken this morning so we will fuel up and be on our way.  Hope to reach Fisher Island or North Cove CT today.

Tam was sick yesterday so it was a good time to stay parked.

This is short just wanted to let everyone know we are on the move again.

cute!

“Living The Dream”

   Tammy & Steve

October 2, 2014

Waiting for the Weather to Clear

Yesterday and today are weather day’s.  The wind is blowing at 15 to 25 knots and it has been raining/drizzling for 2 days now.  We would like to make the next leg, with our new fuel tank, a calm one with the sails up.  8 foot swells are not in that plan.  So nothing new for today.  We’ll see what we can do for tomorrow.  It’s suppose to clear up and and be sunny and in the 60’s.  Better than the lower 50’s we’ve been having.

The weather forecast is much better tomorrow and we will try to get on the way again.

We did get a ride into town and back with Elisa my fishing coach and lobster cook.  Maybe I can catch a fish big enough to eat today.  I think we need to get a pot big enough to steam lobster and a fry pan large enough to fry some fish.  (If I ever catch one!)

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Elisa the owner operator Gooseberry Bait Shop

We needed some 1 lb propane tanks or we go on dry food rations soon.  We also saw some Halloween candy and picked up a couple of bags. Candy is a rare item on the boat and we splurged a little.  Not that we really need the candy.

I also got out the sewing machine and made 3 new fender covers.  We lost one fender and cover at Winthrop, MA and just a cover back on Lake Erie.  So we put the old fenders back into service and put covers on all of them.

Today I think the project will be making curtains for the windows.  It shouldn’t be to difficult.  We’ll see.

I also got a little rewiring done.  Adventure has to lines into her but we only get to plug one in most of the time.  I moved the heater air conditioner power over to the regular line so we could use the heat or air conditioner at night as well as charge the battery all at the same time.  The good news is it is working well and we have not blown any circuit breakers.  We also left the refrigeration on all night on battery power and only used 5% of the battery.  Thanks to the new battery.  That means we don’t have to turn the refrigerator off any more.

Well that’s the update for today.

“A ship at harbor is safe,

but that’s not what sips are for”

We will stay safe.

“Living The Dream”

   Tammy & Steve”

October 1, 2014

Fuel Tank is operational now on hold for the weather

I wanted to show you the pictures of the finished fuel tank.  All labor provided by Tammy & Steve with some guidance.

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The finished product, nice and clean and ready to go.

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It did require some high tech baseboard to support it.

We need to make a special thank you to Don the manager of the Point Judith Marina.  He provided encouragement, expertise, and a great value through the entire process.

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Thank you Don

We wanted to introduce you to our early morning neighbors.

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These are our neighbors when we woke up yesterday morning

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This is what our neighbors were having for breakfast. This one is small about 5 inches across. I also catch them up to about a foot across. When I am after my bait they grab the sinkers and won’t let go.

I also wanted to introduce you to the real crew of the “Black Pearl”.  Mark claims to have been into the Black Pearl before all the movie stuff.

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Mark is the Black Pearl’s Captain

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This is Mark Jr the first mate swabbing the deck. I think he doesn’t mind sailing on the Black Pearl

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This is the Black Pearl. She is a 52 foot cruising and fishing vessel.

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Elisa

Elisa has been our fishing instructor and Lobster cook.  She provided the instructions on catching the bait, stringing the line, and equipment we would need.  She also cooked our Lobsters.  2 whole lobsters for $20 cooked and on their deck.  We sorta splurged after the fuel tank was installed and the engine was running.

I hope to actually catch a fish in the next couple of days.

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A house in the bay here. They must really like light houses.

The weather is rough today and there are small craft warnings out with winds up to 25 knots.   So we are planning on tucking into a cove upstream from were we are now and anchoring out while we wait for it to blow by.  We hope to get to Washington DC by the 6th or 7th.  But the weather will be instrumental in the time frame.

What an adventure it has been.  More new friends and “Adventure’s”.

This saying is from some Authors we met in Chicago at the Strictly Sail Boat show last January.  They have circumnavigated the globe 3 times and built their first boat in 1970.   The saying is appropriate for our recent situation.  They are considered the original modern day cruisers.  Their boat has no engine and is made of wood.

“If you can’t repair it,

maybe it shouldn’t be on board”

     Lin & Larry Pardey

“Living The Dream”

   Tammy & Steve

September 29, 2014

Sunday in Point Judith A great day.

OK so we are in Long Island Sound at Point Judith RI.  Most of the time it has been work and busy doing things.  After we got the engine started we kicked back and relaxed some.

First we took my reel, thanks Emmett,  and got string put on it and got a rod for it.  Then we talked to the people at the bait shop on what would be needed to fish and what the rules were.  They were very helpful and put together some hooks and a couple of lures for me.

Now they have a rig called a Sabaki rig that has 3 to 8 hooks on it with a little material on each that is made to look like  little shrimp.

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These are the little hooks, there are three of them on this line.

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We now have bait to catch bigger fish with

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Jigging by the dock catching bait

You use that to catch your bait with.  The bait you catch are just a little bigger  than a minnow.  Then you hook that onto your bigger rig to catch bigger fish.  Remember the cartoon with the little fish then a bigger fish then the big fish.  I guess that would be the best explanation.

Anyway all I had to do was go onto the internet and order a free “cause I’m old” fishing license that covers everything from Maine to New Jersey.  Finally something I don’t have to buy for each state.

Next we’ll see if I can catch some BIGGER fish.  I’ll have a report a little later on how we do.

At about 2 PM Sunday afternoon they had a paddle race that went right by the boat.  The people would wave and say hi to us while we sat up on Adventure and took some pictures.  There were over 200 entrants and it took over 1 1/2 hours for them to pass.  So not a lot of comments but a bunch of pictures.  It was a lot of fun.

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SS Minnow was on the side

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The Blues Brothers

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The 2 pigs

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Vikings

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Vikings

A whole lot of other racers.  I believe it was a “RACE” and scavenger hunt.  But they were paddling against a 3 knot tide.  They were working hard but having fun.

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There were a lot of them and they were a lot of fun.  So we had a great time Sunday afternoon.

Thanks to all our followers we still love to hear from you!

“You can never cross the Ocean,

unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore”

 

“Living The Dream”

   Tammy & Steve

 

September 29, 2014

Trouble from Buzzards Bay to Point Judith

It was a nice day leaving Buzzards Bay headed for Point Judith Rhode Island.  We got up early planning to take some time at Pt Judith for Boat maintenance, laundry, and those $6.50 Lobster tails.  It got a little rough about 6 hours into the run with the wind picking up to 20 knots, with 8 foot rollers.  The weather was forecast to be sunny with light 5 to 10 knot winds.  WRONG  We left at about 6:30 AM figuring to arrive at Pt Judith at about 2:30 PM.  It was about a 45 mile leg and that should get us there early in the afternoon.

We were about 10 miles from Point Judith when we lost a pin on the Genoa.  The large sail at the front of the boat.  So we had to take that one down and just stick with the motor.  Then at about 8 miles from Point Judith at about 1 PM the engine started to sputter and quit.  So we were out in rough seas again without a motor again and just drifting.  We had to call the Coast Guard and inform them of the situation and then we called Seatow again.  The better news we had learned our lesson 2 days earlier we had put special Towing insurance on the boat.  We couldn’t afford to pay that bill again so it was covered.

It took 1 1/2 hours for them to come to our rescue, meanwhile we drifted almost to the entrance of Pt Judith.  But they hooked us up  and towed us into Pt Judith.

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This is the Seatow Boat that came out and towed us into Pt Judith

When we talked to the manager of the Marina he said that older (33 years in our case) aluminum diesel tanks can build up contamination in them and he recommended we replace it.  With all the issues we have had I wish someone would have recommended we do that before.  Apparently when we hit the rough seas and we got low on fuel, half empty, the shaking of the boat mixed up the sludge on the bottom and sucked it into the fuel filters which plugged up and starved the engine.

The decision to change the fuel tank came on Friday AM and we could not order the fuel tank until Monday.  Hopefully it will get here in one day and we can install it on Tuesday and get going.

I decided I would remove the old fuel tank and get the engine running myself this weekend while we wait on the new fuel tank.  So I worked on removing the fuel tank.

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This is the fuel tank out of Adventure

These are shots into the tank after I took it out.  I pumped out 9 gallons of diesel first and there is still about a gallon left in the tank after that.  Diesel is a red color but notice all the black stuff in the bottom of the tank.  That is what got pumped into and then blocked the fuel filter.

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After removing the tank I used a gerry can and put the fuel line into that for a temporary fix until the new fuel tank arrives while we got the engine running.

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Our temporary fuel tank.

We then replaced both fuel filters and then had to bleed the lines of air and get the engine started.  We had problems bleeding the air out of the lines but we finally got it started at about 10:30 AM Sunday morning.  So now we are waiting on the new fuel tank to put that in.  I was surprised the fuel tank is $275 much less than my imagination had thought it would be.

I have to say the manager Don and the office manager Ann have been great and are cutting the dock fees some to help us out.  Don has been the key to guiding us through the replacement and bleeding air out of the lines.

Tom I hope you read this one.  You suggested replacing the fuel tank last winter.  That would have saved us a lot of money and aggravation.

One thing that has been great is Tammy is really mechanically inclined.  She just hasn’t had a call for it before.  We have been working together through the entire trip fixing things that we need to.

It was difficult and not a planned part of “Living The Dream” but it was an experience we shared and the joy of doing it together is Truly the Dream.

I have to thank Tam for her courage when I was down for holding me up!

I Love You!

 

“One half of knowing what you want,

is knowing what you must give up

before you get it”

        Sidney Howard

 

“Living The Dream”

    Tammy & Steve