Got off to a great start! Left our marina Sunday, around 17:45, after a great send-off at the marina by our friends Richard and Debbie Ortis, Karen Gustafson, and Joyce White. Our plan was to spend the night at Jacksonville Municipal Marina - downstream of all the bridges that would not open on weekdays during rush hour - and leave at 07:00 on Monday for sea. We would spend the day traveling 60+ miles to St. Simons Island, then anchor off St. Simons Island for the night. That was the plan.
Reality check: Upon arriving at Jacksonville Municipal Marina Peter checked the engine and found a significant leak coming from the raw water pump. His attempts to correct the problem resulted in over-tightening a bolt that closes up the pump body, and stripping out the threads. Now we need a new raw water pump - we do not carry a spare of this item. Who was it that wisely said the definition of cruising is finding ways to fix your boat in exotic locations.
So it is now 19:00 on Monday, and we are still at Jax Municipal Marina and after searching local sources for a new pump we decided to order one online. It looks like we'll be here until Wednesday afternoon before we can get one. Then we'll try again on Thursday to begin our journey in earnest. On the bright side, we have the marina to ourselves. As you can see, it is empty of boats, except Kite.
Do you have a raw water wash-down hose on deck? I guess it's mostly sandy bottoms down south, but up here in Maine we have clay mud - like Missouri mud - that comes up on the anchor and chain and acts like grey magic marker on the sails and deck. Sure would be convenient to hose off the chain and anchor. I have to shake mine up and down in the water and scrape it, which is a pain when trying to sail off the anchor, especially if other boats are around.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm curious, what type of anchor do you have on that all chain rode? 5 or 6 years ago after a sleepless night with surprise high winds from the wrong direction, trying to drive us onto a rocky shore, I became interested in better anchors. I'm now using a Rocna, but by the time I settled on it they had switched to China for the manufacturer. It does set fast, even after sailing onto the anchor, and it held in a surprise squall from the wrong direction last summer. But I'd like to try a Mantus, a local scientist type did a controlled experiment and found it to set faster and held stronger than others. It bolts together and can be taken apart for storage, handy if you wanted to have a spare or storm anchor.
No wash-down pump, we deal with mud the same way you do. There is plenty of it in the rivers around here. My main anchor is a Delta Fast Set. It has not let me down (yet). Back up is a claw anchor (Bruce) - a little less reliable.
DeleteThanks for the encouragement, Lon. It's all fixed now and we will keep sailing on. You're right that we are not in a hurry. It's a novel experience to be able to go with the flow like this.
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