Still At It!

12/7/2014 - We left Merritt Island Anchorage this morning just after sunrise. The fog, although not thick, hung around until the sun began to heat things up a bit. The temp this morning was 64 deg and dew point was 63, with a humidity of 98%. Yup, there was fog.

We were turning about 1900 rpm and doing about 8.2 kts most of the way. Somewhere around noon or 1pm, I checked the bilge. It smelled like diesel, so I called for Warren, and he found ONE MORE LEAK-wrong, TWO MORE LEAKS!  Damn!  There was diesel in the bilge, and Warrwn discovered a leak in the fuel pump on the Starbord engine , of course on the STARBOARD SIDE!  Remember, both Warren and I are still a bit chunky, so getting to that leak will probably take an act of God, or a bigger wallet than we have at this moment.  He is not worried about it, but we have made the decision to add external fuel pumps to each engine.  Hopefully, they will arrive in St. Petersburg before we arrive.

We arrived at Jensen Beach North, and we are anchored just south of the bridge. Renne' and I anchored here in April on our journey north to Annapolis.  We will be out early tomorrow morning.

Oh, the second leak was the genset, which has been running all day today. Warren tightened the hose clamps (6 of them), and it appears that leak has stopped. We relocated the flapper switch for the bilge, and expect that will prevent pumping any residual fuel into the ICW-a good thing.

I know Warren seems to be doing all of the maintenance, but we are so blessed to have someone on board wholives and breathes Diesel engines!  We are crunched for time, so finding all of these issues have been of extreme importance.  Thank You Warren!  By the time we get to Houson, most of our issues will be resolved or identified!

Heading for bed.  Didn't see any of you for Sundowners, so we celebrated Renne's birthday with fabulous Ribeye steaks, sautéed baby white potatoes, mushroom/onion/bourbon sauce, and broccoli. Outstanding.  Happy Birthday Sweetie! I love you!

FINALLY-We've left the Docks!

Dec 6th-at 1420, we finally left the docks of Port Canaveral Yacht Club.  Warren Gloss and Caroline McDonald joined us on this past Monday for the trip back to Houston.

Of course we weren't expecting to leave a week later.  As we left the marina, we headed west through the Cape Canaveral Barge Locks, and the picture above is Warren and Caroline manning the lines as we are hand-tied to the sides of the locks.

As we exited the Locks, this is looking west for the next 1-1/2nm of the barge canal.  This is where the barges came through when delivering parts for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station Assembly.

 In these pictures, we are just happy to be underway!!!  Whew!

I hadn't opened the engine compartment for the two days prior to Warren arriving. When we did, there was so much RED transmission fluid on the deck of the engine room, it appeared I had conducted some ritualistic sacrifice of a human or animal.  Actually I was fortunate Renne' had stuck around- I might have been accused of doing her in!  As it turned out,Warren discovered a serious leak in the starboard (right side) transmission prop-shaft flange locking nut. How this had not been previously discovered we can not imagine!

We spent all day, me being the go-fer and Warren doing the hard labor, he resolved the issue.  That resulted in $120 worth of new tools, but hiring someone else would have been 5 times that!  Following that adventure, Warren was inspecting the far side of the Starboard engine, and found a fuel line in a very INACCESSIBLE zone that had been left without a hose clamp on it!  Someone who had made the previous repair had decided it would be sufficient! WRONG!  Another serious miss on the side of our surveyor!

For the two of us chunky guys, the repair was to difficult, so we hired a mechanic who was much more svelte than either of us to finish the job-15 minutes and $30 later, we had a clamp and no fuel leaking from there!  Wahoo!

So Friday, Warren is looking at the port engine and discovers a leak coming from the fuel injection pump pulsation dampener disc.  That was a large mouthful, and required a call to American Diesel for more information! I think this was our 15th-no Warren's first call and my 15th call to American Diesel!  We had to order one new one, plus a spare.  Damn, another $170. Saturday, Fed Ex delivery.  You know, it wasn't such a big deal when Zimmer, or Dyonics, or Linvatec was paying that bill, but coming out of our pocket added another $65 to that bill! Ouch!

Oh yes, Warren in his typical OCD fashion, when it comes to Diesel Engines, is wiping the engine down with a cloth, and turns asking me to fetch a #3 Phillips screwdriver. I am actually of the belief that Warren is surprised, not only do I know what he is asking for, but have it in my tool bag.  He then begins tightening down the screws holding down the valve covers on BOTH engines. Amazing how loose they are! Gees!

We didn't plan to go far today.  We felt it was better to spend the first night close to Port Canaveral in the event something goes wrong and we have to return to the marina.  So we are anchored just off the Merritt Island Bridge tonight.

Jensen Beach tomorrow-71 nm. It means we have to be out at daybreak.  So with that, Renne loves the boat. We are getting rid of the diesel smell, one issue at a time, so get in a dinghy and meet us for Sundowners tomorrow evening. We may not be as exhausted as today!

Best,

Jon and Renne'
Abrd Sea N' Stars
We leave for