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On the Road (Water) Again; We're Back!

Jan 16

3 min read

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Back on board in Pensacola, it seemed like we'd never left. Except--"Where'd I hide my binoculars? Where are the coffee filters? How come I can't find the . . . ? You get the picture. But, we're off.


We arrived on Katahdin at Pensacola Marine Services about midnight on Monday night after a long trip down. The Bosun will tell you about that in his next post.


Tuesday morning, we unpacked several boxes that we had shipped, did a lot of organization, and readied the boat for Sea Trials. The electrician and electronics guys showed up on time at 11:00 and, after pleasantries and discussion of the plan for the trials, I cranked the engine. It started immediately, then--promptly died. Hmm. Cranked again, nothing. Again, nothing. Again, nothing. Shit. The batteries were in great shape, cranking was strong. Fuel turned off? Nope. So, we called the Cummins guys who had done the annual maintenance on the engine, transmission, and generator while we were gone. "We must not have primed it enough after the service. Just crank away until it starts." So we cranked away, and cranked away, and cranked away. Nothing. "Anything to do with the replacement fuel filters," I asked? "Hmm, said the Cummins tech, can you FaceTime me?" "Sure". Long story short, we have two fuel filters and a selector switch for which one is in use. For some unknown reason, it had been left in the off position. Turned it to one of the filters. Cranked the engine. Pure joy!


After that, the sea trials were a breeze. The marina is in a tight channel and, in addition to using the bow and stern thrusters to leave the rather narrow slip, I used both of them to execute a 90 degree turn once we were in the channel. Amazingly, no breaker tripped. I knew almost immediately that we had solved our electrical issues. Really, all it took was replacing this bad boy--a 300 amp fuse in the house battery charge line that the very helpful folks at Back Cove had suggested was probably the issue.



Once we were out in Pensacola Bay, just to be sure, we did a number of other things that had caused the ACR relay to trip during our days on the rivers. All good! Then it was time to test the new shadow drive--a critical device that let's you override the autopilot which probably would have prevented our terror on the Mississippi. It was perfect. Clint Herrin of Boca Marine Technology, our wonderful electronics guy, did some fine tuning and taught me a few new tricks. But, he had done a wonderful job with the installation. Again, all good.


Back to the dock, they showed me how to replace the fuse (I now have a spare), how to replace the ACR relay (I now have a spare). I'm guessing with all we've learned that we'll never need those spares! But, just in case.


Then, it was time for lunch, grocery shopping, and a quick trip to a scuba shop to pick up a tank in case Cap needs to dive to free a crab pot line from the prop. We went to the whore house for lunch--I mean Oar House.



Pensacola is in Florida and it has some aspects of the deep south. I'm guessing I understand the owner's politics:




Yesterday (Wednesday), we cruised from Pensacola to Destin--mainly along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. For most of the trip, the Waterway was fairly wide with a mixture of high rises, large up-scale residential homes, and protected national seashore. It was very quiet. In 50 miles, we saw two towboats with barges and three pleasure boats--no one else. Lovely.



While there was less bird life than on the rivers, we saw numerous wintering loons, a bald eagle, great blue heron, and a number of bufflehead ducks. A pod of dolphins visited us and though I hoped they'd surf our wake, they elected not to.


We tied up at HarborWalk Marina in Margaritaville Village--not our usual choice of venues and, like KeyWest Harbor, quite honky tonk.



Given the number of charter fishing boats tied up along the Walk, it's a miracle there's a fish left in the ocean.


However, as is often the case, the Admiral found the one gem of a restaurant in the midst of the beer joints and pizza parlors: Marina Cafe--a twenty minute stroll down the Harborwalk from us. We had a delightful dinner celebrating being back on the loop, a great day's cruise, and a boat with, for now, all systems working! Knock on wood. Never having tried redfish, I ate redfish andouille--delicious.



The Bosun needs my laptop. I gotta run.

Jan 16

3 min read

11

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Comments (1)

Martha Hewett
Martha Hewett
Jan 17

Glad to have you back on the Loop again if only for my own entertainment. Always interesting to hear about the latest electrical/mechanical snafu, the wildlife, and the scenery, which looks gorgeous. That bosun is getting pretty demanding, though. I'd monitor him rather closely...

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