We left the Naval Air Station here in Jacksonville yesterday, as planned, Monday, December 19th, about 1415 (2:15pm for those of you in Rio Linda) and headed over to Sadler Point Marina (2nm away) to pump out the holding tank prior to heading downtown. The St. John's River flows right along the middle of downtown Jax and the city has provided a very nice bulkhead for transient boaters to tie up to and enjoy the shopping area called "The Landing". It has been our plan to get over there and enjoy the scenery all along. The pump out went well, and we tied up to the bulkhead downtown at about 1700. Just as dark was settling in. The challenge was Renne' had turned the genset on while we were motoring over and it kept shutting down.
Now the engine ran fine, so I figured the fuel filter for the genset must have clogged, so I got the spare fuel filter out and proceeded to change it. Have I said before what a small area there is in the engine room for any type of real work!! Now I have been on a kick to lose some of this excess weight, and I am down 10 pounds and one belt loop, but it is still not enough to comfortably get in the engine room without cramping one or two muscles! So I got that done. Turned the genset on and 15 seconds later it shut down again. So I had to empty the upper compartment, heretofore, called the garage, where I keep most of my spares, and littered up the stateroom with various and sundry plastic boxes! Now when that much stuff comes out, there isn't much room in the stateroom to maneuver either! Let alone take down the housing and uncover the freaking genset! So as I am getting a bit frustrated, Renne' was trying to help by making suggestions, and I was getting more frustrated, til she suggested the impeller might have broken! So we turned the genset on, and sure enough it wasn't making water so I proceeded to remove the raw water pump cover - which dropped into the cover housing and I spent 10 minutes fishing it out. I had purchased some angled awls, not really knowing what I would ever do with them, but doggone it, they were the solution to recovering the cover and removing the impeller. Sometimes I feel so smug. Then I dropped the 10mm wrench into the bilge which became a lost item. ^&*)^*)^&(*)! So the impeller came out all chewed up, and I don't have a spare impeller. Called my most hated West Marine store and they don't have it in stock. So fortunately, the NextGen dealer/manufacturer is here in Jax, so this morning our nephew Fletcher is coming over to pick me up to transport me there to buy a bunch of spare parts!
So as I realize this stuff will be out until I get everything fixed, I had to move everything into the main cabin. That included the screws and cover for the impeller, and as I picked one up, I dropped it into the bilge. Renne' was not impressed with the language I used at the bilge, the genset, at her, at life in general! But I did get out my long reach plunger/grabber thing I have had for 10 years and found the little tiny 10mm screw that sat on top of an oil sponge in the bilge! Doggone, the plunger/grabber thing worked, I recovered the screw, and convinced myself that ALL of the tools and spares I had to unpack and move and move again were worth keeping onboard rather than littering the St. John's River and The Landing with by throwing them all OVERBOARD.
So I am waiting for Fletcher. Again, this was a planned stop overnight here in Jax, I just hope we are able to get the parts and get out of here today - As we had originally planned!
Meet us for sundowners tonight. We should have all the AC power we need - Hopefully!
JonNe'
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