An Expensive Time In Charleston but Finally Onward!
- Chuck Hewett
- Apr 5
- 7 min read
Spring is lovely in Charleston--warm even hot days and cool mornings and evenings. However, we've had little chance to enjoy it. Loyal readers will remember that we bought Katahdin in Charleston and we're taking advantage of being here to have some maintenance and upgrade work done by folks we trust and respect.
Most problematic for the Admiral, our air conditioning has been "freezing up" mid-afternoon in the 80 degree and humid weather. If he were still with us, the Bosun would tell you that you do not want to be around the Admiral when she is hot and bothered. Coastal Carolina Yacht Sales (CCYS) kindly arranged for a local AC guy to come on Tuesday. A gentleman who shall remain nameless came to the boat, took a quick glance at all three systems (salon, master berth, guest berth), felt here, felt there, announced that we had too much air return filtration, removed it and left. Did I mention that in a past life he ran guns for Ollie North? Hopefully he ran guns more successfully than he repaired AC systems because by Wednesday afternoon, the Admiral squirreled away in the guest berth with the only working AC and left me to call our CCYS friends for help. Lindsey, the first rate head of service and parts, concluded after listening to my tale of woe and our plans to leave the next day said, "This will take magic. Talk to Craig (founder and owner of CCYS and now a good friend) when you have dinner with him tonight. Craig came to dinner with a rabbit in his pocket. Dometic guru, Wayne, who lives and works in Hilton Head but never leaves would coach Tanner, a CCYS tech and budding AC apprentice in diagnosing our system. They spent all of Thursday morning and part of the afternoon adjusting this and tweaking that in the control system. Their approach was much more thorough and professional than the one the day before and it appeared that all three systems were working which would enable us to leav: first thing Friday morning. Sigh. Big sigh. Though the salon system worked great, by late afternoon the critical master berth system had frozen up. I went straight to Craig. It turns out Lindsey had already told Tanner to return to Katahdin and check things at the end of the day. He came; no joy. He would have to come back Friday morning with guages and refrigerant. Long story short: He did come back and sure enough, the refrigerant level was low. With guidance from Wayne, he topped it up, tested it, and once again it appears that all is well. As he noted, we may have a leak (the refrigerant went somewhere) and, if we do, we'll have to replace the whole unit. We're hoping we don't have a leak but, that if we do, it's a slow one that will get us home.
Starlink has also frustrated the Admiral. She expects things to function perfectly (including yours truly) and our Starlink System has shut off a couple of times overnight. As she researched that problem which I failed to remedy, Starlink told her she should be getting download speeds of 1 gig. Huh. We're lucky to get 100 mbs. Jeff who came to work with us on several electronics issues explained to the Admiral that 100 mbs or so was great functionality for the antenna and router that we have. He also pointed out that the direction you dock in, rain, heavy dew, frost, (not to mention snow and ice) can also affect whether or not you have sufficient satellite access to stay connected. Jeff isn't cheap but I think he saved me some bucks on this one.
Unlike the Admiral, I had a number of items on my list. Katahdin's Volvo Dynamic Positioning System (DPS) has not worked properly since we picked the boat up in Charleston in January. This system plays a key role in numerous navigation functions. The most obvious failure was the boat's "skyhook" system--the system that holds the boat in one place (within a foot or two) and one heading no matter how much wind, current, passing wake, etc. Normally, the boat sits still as a mouse in that mode. Since January, it has been wildly gyrating. It also plays a key role in the autopilot's heading hold function and autoguidance functions and it stabilizes and helps guide the docking function. None of these are unimportant. Steve, CCYS' Volvo master, came to check it out. Within minutes, he concluded that the DPS antenna had gone kaput. Techs had to remove everything from the coach roof for the boat to fit under bridges on the way from Michigan to South Carolina. Did the antenna get dropped? Jounced around and banged up during transit? We'll never know. Again, magic. Lindsey had one hidden away in her parts storeroom and the next morning, Voila! With a new antenna installed and my bank account plummeting, all systems were go.
The port pod's loss of gear oil posed my second big issue. The two pods are like tap dancing shoes; well, maybe more like a skilled tap dancer's legs, ankles and feet). Computer and joystick controlled, they turn independently to enable you to maneuver the boat in any direction you want forward, sideways, backwoods, forward and to the left (sideways), etc., etc., etc. Over the last several weeks i have replaced maybe a cup and a half of gear oil fluid (each pod holds over three gallons) and worried I had a leak. Steve again took charge, cleaned around the pods, and reassured me that all was well. Of course, next morning the low gear oil warning light came back on. This generated an even more rigorous examination and a manual topping off of the port pod gear oil by Steve's sidekick, Ben. So far all is well but you can be sure that Cap will keep his eye on this.
Another problem that has bothered me since we bought the boat was the inability to use the Chartplotter's Autoguidance system. While one should never fully trust this system, it makes life easier by automatically plotting routes and, connected to the autopilot, enabling Katahdin to steer herself while under the Captain's most watchful eye. In talking with the aforementioned Jeff, it became apparent that the chartplotters' 2019 SD card reader was woefully out of date and too slow to support this functionality. Another overnight delivery and an updated Garmin SD card reader arrived. But, No Joy. Sigh. Big Sigh. More investigation: Wait, the card that West Marine sold me when we worked on this in January was a Navionics + SD card, NOT a Garmin Navionics SD card. Quick on line research: Yes, the Charleston West Marine store had the correct card. But, would they exchange it for the card they sold me in January with no box, no receipt? It may not surprise you that, having outfitted two boats in the past two years and others before that, I'm a pretty good West Marine customer. Long story short, they did exchange it and, more magic, the autoguidance system, though. by no means perfect, now performs at the level it should.
Three lesser issues were more straightforward. Some of the sound and heat insulation on the engine room ceiling was falling out. CCYS's Ben handily repaired that. Elite Marine Services, a CCYS vendor, detailed Katahdin's topsides (kind of like getting your hair done and a facial at the same time); and with pistol shrimp again marauding, Josh from Palmetto Diving Company, cleaned the hull. No more bang-bang shrimp.
Despite the frustration of waiting for technicians, overseeing their work, and false starts on repairs, we did find time for some enjoyable dinners out, for Jackie to do some specialty shopping she doesn't often have access too, and for me to have a quick walk about Charleston. We particularly enjoyed a dinner with Craig Tallberg at Park and Grove and our last Charleston Supper at The Archer where the short ribs called both the Admiral's and Captain's names.
And, as always, we enjoyed watching the sun and moon rise and set over the marina
With things as complete as we could get them, we finally left Charleston around 10:00 on Friday morning and headed to Georgetown. After circling in and running up the Ashley River to set the autopilot's compass with the new DPS antenna, we squeaked under the Ashley River Bridges cruised past Fort Sumter, and rejoined the Intracoastal Waterway (ICA). Though we traveled through a bit of built up area, primarily beautiful marshlands and lowland forests surrounded us. Dolphins seem to have dropped out of the picture (are we too far north for the time of year?) but terns, laughing gulls, and brown pelicans guided our path. And, the Bosun continues to look down on us as his name remains posted on a boat at what was our first port of call after he died.
We started our trip today from Georgetown to Myrtle Beach through miles and miles of the most gorgeous coastal marshes and lowland forests. As we traveled up the
Waccamaw River, these broad expanses gradually gave way to a narrower river-way typically bordered on each side by bald cypress forests. These trees with their many knees are one of the few species that actually grows in the water. In both habitats, Osprey thrived and we saw dozens. On this stretch, most of these birds nested in natural settings (tree tops, tree forks, etc.), rather than on man made nesting platforms. A swarm of southern deer flies (or Yellow Flies) attacked us about an hour into our trip. For whatever reason, they thought the Captain was particularly tasty and quickly made mincemeat out of my lower legs and flip flop clad toes. Ahhhh! We closed up the boat, started the generator and air conditioning, and the Admiral patrolled the cabin with a fly swatter taking a good dozen of the bastards to their deaths. But the bites were driving me wild--itching that no scratching could cure. The admiral provided cortisone cream which helped a bit but, with more than a half dozen bites, I started sneezing and otherwise feeling the effects of something more systemic. The Admiral then proffered a Zyrtec which I gladly downed with one of the last swills of the morning's second cup of coffee. Fifteen minutes later, blessed relief.
In this unusual stretch of river, we also encountered two swing bridges. The Soccastee Swing Bridge fell in a quieter area of river and opened quickly for us. The second, the Little River Drawbridge, lay in an area of crazy boat traffic--dozens of jet skis, lots of runabouts, and too many boats our size plowing through with no regard to their wake. We're going to leave early tomorrow (Easter) and try to be off the water before the crowds hit.
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