Still at Ingram Bayou

It has been three days since we arrived, and we are still stuck here. Not that it is a bad place to be stuck; it is one of the best, in fact. But we had only planned on being here Saturday, then leaving Sunday morning. We're still here for a couple of reasons. First, and foremost, the weather stinks! Wind is blowing 20-25, gusting to 30. Small craft advisory posted. Second, I have spent more time fixing stuff on the boat in the last three days than I have in the last three years!  This is what happens to a boat when it sits at the dock for too long. When you don't use stuff for a long while, it tends to break when you finally do.

I will try to condense this as much as possible. Don't want to bore everyone with our boat headaches. I would not want everyone to think cruising is not fun. We are having fun, right? RIGHT!

First thing Saturday morning I visited the engine room to clean up the mess. Then I checked the filters to see if they were clean. Damn if they were not full of water again. I proceeded to drain, and change filters, yet again, and I got another surprise. The starboard filter was so full of gunk I have no idea of how the engine had continued to run. I will be ever thankful I switched to 30 micron filters, in lieu of the 2 micron. The thought of both engines dying in the middle of the storm, while on Mobile Bay, is truly frightening. Someone, or something, was watching over us that night.

Once I drained all the water, and changed filters, on both main engines and the generator, I thought I was good to go. Started up the mains only to hear a loud squealing noise. Down to the engine room, yet again, and the starboard alternator belt is slipping. Tighten it up and start again. Now the port engine belt is squealing. Down to tighten it up, and found that it was getting ready to break. So now I install the spare belt and try again. Finally, both main engines running, and good fuel to the filters.

The rest of the day Saturday is spent straightening up the boat. How can so much stuff get displaced and thrown all over the place. Where the heck did all this stuff come from, anyway? Someone must have snuck it aboard when we were not looking. :)  The wind is blowing even harder, from the west. So we decide to raise anchor and move further back into Ingram Bayou. We go as far back as we can, and have the entire cove to ourselves. 360 degree protection from the wind, too. What a gorgeous, pristine wilderness area.

Sunday is a relatively easy day. The port alternator does not seem to be putting out and I spend part of the day trying to determine if the problem is the alternator, or the regulator. No progress is made, and I determine that a phone call to the manufacturer is in order, first thing Monday morning. But, as usual, other events intervene.  In the meantime, another boat has come back this far and anchored not far from us. Older couple on around a 40' Biloxi lugger, with a very old, overweight, yellow Labrador Retriever. So we no longer have this area to ourselves. But, they are quiet, and the only sound we hear is the outboard engine when they have to take their dog ashore for a bathroom break several times a day.

Speaking of that, Duke has been exceptional. We thought it would take some time to train him to use the mat on the bow, but he picked it up the first day out. He now trots right up to the bow to do his business, so no dinghy trips to the beach required. In fact, if we mention going for a dinghy ride, he runs the other way and hides out in the pilothouse!

Since it looks like we will be here for another day, or two, we decide to launch the dinghy so we can go exploring. Normally a simple process, but since this is turning into the trip from hell, nothing is simple. I hook up the davit and lift the dinghy, then swing it over the side and start to lower it. Nothing happens. I can hear the winch running, but the dink is not moving. I swing the dink back in and look at the davit. The cable has come off the pulley at the end of the davit arm, and is jammed between the pulley and support bracket. The only way to get it out of there is to remove the load, which I cannot do since we can't lower the dink. Agh!  Paula and I are finally able to support the aft end of the dink long enough that we can unsnap the lifting harness and lower the dink to the deck. Then, after much beating, banging, prying, and many choice words I get the cable unstuck and back on the pulley. We then very carefully lower the dink to the water, uneventfully.

Have I mentioned yet how much fun we are having! ;)

Back to our other problems. Monday morning I fire up the generator to charge up the house bank. It runs great for an hour or so. I am polishing fuel from one tank to another, and know that I need to switch tanks before empty so the generator does not die from fuel starvation. As I am thinking it is near time to do this, the generator dies. Crap, my timing was just a bit off. I go down to the engine room and switch tanks, and go back to start the generator. I find it strange that there is still fuel in the filters. It takes several tries to get the generator started, but it finally fires up. I immediately notice that the water pump is not turning, and the belt is just slipping. Uh oh, please I don't tell me the bearing in the pump has frozen. I shut down the generator, remove the belt from the pulley. I am unable to spin it by hand. Drat! It was time to change the impeller, so I think perhaps some vanes may have broken off and jammed the pump. I dig out my spare impeller and start the process of changing it. As soon as I remove the back cover to the pump I can see the impeller is fine. I can also now spin the pump pulley by hand. What the heck??  Well, I'm already in to it, and it is due, so I change the impeller, anyway. I also change the drive belt, since I am here already. After several failed attempts to get the new impeller on the shaft, due to the Woodruff key, I finally removed the pump from the mounting bracket so I could get better access to it. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Woodruff keys!!!  Finally, success!  Cleaned everything up, put the tools away, and started the generator. Hooray! The raw water pump is spinning and everything is copacetic. We have power again!

I thought we might be able to get out of here today, but the wind is still blowing hard. More boats are coming in here to ride it out. Yesterday, I ordered a replacement video adapter and had it shipped to Bear Point Marina. I figured we would stop by there on our way out to pick it up. If we don't leave I will just take a dink ride over. It will be nice to have our dual displays again. I like to have radar on one, and chart plotter on the other.

So, now the blog is up to date. I will try to keep up with it on a daily basis while on this cruise. If the boat will leave me alone long enough.

Time to go cook breakfast, and wake the Admiral (Paula).