Day 82 – N 36° 50.496’ W 76° 17.973’ Norfolk/Portsmouth, VA

Our great nephew, Josiah Mahoney, has been faithfully following our blog, and decided to plot each stop we’ve made on Google Maps.  It looks great!  Click here for a link to Josiah’s project. 

In order to make it to the Gilmerton Bridge for its first opening of the day (09:30), our planned departure from Hampton was 06:00.  We wanted to catch the first opening so that we could make it all the way to Coinjock, NC where there is a nice marina where we stayed on the way north.  We planned to ride out Andrea at this marina, then continue our journey southward in the ICW on Saturday.  But things do not always go according to our plans, and this was one of those times. 

We were underway a few minutes before 06:00, and motored out the Hampton River and its narrow entrance channel.  Then we turned southwest toward Norfolk and put out the jib to get some extra speed from the strong east wind that was blowing.  We crossed to Norfolk at almost 7 knots, motorsailing!  Then as we turned back toward the south southeast, we had to take in the jib and go back to just motoring.  There was a lot of commercial shipping traffic in the Norfolk area and in order to get out of the way of a tug that was crossing our path, we gave the engine full-throttle.  That was immediately followed by a thick cloud of black smoke from our exhaust and an increase in RPM of only 100 (we were expecting over 300).  After a short time, we started losing power, so Peter reduced the throttle until the black smoke stopped.  We were just entering the Norfolk area, and we knew that there would be nothing after Norfolk if we needed help with an engine problem, so we decided to stop at the same marina we had used when we first arrived, and seek professional help for the engine.  

We were tied up at the marina by 08:00 and called a mechanic recommended by the marina, who said he could get to us by early afternoon.  Bruce, the mechanic, arrived at 14:00, as promised, and Peter described the symptoms to him.  Bruce thought it could be the result of (1) bad fuel, (2) restricted air intake, or (3) fouled propeller.  Peter said that he had cleaned the bottom and propeller a week ago and knew it was OK.  The fuel filter had been replaced only 70 hours ago, so it was not likely clogged, so that left the air cleaner, which had been neglected for the last 500 hours of operation.  Bruce started with that, and it was a mess.  He took the filter element out, noted that it was disintegrating, and said that this posed a great risk of sending metal particles into the engine, and we’d be better off without it.  So he put the empty filter housing back on the engine and refitted the foam external filter.  Then, for good measure he checked the fuel filter, which was clean, and pronounced the problem “solved”.  He said we could write him a check for $100 or he’d accept $75 cash.  Cash sounded pretty good to us.  As he was walking down the dock, Peter started up the engine and gave it full throttle, straining against the mooring lines, and to our relief it revved up to maximum RPM, and after belching some black goo initially, the exhaust was clear.

It was too late to make it to Coinjock, NC by the time Bruce was finished, so we decided to wait out Tropical Storm Andrea right here in Portsmouth.  It should pass through here late this afternoon, and we’ll be up early to resume our return to Florida.