Drowned Rats!

It rained (thunderstorms) pretty hard last night. This morning, it was still raining pretty steady when we got up and going. It wasn’t foggy, and we had 90 miles waiting for us, so we had to get a little wet…

We cast off at about 8 am, and the first lock was ready and waiting for us. Attached is a pic of some locking event, where you can see the water bubbling-up nearly three feet into the air as the water purges in/out of the lock.

As we entered the lock today, we were greeted by a surprising guest. There was a RAT running around on the bollard that we had planned to tie onto. As we approached, the rat jumped off the bollard into the water (about a three-foot drop) and swam behind it.

I offered to pass-up the bollard, and catch the next one (there are maybe eight or ten bollards per lock – one about every 50 feet or so, on both sides of the lock.) Kelly said she was okay with where we were at, after all, the rat had already jumped away to swim to safety and was no longer an “issue.”

The rains began to pour down on us HARDER now that we were in the locks. I told Kelly to go up to the flybridge and seek the shelter of the bimini top (there’s no use in BOTH of us sitting in the rain…)

Soon, the water level began to drop, and the rains fell more and more steady. As we dropped about 10 feet, our friend the RAT reappeared. He was now soaking wet, and clinging to a ledge in the bollard stall. I don’t know how he avoided getting crushed by the wheels of the bollard and such. Nevertheless, he survived, and was now soaking wet, panting rapidly, and clinging to a slippery/slimy wall. As the water fell further and further (30 feet in all,) the rat was now some two stories above us. If he slipped, he would fall right onto us or our decks.

But, I looked up at him like a wet rat myself – also trapped in this lock, in the rain – waiting for the gates to open and release us… Ironic – eh?

Since it rained HARD all night, and was still raining this morning, the dam (adjacent to the lock) was letting a LOT of water run out. Some of the water was being diverted into the exit area of the lock, too. I saw it ahead of time, but didn’t really pre-calculate the impact that it was about to have on our boat. As we motored out of the lock, the rushing water hit us on our starboard (right) bow (front.) Thus, it SHOVED the front of the boat to the left (towards the exit wall of the lock!) It was so fast, that as it spun and pointed our bow towards the wall, our stern was now exposed to the side-wash – and the water essentially SHOVED us now face-first towards the wall (in a HURRY!) I turned hard-right, but the rudders weren’t really helping (because we were being PUSHED from astern – and the rudders only REALLY work when the water is flowing bow to stern – not when the water if flowing from stern to bow.)

So, I shoved the port (left) motor into forward gear, and the starboard motor into reverse gear, and GOOSED both throttles pretty HARD!!! This caused us to spin quickly away from the wall, and I then pushed both shifters into forward gear – essentially speed-shifting them into fast-forward – FULL speed ahead/away from the wall. I then skid-steered our way out of the rushing water, and back into the “normal” water flow.

It was a pretty close call. I had contemplated letting Kelly drive during this canal – since it was raining so much. She needs a little more “stick time” maneuvering in tight situations. But, this would have been a rude awakening for her!!!

That was the “excitement” of the day. The remainder of the day was calm by comparison. Fortunately, the rains let-up by around noon, and we had only partly-cloudy skies thereafter – just enough clouds to keep the heat under control.



My sister says that many of the world’s sites/experiences are “wasted” on me. (e.g. I get to see/experience all kinds of cool stuff, and I never have a camera or others along to see/share/experience it.) e.g. I once saw a pair of water spouts (water tornadoes) dance only a few hundred yards away from me outside of our beachfront condo. It was an AWESOME site. I have seen tarpon jump completely out of the water – ditto for flying sea rays and man-o-wars. She says these experiences are “wasted” on me. (I take it as a tongue-in-cheek compliment – you have to know my sister to understand the compliment…) ;-)

Anyway, today was a GINA kinda day. We saw another bald eagle perched in a tree (and got somewhat of a photo of it.) We also saw three different deer as they were trying to drink from the riverbank (ditto for three cattle trying to do the same.) Cypress Trees, bluffs, Spanish Moss, cat tails, owls, hawks, etc.

We are quickly becoming VERY bored with most of this. But, we ARE excited to start seeing signs of the REAL “South.” The Cypress Trees and Spanish Moss are like a welcome mat to us. I have been scanning the waters and banks for my first sighting of a gator. The guy at the gas dock says that they ARE here in this area. He saw a three-footer yesterday right in front of the fuel dock. He says the small bayou just upstream has dozens of them (but, it’s too shallow for us to venture into that area to see them…)

I’ll keep my eyes pealed – I’m sure I’ll see ‘em soon enough!

We only had two locks to deal with today. Both were ready and waiting for us, and called us by-name (again.) It’s kinda surprising, that they are even keeping track of us from day-to-day, shift-to-shift. As we exited the marina today, the lockmaster asked, “Is this the Venture Out?”

We saw less traffic on the water today than ever before. We only had ONE tug pass us going upstream. We saw MAYBE three bass boats. That’s about all. We were on the water for 10 hours, and only saw MAYBE five boats?!!!! Imagine driving your car on the streets, and only seeing a passing car once every two hours. But, it’s actually more sparse than that – because you usually only see them in packs/groups (e.g. near major towns/parks/boat ramps.) So, you will see two bass boats within a half-mile of each other – and then not see another boat for six hours or more!

At the marinas, people often ask us, “are you guys doing ‘the loop?’” I nearly puke through my nose at them now when they ask this question! I have NO DESIRE to do the whole loop. Heck, I lost “the desire” as we exited Kentucky Lake! I’m SICK of the ditch and river-running!!! I can’t WAIT to get to the clear waters of the Gulf. But, they are still 215 miles away – THREE FULL DAYS of boating for us!

I’m getting tempted to get Kelly’s shotgun out and start taking pot-shots at channel markers or something!

Our goal is to make 90 miles per day for the next three days as well.

Mechanical news: ALL GREAT for today! The motors are purring like kittens. Kelly’s even trying to name them. Transmissions and drive shafts are GREAT! Alternators are charging, windshield wipers are coming to life, and the radar unit is even breathing shallow breaths of life…

This ol’ boat has been sleeping for a LONG time. I can’t tell you how many things have SEEMED to be broken. But, simply taking them apart, and reassembling them – has been enough to free-up any cob webs and breath new life into them: freshwater pump, radar unit, wiper motor, depth gauge, etc.

We are at the docks again tonight. We were going to anchor-out, but the area that we spotted near the local park, appeared to be too shallow. We don’t have any maps that have accurate depths of this area. So, we chickened-out, and made our way to the docks instead.

They typically charge “transient boaters” on a per-foot basis. The nicer places charge you $1.25 per foot, and the cheaper places charge about 80 cents per foot. Some offer the AAA-equivalent discount for boaters (BoatUS discount.) Tonight, the guy only charged me for a 30-foot boat (a $15 savings when you consider taxes, too.)

Unfortunately, the rates don’t always equal the QUALITY of what you are about to receive. Underpowered or lacking electrical connections, bathrooms that look/feel like 1970s mobile homes, docks that are about to sink underfoot, etc. Sometimes, you DO get what you pay for – QUALITY! But, at other times, it’s just flat0out highway robbery, because they are the ONLY deep-water place for HUNDREDS of miles with electricity and freshwater.

Well, I gotta get to bed. Another LONG day is planned for tomorrow. Hopefully, we’ll start taking some more pics….

Nick & Kelly.

Things are getting better!

Today was a trouble-free day. We had to deal with four more locks today, but each of them was ready/waiting for us. In one instance, they made two other boats wait for US to arrive. They even proactively hailed me to ask for my ETA: “Venture Out, this is the Aberdeen Lock, do you have an ETA on your arrival? We have the dock filled and ready for you with a green light to enter upon your arrival. We have a pleasure craft waiting down below, but we’ll keep them waiting for you to lock-down.”

I told them my ETA was about 30 minutes (which would be sufficient time for them to drain the lock, take-in the awaiting sailboat below, and then re-fill the lock before our arrival.) But, they insisted on waiting for us.

What’s additionally impressive, is that they knew my boat/call-sign – MILES before my arrival (which means that the prior lockmaster noted our call-sign/boat, and called-ahead to the next lock to notify them that we were heading their way.) Somewhat unbeknownst to us, the lockmasters have been passing us from hand-to-hand all the way down the canal system.

I wish there were more photo ops, or that we had a better camera, or that we had our camera at-the-ready as things quickly passed by. We have seen a few King Fishers (birds.) We have seen a totem pole, and a few personally-made lighthouses. Speaking of houses, we have seen some pretty elaborate waterfront homes, as well as some shacks that were nearly falling into the river.

At one point, Kelly saw a sign that pointed downstream and read “Key West & Key Largo.” Today, I finally grabbed the camera quick enough to capture a photo of a standalone phone booth, on the riverbank, in the middle of nowhere.

That pretty much sums up this trip thus far: In the middle of nowhere, with no phone service when you want/need it, and perfect phone service when you don’t need it.

If anyone was ever tempted to take a LONG, slow boat trip like this, I would suggest that you do the following instead:

Buy yourself a little riding lawnmower, or a small diesel farm tractor. Then, just poke your way from coast-to-coast (or to wherever you wanna go.) You will see more, and meet more people than you would EVER see cruising a boat down “the ditch.”

Today, we cruised 10 solid hours. One boat passed us going downstream, one trawler passed us going upstream, and one sailboat passed us going upstream (oh, and about three tugs.) We didn’t say/hear a peep from the fellow pleasure boaters/cruisers. The only thing we heard from the tugs was a VERBAL “one whistle” – which is their lingo/shorthand for “pass port-to-port.” Before the days of radios, passing boats would sound ONE blast (and reply with ONE blast) to signal/confirm a port-on-port passing. Similarly, a double-honk (with a double-honk acknowledgement) meant a starboard-on-starboard passing. The only time that there was an “issue” – was if your blasts didn’t match (e.g. one honk from vessel one, and two honks from vessel two.) Then, someone would need to re-honk to change their preferred passing lane – until this honks matched.

But, the “default” seems to be port-on-port. There are some exceptions to the port-on-port rule. But, for the most part, EVERYONE seems to pass port-on-port (just like we drive our cars – on the left side of the road.)

What’s somewhat ironic, however, is that most boats have their steering wheels on the right (starboard) side – opposite of our cars. (Most tugs have a center-console, however…)

Things have been getting (mechanically) better with the boat, day after day. I tend to the “must-have” issues first. If there are no must-have issues, or if they don’t completely wear me out of energy, then I turn my attention to the “nice-to-have” items. Today, there were no “must-have” issues to address. So, I semi-permanently mounted our navigation monitor up at the flybridge, and hard-wired it down to the laptop in the cabin/cockpit. It’s essentially a remote (dual-screen) monitor situation. So, the navigation charts/screen that we enjoy below, is now echoed up to the flybridge station. So, we now have digital GPS-based charts at either location – without the need to carry laptops up & down stairs each time we change locations.

I also “fixed” the connections for the depth gauge. I had “rigged” it about a week ago with electrical tape and make-shift wire connections. Today, I properly attached crimped-on connectors, so the depth gauge has a good/solid connection, but can still be removed and transferred to the lower-helm when necessary. But, I have an extra fish-finder/depth-gauge/water-temp sensor that I plan to install at the lower helm when we get to crystal-clear water and I can dive the boat.

We covered four more locks, and about 70 more miles today. We are going to attempt to get an earlier start tomorrow, and try to cover about 90 miles per day for the next four days, in an effort to arrive in the Gulf Shores, AL area (coastline) by Monday evening (or thereabouts.)

We are hoping to sync-up with our friends Mark & Laura & family at Gulf Shores for a few days. From there, it’s a 400-mile run along the Florida coastline back to St. Petersburg/Clearwater/Tampa.

Cheers all,


Nick & Kelly.

FINALLY – some forward progress!!!

We traveled 70 some-odd miles today (which isn’t too bad considering that we had to pass through four separate locks – each of which takes about 20-30 minutes when you catch them right. Fortunately, they were ALL ready for us. Traffic was so light, that each lockmaster would call-ahead to the next one, and tell them to get ready for us. Sweet!

We are in a place called Smithville, MS – pretty much in the middle of NOWHERE!

We went ahead and secured a dock tonight, so I can spend one more day researching/troubleshooting an issue with our generator. The alternators worked PERFECTLY today. (Whew!) But, the generator still needs some attention. It’s acting fuel-starved. It obviously needed the fuel filters and such changed (which I completed yesterday.) But, it’s still acting odd… I think that the fuel solenoid or something else is halting the fuel supply. (The filters all pump-up and fill-up perfectly, but no fuel is getting to the engine itself.) So, I’m spending most of tonight researching the Internet for answers – what did we ever do for this information before the Internet?

We spent about 10 hours on the water today. But, at least two of those hours were spent corralled within the locks. So, we only got about eight hours of actual cruising time.

Kelly has been nursing a wicked headache today. A weather front moved in, so her headache might be atmospheric-related? (pressure changes.)

When we stopped for tonight, I asked the guy who runs this place (Jesse) when we will start seeing alligators? He said that they purposefully introduced alligators to this waterway 22 years ago, to combat the beaver population. He said he saw a large one a few months ago, too. (Whereas, we saw a HUGE beaver swimming past us this evening…) He was too far away to get any decent pictures.

Pictures: Sorry there have been so few. But, the “ditch” is pretty darned boring… Not much worth taking a picture of…

Nite all,

Nick & Kelly.

River to nowhere?

The good news is, that we now have TWO functioning, brand-new alternators. The bad news is, that they didn’t get delivered to the docks until roughly 3:00 pm, and installation wasn’t complete until 4:00 pm. Thus, we missed out window of opportunity for the traversing the ditch today.  But, the good news out-weighs the bad news. It doesn’t cost us any more to stay another night here, and we can run a comfortable pace ALL DAY tomorrow, as opposed to trying to push a pace in a half-day.

Total cruising distance today: ZERO miles.

With a full day of cruising, we hope to make it to the next “big” town (which is a Sprint-serviced town.) This should resume out high-speed Internet service and such (yippee.) We should remain in high-speed-land for the rest of the weekdays (which is good for trying to work from the boat.)

If all goes well, we will spend the weekend traversing the next Sprint black-out area, and be back into cell coverage by Monday (Mobile, AL and/or Gulf Shores, AL.)

We have traveled 467 miles thus far (from Alton to the Alabama/Mississippi border.) The next leg is about another 445 miles. (Hopefully, it will take about half as much time as the last leg of the trip required!!!) MURPHY BE GONE!!!!

This is supposedly a down-hill run from here as well (running towards the Gulf.) I don’t expect too much of a current, but any little bit DOES help when you are only traveling at 6-10 mph.

We can’t WAIT to get to the clear saltwater!!! Can’t WAIT to see dolphins swimming in our bow wake!

Rainy today (and expected rain until the weekend.) Which I guess is better than sitting here BAKING in the heat/sun while going nowhere. Since we have to be held-up and locked-in here anyway, the sky might as well get rid of all the extra water, so it will be SUNNY by the time we approach the coastline Sunday/Monday (at least that’s MY perspective on how the weather is supposed to function.)

WAIT!!!! You didn’t think that I was going to let you go without another “surprise breakdown” story – did ya’?

So, I think I mentioned a day or so ago that we had some slight smoke/fog in our cockpit? It turned out to be an exhaust leak from our port motor. I applied a “field repair” (aka my VERY FIRST use of duct tape on this ol’ boat.) But, during the whole episode, the carbon monoxide detectors never made a peep. (We have two of them, one in the main cabin which functions on 100v shore power, with a battery backup; and the other on the master bedroom, 100% battery-operated.) Neither made a stickin’ PEEP during the whole smoky incident.

So, last night, with no generators running, no motors running, no NOTHING running, the forward (main) carbon monoxide alarm BEEPED and SCREECHED at us – at 2:30 in the morning no less!!!!

“What now?!” I essentially screamed as I tossed the covers aside.

“It’s the carbon monoxide detector,” Kelly said – very calmly – as if she has been listening to it go off every night of her life…

I was stupefied. How could she (half-asleep) know what the heck was beeping and blaring at us? This boat has no less than about two-dozen sensors and related alarms. How could she know which one it was? And, if it is the carbon monoxide alarm, why isn’t SHE jumping out of bed, too?

I began to wonder if she was already asphyxiated or something?

I unplugged the alarm (which is positioned RIGHT OVER the forward A/C vent.)

So, this alarm is essentially ONLY getting the chance to sniff/sample the air that’s coming out of that A/C vent. And, that A/C vent draws it’s cold air supply from the forward head – WHICH WE ARE NOT USING – AT ALL!!!! There are no motors of moving parts up there, either. No motors, no NOTHING to generate carbon monoxide.

I went ahead and shut-down the forward A/C unit (in case there was a blower motor burning up or a wire overheating/melting or something?) I plugged the detector back in, and nothing – not a peep. I also double-checked the unit that we keep in our bedroom, and it tested perfectly fine/operational.

I went ahead and left the forward A/C unit off for the remainder of the night, and the alarm never beeped again. And, today, we have had the forward AC unit running ALL DAY, and no beeps/alarms.

So, Murphy not only has his laws of what will go wrong, he is also a wicked-evil practical joker!

His Laws should be rewritten to say, “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong – at the WRONG TIME!” And, “Even things that don’t go wrong, will SEEM to go wrong – and also at the WRONG TIME!”

Murphy is a JERK!


Nick & Kelly (& Murphy)
m/v Venture Out II

P.S. We are going to leave Murphy at the dock tomorrow morning and sneak away without him!

Fish on!

Well, guess who caught the first fish (as well as the only fishes) on the trip this far? Answer: NOT the fisherwoman! Her 99.99% fish-catching record suffered a bit of a fallback today…

Granted, mine were NOT keepers! But, in HER fishing world, catching a minnow = one fish, just the same as catching a record-breaking sea grouper or such. So, my little striper and my baby big mouth bass count as a 2:0 shutout against the fisherwoman thus far!

We didn’t go very far today. We drove a courtesy van into town yesterday to reprovision. This morning, we did laundry and cleaned the boat a bit, and topped off the fuel tank (for the first time!) We still had about a third of a tank remaining, and I think we could have made it another couple of days. But, we wanted to check out mileage thus far, and also not run things too empty or low, and risk running dry.

We only drove the boat about three miles today (to a nearby waterfront mechanic.) He confirmed my diagnosis (that neither of our alternators are working.) But, he ALSO found a cut wire on one of the alternators. So, even if it WERE good, it wouldn’t have worked anyway…

So, we ordered a pair of new alternators, and they should arrive tomorrow (Tuesday) around 11 am. I have already removed the two old alternators, so hopefully it will only take an hour or so to get them both installed, tested, and confirmed, and get out on the water.

Our next stretch of water is a 44-mile long canal (ditch) that begins with an 80-FOOT flush down our first lock towards the sea. (All of our locks from here on out will be downhill drops.) Our largest lock-through thus far has been just under 60 feet (twice.) So, 84-feet will seem VERY deep! Plus, there is no anchoring allowed in the ditch. So, you have to be prepared to complete it in one day (no overnight stays allowed in the ditch.) If we get our alternators installed and get underway by about 1:00 pm, then we can make it (we have to allow time to wait at the locks for passing tugs/tows.) But, if we aren't underway by 1:00, then we will have to spend another night up here somewhere, and then launch at first-light on Wednesday.



We can’t wait to get back underway again. Our tanks are full of fuel and water, we are fully-stocked with food and drinks. We are all charged up and waiting to launch… waiting… waiting…

If there were any towns around worth visiting, it might make this wait more enjoyable. But, it took us 30 minutes to get to a nowhere town yesterday. (We went to Wal-Mart, Kroger and had our first fast-food in over a week = foot-long at Subway.) So, we’ll just have to rough it out here on the dock of our mechanic on the banks of Mississippi and Alabama (Alabama is the opposite shore from us) until our parts arrive and we can shove off again.

Mechanical ranting: So, I have spent quite a few posts talking about the mechanical issues, breakdowns, etc. I do this for two reasons. First, many of my friends are mechanics or ex-mechanics, so they appreciate the blow-by-blow feedback. Plus, they give us feedback/suggestions/tips on how to diagnose/repair our situations. Second, I kinda want to scare some people out of following in out footsteps. This is NOT an “easy” adventure. There are navigational challenges, physical obstacles, emotional stress, mechanical & electrical dragons, and more! The physical demands of the journey have surprised me the most. Pushing/fighting to keep the boat from rubbing against the crusty walls of the locks; free-diving to recover a lost anchor; climbing up & down and in & out of the engine room; and just the sheer exhaustion of 8-10 hour drives – mostly BORING drives in the sun/heat can REALLY take their toll on your body. I have been losing weight day by day – a VERY unexpected event…

Don’t get me wrong, there have been some beautiful sunsets/sunrises. There have been some peaceful and tranquil coves. We have seen some pretty interesting houses – everything from waterfront mansions and estates, to stilt-born river cabins that looked like Daddy Long Legs preparing to walk into the river. We have seen sunflower fields along the banks, and wild packs of dogs wandering the banks. (I think I even saw snake hunters roaming the banks one day – with long sticks, poking into holes in the mud flats.)

But, MOST of the time, it just looks like most every other river we have ever boated on. Tree-lined banks, hour-after-hour. The only break to the boredom is our music, and our navigational chores. Hour after hour, we wander from one bank to the other – following the deepest portion of the channel. Thus far, the shallowest it has become was 15 feet (and we have a 4-foot draft.) So, we still had 11 feet under out keel.


Final closing comment on this day: Miles traveled today = 2.5 miles.

Sincerely,


FisherMAN (and his non-catching fisher-wanna-be)


P.S. I gotta rub it in when I can, because she will likely out-fish me on the rest of this trip... (And, since I'm authoring this blog, I probably won't mention a SINGLE fish that she catches...)

As I learned in my journalism days, the power of the press belongs to those who own the presses... If she wants to brag about her fish stories, then I guess she will have to author her own blog. THIS BLOG is for MY lies and fishtales!

Lost in Time

After two or three days without cell phone service and Internet access, I feel lost in time… Is it Friday? Saturday? Sunday? Is this how retirees feel after awhile? A few days off the grid, and which day it is no longer seems to really matter…

Friday and Saturday were Tennessee cruising days. LONG cruising days. WHEW!


Friday: A full day of cruising Kentucky Lake. The lake is wide and LONG. Most of the large lakes that we have boated, have very few channel markers. But, Kentucky Lake is still navigable waterway (used by tug boats and such.) So, it has a clearly-marked channel (red buoys on one side, green buoys on the opposite bank.) So, while the lake looks deep from shore-to-shore, it actually has a “sweet spot” between the channel markers (where the original river runs/flows below.) The day seemed ENDLESS. We cruised, and cruised, and cruised… Since the lake is so wide, the banks pass more slowly, and time seems to stand still.

Since there is essentially no current here, I pushed the motors a little harder today (to see how fast we could cruise.) But, after about six hours or pushing them, one of my alarms went off! The motors looked good, as did the generator. The water temps were still cool (even cool enough to touch bare-handed.) And, the oil pressures were perfect. So, the alarm had to be someone else.

Our FIRST reaction to ANY alarm is to power-down (slow-down) and edge our way towards the bank (out of the main shipping channel.)

We cruised at idle speed for awhile, as I went below to investigate the cause of the issue. From what I could tell, the starboard transmission was running a little warmer than the port transmission. The slower speed caused the alarm to go quiet again (we were back within specs.) So, we backed off a few mph for the rest of the day, and all went well.

As the sun began to fade, we flipped through our Quimby’s Guide for a nearby marina/anchorage. In it, we found a pair of waterfront restaurants with safe/deep anchorage. What we WANTED was a place with decent shorepower (electric hookups) and a decent bar/restaurant to enjoy as well. Unfortunately, the electrical power at BOTH facilities was lacking. We had to move the boat around three or four times in an effort to find two outlets that wouldn’t pop breakers or would even WORK!

Just when we thought that we found an acceptable spot, and took a shower and such – a breaker would pop and we would loose power. So, we would disconnect all the lines, move the boat to another spot, hook everything up again, settle-in – then POP! I was about ready to toss something/someone into the river!!!

It was SUCH an inconvenience, that I didn’t want to reward the owners’ with our patronage at their restaurant. I was PREPARED to buy hundreds of dollars worth of diesel fuel, plus a full dinner + drinks for the two of us, plus overnight docking fees, tips, etc. – HUNDREDS of dollars. But, after a couple of hours of playing dock-hop with power cords and dock lines, there was NO WAY that I was going to spend another cent at either of these two places. (Well, I did purchase two bags of ice the next morning upon our departure…)

Saturday: Another FULL DAY of boating/cruising up the Tennessee River. Today, Kentucky Lake narrowed all day, and returned to a river-like waterway. Kentucky Lake is FULL of houseboats. Whereas, the river above it is FULL of pontoon boats.

It was a Saturday (weekend) after all. So, everyone who owns a boat, seemed to get out on the river today. All day long we were buzzed by jet skis, ski boats, runabouts, pontoon boats, and various other pleasure craft.

Around every bend, seemed to be another sandbar, with yet another Redneck Yacht Club assembly. The weekend boaters seemed to swarm us like gnats and mosquitoes – often following/training us to jump in our wake as we passed along.

We were like a semi-helpless big elephant, moving slowly through their turf. They would literally do circles around us to jump in our wake. We couldn’t out-run nor out maneuver them… We just had to accept their swarm…

By Saturday evening, it was apparent that we were nearing the end of this waterway. We had one last lock to pass-through, into the next “lake” on the Teneesee River.

We hadn’t seen a tug/tow/barge (underway) in what seemed like days. So, as we approached the lock, we assumed that we would have a quick lock-through (maybe with a handful of other pleasure boaters?) WRONG!!! Instead, they were locking a tug/barge down as we arrived. This meant that we had to wait about an hour for them to spit it out of the locks in front of us.

It was then our turn to lock-through, and to our surprise, we were again the ONLY boat to lock-through.

The sun was setting as we exited the lock. We made a quick bee-line run for what appeared on the charts to be a state park area. Instead, it appeared to be newly-developed with several multi-million-dollar homes. It was too late to hunt for another cove, we were going to have to make the most of this situation.

We found a small secondary cove (more like a nook) where we would be able to snuggle-in. It took us two or three attempts to get the bow (front) anchor line to “set” (hock-up) in the steep, rocky bottom. Since the cove was so shallow, we wanted a stern/aft (back) anchor line, too (to prevent us from swinging into shallow water or the shoreline.) We backed up as close to the shoreline as we dared, and tossed the anchor. But, like the bow anchor, it didn’t “catch” on the first attempt… The second attempt seemed promising (at first.) But, the anchor seemed to keep dragging… As I pulled it to the surface, it was heavier than usual. Sure enough, it had snagged onto a complete tree branch. But, the branch wasn’t enough to hold it to the bottom. So, I unsnagged the branch, and we prepared for our third attempt to secure the stern hook. We would try to get a bit closer to shore (in more shallow water) this time. We tossed the anchor as we approached the shallows, and then some IDIOT idles past us making the LARGEST WAKE possible!!!!! We were still in VERY shallow, rocky waters. We were at-risk of bouncing our hull on the hard bottom. We quickly maneuvered forward (into deeper water) to avoid disaster. But, just as we reversed our motors to stop our forward motion and halt us, we noticed that the entire spool of stern anchor line had gone over the railing during the quick-maneuver… GONE was out anchor, plus 50-feet of brand new anchor line.

But, wait! I could still see the spool floating on the surface!!! I ran to the stern to climb-down onto the swim platform, as Kelly reversed the motors to inch us backwards toward the spool. But, as we approached, it became too water-logged, and finally sank to the bottom – before we could capture it…

I was frustrated by the whole situation, and just wanted to hoist anchor and go to the nearest marina, and chalk this one up to Murphy and his laws. But, Kelly wanted me to make at least ONE attempt to find/recover the anchor. So, I secure the bow line/anchor, and had her back the motors against it – to keep it taunt and stationary in-place. I meanwhile grabbed my mask, fins and snorkel, and then jumped out into the now dark water.

I knew finding the anchor itself in the complete darkness was nearly impossible (distinguishing between a hard rock and a metal anchor with my feet would be difficult.) Son, instead, I decided to position myself between the anchor and the boat, and attempt to find the anchor line instead. I swam to the bottom, and then perpendicular to the line’s path. I couldn’t see ANYTHING. So, I just placed one hand on the bottom, and the other hand as high as I could (in case the line was semi-floating.) I then kicked/swam as long, had, and fast as I could. And, just when I was out of breath, I PUSHED and kicked/swam even HARDER – one last effort. Just as I was beginning to break-off my swim/search, my hand found the line, and I panic-swam towards the surface (not knowing how deep I really was anymore…)

But, I had done it! After all the chaos of anchoring, and then being nearly out-of-breath from swimming from the boat to the shoreline, and literally panting from the effort, I was able to muster enough air (and hold it) long enough to find our anchor line on my FIRST try!!!!

I traced the line backwards towards the shoreline to find the anchor. I then took it ashore, and literally hooked it into a tree/shrub. I then swam the line back to the boat, and BINGO – we now had a stern line, too! We were FINALLY dual-attached and safe for the night.

Mechanical Note: We are still battling alternator/generator gremlins. We spent our night at anchor without the generator, to see if the batteries would stay charged until morning. By morning, they had enough charge to only start ONE motor. So, there is something “leaking” our voltage overnight… (Still TBD…)

Also, as we anchored for the night, after a full day of cruising with the windows closed, and the AC on, the cabin was a bit “foggy?” I tried to troubleshoot the issue (assuming that it was maybe an exhaust leak from the generator all day?) But, couldn’t find any leak.

ENOUGH for one day! Time for bed!


Sunday morning, as mentioned above, we only hand enough battery power to start ONE of our two motors. So, we started the generator, too. (It has its own separate, brand-new battery.) With it started and running for about 60 minutes, we were then able to charge-up the house batteries and start the second motor.

We want to FIND/FIX these charging/electrical demons!!! So, today, we would only cruise a very short distance (about 10 miles.) But, it’s “key” 10 miles. During these 10 miles, we will exit the Tennessee River, and enter the Tenn-Tom Waterway. We will also exit Tennessee, and enter Mississippi & Alabama.


We will spend the next 24-48 hours at a boat slip in a marina. Swimming pools, hot tubs, courtesy cars, cable TV, free WiFi internet, etc., etc. I will spend much of my time down in the bilge, however, chasing electrical gremlins. (Wish me luck!) Oh, and that smoke-like fog that was filling the cabin yesterday? It turns out that it was an exhaust leak (two actually) on the port motor. There is a large-diameter, LONG host (exhaust hose) than runs from each motor, back through the walls of the cabin (each side) and then out the stern/back of the boat. The hose for the port motor developed TWO holes/leaks (one beneath the bed, and the other behind Kelly's bedside table.) I have fixed both of them. We have been pretty successful in ridding the boat of the smell of diesel fuel (except for our pillows.) Hopefully, this will resolve the pillow smell/issue, too... (Note to self: If it SMELLS like a problem, then it probably IS a problem!)


Nick (& Kelly.)

Water Aboard

Part of my daily routine, is to turn on the bilge pump every morning and count-down the amount of time it takes to pump out any water that has accumulated overnight.

Most boats like this take on a certain amount of water... The drive shafts have a seal/packing that is water-lubricated, and designed to “drip” a bit (which underway becomes a bit more of a splash than a drip.) Similarly, the boat has LOTS of through-hull fittings for A/C (heat pump) intake/exhaust (times two.) Plus motor intakes (times two.) Plus toilet intakes/outflows (times two.) Etc., etc. Add to this some leaky decks for a 30-year old boat, and morning dew becomes water inflow, as does any rain and such.

The bilge pumps have “float switches” that cause the pumps to turn on automatically when the water level reaches a particular height/level/ (There is ALWAYS an inch or so of water in the hull. But, when it gets up to about 2 or 3 inches, the FIRST of THREE bilge (sump) pumps turn on. If that pump should fail, there are two additional pumps that engage at higher water/float levels (e.g. the next one kicks on at about 5-6 inches of water in the hull, and the final one kicks on at about 12 inches in the hull.

Each morning (and also each afternoon after a full day of cruising,) I turn the pump to the on (manual) position to force it to pump out any water in the bilge (as opposed to waiting for the float switch to rise high enough to engage.) I then count the seconds until it runs dry. “Norm” is about 45-60 seconds. Anything less is okay, anything more is an issue. But, ZERO water output is actually a BAD thing! Something should pump out – even a trickle/trace-few drops…

So, when NOTHING came out this morning, it meant that we had an issue with “pump number one” – our “primary” pump.

When I opened the hatch and lifted the bilge (basement) floorboards, I saw more than enough water to cause pump number one’s float switch to engage (but, fortunately, NOT enough to get pump number two to engage.)

I could also hear the pump BARELY trying to work – a slight hum from it’s electric motor.

I assumed that the old pump had died, and it was time to replace it. Fortunately, the marina that we spent the night at, had a mini ship store, and had two pumps to choose from. I bought one of them (the highest volume pump, to match the pumping capability of the one that had just died.)

After uninstalling the old pump, and reinstalling the new one – STILL no water was pumping out!!!

There is only one issue that can cause this: a clogged exhaust tube/hose.

The hose is about 1-inch in diameter, and the pump has input screens that are about ¼-inch diameter. So, in theory, nothing should be able to enter/pass the pump that won’t also EASILY clear through the hose.

I envisioned a snake or something crawling into the tube/hose from outside of the hull. Maybe a critter got stuck in there overnight? But, the tube is about six inches above the waterline. So, whatever critter it was, would have to be able to climb UP a slippery, inverted, 6-inch rise. (Thus, no small turtles, or fish, or baby ducks, frogs, etc.) Snake, snake, snake is the only thing that came to my mind…

Whatever was in there (be it critter or crud,) had to be cleared. I need my primary bilge pump!

On all of my previous boats, the hose from the bilge pump simply attached at the pump, and then ran (unobstructed) through the hull (via a through-hull flange/fitting – usually about a foot or so above the waterline – to prevent any potential water backflow/intrusion.) But, on THIS boat, someone had installed a check-valve (one-way valve) in the hose about one foot away from the pump. (This makes a LOT of sense, because the hose can hold quite a bit of water inside of it. So, when the pump disengages, water in the hose can back-flow back into the hull. So much water comes back, that the float switch reengages the pump. The pump then turns on, and re-fills the hose with the bilge water, and turns off. Then, backflow (again.) This pump & flow-back cycle can literally be endless (causing the pump to cycle on & off for hours, days, weeks – until the batteries latterly die, or the pump dies, and then any follow-on water can cause a flood. And, because the batteries are now dead, a second & third pump (backups) are of zero use, either (because they have no power.)

Hint: Always attach your backup pumps to a second/separate battery source/bank. In our case, the second pump is actually a 110v pump. So, it can be powered via shorepower or the generator. But, I do need to rewire pump number three to a separate battery source.

Back to our issue: I disconnected the one-way valve, and whatever was in the line, BLASTED out towards me! GROSS!!! I don’t really know WHAT was in there… I assume just an oily grease ball or something? Anyway, after the BLAST of CRUD at me, I reattached the new pump, and BINGO – water flow! So, I also reinstalled the old pump, and BINGO – water flow from it as well!!!! 

So, I reinstalled the original pump, and kept the new one as a spare.

We were already planning a lazy start to our Thursday. This little diversion added a few EXTRA hours to our delayed launch. It was about 1:30 pm before we finally left the docks today.

We cruised until sunset, and made it to the 73 mile marker (only about 50 miles.) This is kinda “par” for us. We attempt to average 100 miles per day. So, if we only cruise a half-day, we will only cover about 50 miles…

Here’s a hint as to how slowly we are moving: We have been able to tune-in to the SAME over-the-air television channel since we stopped just north of Cape Girardeau, MO on Sunday night. It’s now Thursday night, and we can STILL tune-in to weather channel 6.

We were watching the weather forecast tonight. They were calling for mostly sunny skies and mid-80s tomorrow/Friday, and then a chance of rain on Saturday and Sunday.

Kelly said, “that doesn’t apply to us, we will be out of there by then!”

I told Kelly, if we can receive the station’s signal, then we can receive their weather, too.


MORE water aboard:

We opened Kelly’s birthday present today. I had bought her an inflatable kiddie pool of sorts. Well, it’s not really a kiddie pool. It’s technically a sun lounger/tub. It can function as a raft to float in a pool, or it can be placed on shore and filled with water (like a little personal bathtub or wading pool.)

It took me about 30 minutes to blow the sucker up – manually, the OLD fashioned way – huffin’ and puffin’. We then placed it out on the bow of the boat, and partially-filled it with water.

I guess you can guess where Kelly spent the rest of the day… She is no longer standing watch at the helm. Now, she just lays in her tub and reads her books, and sips on a cool drink in the sunshine. She also has the hose handy (for a sprinkler-like shower as necessary.) I toss down a few chunks of ice from the cooler upon request, too.

I wonder if she’s going to let ME spend a day or two basking in her tanning tub, too?


Tonight (Thursday night) we found a PERFECT cove. There is a narrow pass from the main channel, into a large cove – and we are then on a smaller/secondary side cove. The water is calm and peaceful here, and the banks are deserted.

We can receive television signals here, but no cell phone or internet access. (Now THAT sounds like heaven to me!) ;-)

So, while we are writing this update on Thursday night, we won’t get to post it until we get back into cell phone range. (So, don’t panic, parents.)

We plan to hang-out in the cove for awhile tomorrow morning (another late start.) Ideally, I’d like to see us underway by around noon, and try to get about eight more hours (or 70-80 miles behind us on Friday.) Ditto for Saturday.

While are travels were short and slow today, we DID finally clear-out of Kentucky. Our little heavenly cove is just a few miles inside of Tennessee (Dover, TN.)

Kelly is planning to get her fishing line wet in the morning. We restrung her rod the other night. The fish were calling to her tonight, but it was too buggy for her.

This post is getting rather long, so I’ll close for now.

Check out our sunset pics. That’s what our view was like as we set anchors this evening. Then a quick BBQ of some burgers, while Kelly tossed together some homemade potato salad. We eat GOOD for liveaboard/cruising boaters!

Nite all.

Nick (& Kelly)
m/v Venture Out II

Up, Up, & Away!

Today was another flawless day. No breakdowns! :-)

We departed Metropolis, IL at 8 am this morning. We had about an 8-mile run up the Ohio River to Paducha, KY. We had one small lock to traverse enroute. Then, turn into the Tennessee River and cruise about 22.5 miles upstream to the Kentucky Lock & Dam.

Up, Up, & Away!!! Up nearly 60 feet, and then slip out into the expanse of Kentucky Lake.

Unfortunately, we had just over an hour wait at Kentucky Lock/Dam for our turn to ride the water elevator. Once it was our turn, we were solo in the chute. If this had been our first lock, it would have been pretty impressive and daunting. But, we are getting pretty used to it now -- even this monster didn't scare us.


Oh! So, this morning, I heard Kelly's FIRST "real" complaint about the trip. Throughout all of the breakdowns, and endless hours at the wheel/helm, and the facilities (or lack thereof,) she hasn't made a single peep or filed a single complaint -- until this morning.

Her exact words, as she stared out into the light drizzle (after 12 hours of straight, non-stop rain,) were, "I didn't sign up for this..." -- (with a sigh...)

"What?" I asked?

"Rain" she replied. "I can handle the breakdowns, the locks, the smell of diesel fuel, etc. But, I want sunny skies. Enough with the rain."

Fortunately, sunny skies are in the forecast for the next few days as we traverse Kentucky Lake (it should only be about a two-day journey, but we might stay for an extra day to enjoy it a bit more...)

Technology: I had grand plans for sharing our adventure (digitally.) I have installed a webcam on the bow of the boat, and had configured our wifi router to broadcast our GPS position and make automatic updates to our blog/website/facebook account. Unfortunately, our wifi router (that I love, love, love) died on day one. :-( And, the cell service has been nearly nonexistent, or we have been "roaming" via third-party carriers (and I don't want to pay their fees.) So, we have remained offline and often turned our phones off to conserve power and avoid the fees. (Sorry.)

We are now at Kentucky Lake Marina. We plan to depart here at about 8am Thursday morning, and log about 100 miles. Kentucky Lake is LONG!!! We are only going to cross abotu 200 miles of it. Probably 100 miles tomorrow/Thursday, then find a protected cove to overnight, and maybe even stay there an extra day/night to just "chill" and soak up some sun (while it lasts through Friday.) Then on Saturday, get underway again and try to finish the final 100 miles of this lake-based leg.

Fuel Economy: We seem to be doing about EXACTLY as advertised/expected (maybe even a little bit better?) They "advertise" the cruising distance of this trawler at 1,000 miles on full tanks (500 gallons of fuel.) But, one of our tanks apparently has a leak. So, we have one hand tied behind our backs when it comes to distance -- right?

Well, we still ahve 250 gallons of fuel aboard. From Hoppies Marina to Kentuckly Lake (240 miles,) we have only used about 80 gallons of fuel. We are getting roughly 3 mpg.

We were hoping/budgeting for abotu 10 hour per day time 10 miles per hour equals 100 miles per day. And, at about 3 gallons per hour, we were expecting to run through about 30 gallons per day. 100 miles/30 gallons = 3.33 mpg.

So, our guestimates appear to be nearly dead-on accurate!!!

But, there is one catch...

We were only expecting to get about 500 miles per tank of gas (250 gallons.) So, we should have only achieved 250 miles per half-tank of fuel (125 gallons.) Whereas, we got nearly 250 miles on only 1/3rd of a tank of fuel. So, our theoretical range would be about 750 miles on the single 250-gallon tank that we have...

We are going to play things conservatively, however, and assume that our good mileage was largely due to the down-stream PUSH of the Mississippi River. (Note, however, that 140 of our 240 miles was actually UP stream -- and for much of that distance, we were also running our generator, too!)

Regardless of how we crunch the numbers, things are AT LEAST on-par with our goals/budget/expectations, and we are likely doing BETTER than expected!

Photos: Internet access has been slow. And when "roaming," it can be costly. So, we will post photos when we get the chance (they may not match the date/time of the blog entries...)

Blogger doesn't seem to support photo captioning anyway, so you will have to make up your own captions.

The water seems to get smoother and clearer with each passing mile. We only passed maybe two tugs/tows all day today (granted it was a relatively short day.) Short or not, our goal was Kentucky Lake, and we are here!

Tonight: BBQ (again -- still cooking up the steaks that tawed during our electrical meltdown.) Laudry, a few MINOR boat chores, and a restful night's sleep (secure in a slip/dock at the marina.) No worries about our anchor lossing it's hold in the current, and washing aimlessly downstream in our sleep. No worries about tugs running us down, or washing us ashore with their wakes. No worries about 3-foot river level drops OVERNIGHT -- leaving us high & dry on-the-hard when we awake.


Rehtorical question: How can SO MANY cities, that came to life due to their proximety to a river -- turn their back on the river that created the city? Every major river-front city SHOULD have a marina (whether it's a private marina, or a municipal marina.) A place that welcomes waterborne tourists/visitors. Most boat owners have a significant amount of discresionary income. Plus, MOST boats hold a LOT of fuel, and burn through it pretty quickly! That's a LOT of lost revenue for the city. Lost tourist dollars.

And, when there IS a marina along the way -- why does it SO OFTEN have to be such a hole-in-the-wall? Hoppies is a legend on the Mississippi River. But, it's just a couple of old barges anchored along the bank of the river. They have ONE bathroom ashore, which is BARELY better than an out-house. They have no showers, no restaurant. The sell overnight dockage at $1 per foot. (I only pay 80 cents per foot for a much nicer dock/slip in Kentucly Lake.) Hoppies only has fuel, water, and electrical power (and one bathroom) -- that's ALL it has!

But, even here in KY Lake, how much effort would it be to install a couple of hot tubs? What about a couple of dock carts? Or even a HUGE neon sign that says "FUEL!"

Where is the "St. Louis Marina" Where is the Cape Girardeau Marina? The Cairo Marina? The Metropolis Marina? The Paducha Marina?

The little city of Alton, IL has a marina that puts most others to shame! They have excellent facilites, and a motivated staff to match! They bring drinks & bags of ice to your dock/boat. They collect your garbage from your boat/slip every morning. They have a pool, two hot tubs (which are all open until midnight!) A snack bar and mini-grocery/convenience store. They host/promote at least one event per month. They roll out the red carpet for EVERYONE!

Now THAT is riverfront hospitality!

Of the 10 or so piers of slips in Alton, only one is reserved for transient overnighters. All of the other docks are for local boat owners, and they are nearly sold out.

I cna only imagine that the same woudl happen for a STL-based marina, or a Cape Girardea or Ste Genevieve marina. And, for small, lost cities like Cairo and Metropolis, a riverfront marina can bring new guests, and new residents.

I am SHOCKED, however, by the lack of boats/cruisers to be seen on the river during our journey. We have only seen maybe three to six other pleasure boats passing buy us: One from Alton to STL. One cruiser heading upstream on day two. One power-catamaran trawler on day three. Nothing on day four (because my head was burried in the engine room, and it was RAINING all day.) And nothing today (not cruising anyway...) Sure, here at the marina, there are TONS of boats in these slips -- labeled with cities like "Clearwater Beach, FL" and "Chicago, IL." But, MOST of these boats stay here -- forever. They are simply floating condos for remote snowbirds -- waiting for their semi-annual visitors/hosts.

Many of the boats even sport such names: "Lake House," "Beach House," "Floating Condo," etc. I guess the given name of our boat kinda fits our wandering spirit -- Venture Out.

Well, it's getting late, and I need to help Kelly fetch the laundry from the dryer.

Nite all,

Nick (& Kelly.)

Power to the People

Sorry for the delay in our blog updates, we experienced an electrical issue yesterday, and didn’t get it restored until this morning.

I guess I’m understating things (a bit) to say that we ONLY had an “electrical issue.” What REALLY happened, was that as we made our turn from the Mississippi River up the Ohio River, shortly thereafter, we lost BOTH of our alternators. (You see, the advantage of having two engines, is that things are set-up in redundant pairs.) But, when you buy/own an OLD boat, your gauges don’t necessarily work properly… I think we were already one alternator shy when we departed Alton (down to only a single alternator.) But, I didn’t worry too much, because we had an extra/spare one aboard. Also, diesels aren’t supposed to need electrical power to run. So, not having an alternator shouldn’t be too big of a deal… PLUS, we have a diesel generator aboard (triple protection.) So, even if we lost BOTH alternators, we could simply fire-up the Genny, and she would provide us with abundant electrical power for as long as we needed.

Then, Murphy paid us a visit, and taught us a few lessons about HIS laws…

So, after losing the alternators (and only really knowing so, because our power invertors for our laptops started to beep at us,) we fired-up the Genny (as planned.) But, about an hour later, the power invertors for the laptops were beeping at us (again) – not good – NOT good at all!

I ran down below, and opened the hatch to the engine room, and jumped down inside with a flashlight to find my WORST nightmare – OIL SPARYED ALL OVER THE PLACE!!!! Something apparently went REALLY wrong with the generator!!! So badly, that it sprayed oil all over the hot water heater and the AC units and the walls/floors of the bilge (just on one side of the genset.) Did we throw a rod through the case?!!! It was too dark and oily to diagnose underway (and noise with both diesel motors still running.)

All we could do now, was weigh our options…

Again, diesels can run all day/night without electric. As a matter of fact, you only need electric for the starter (to start them,) and then for the shut-off switch (which happens to be electrically-controlled.) Fortunately, there is a manual override for the shut-offs, too.

So, it was only 3 pm or so, and we had already passed Cairo, IL. The next major towns ahead of us were Metropolis, IL (about 30 miles upstream,) and Paducah, KY (about another 8 miles further.) Neither town has a marina, nor is known as a place for boaters. As our cell service skipped in and out of roaming carriers, we called each of their respective Visitor & Convention Centers. Metropolis was closer, and seemed to have the services we needed, plus was within daylight cruising distance.

(The plot thickens…)

You see, once the sun sets, you need to turn on your navigation lights. Not so much so YOU can see, but so other boaters (barges/tugs/tows) can see you. So, we needed to make a landfall before sunset. And, our batteries were now COMPLETELY drained. So, once we turn our motors off, they are going to remain OFF until we can either get some shorepower (electrical outlet at a dock,) or get our generator fixed (which will recharge our batteries – if ITS battery holds out,) or rent/buy a portable generator.

The sun had just set as we went under the train bridge and the Harrah’s Casino boat in Metropolis. Our waiting dock was at a State Park (old waterfront fort) just about ¾’s of a mile ahead. We pre-called the Park Ranger, and he gave us permission to use the dock overnight.

We arrived just in time, and tied up for the night.

Another note for non-mariners: When you are moored at a dock, you can turn off ALL of your lights. But, when you are anchored overnight (sleeping on the hook,) then you have to display a white “anchor light” all night long. Since we have no power, we NEEDED to find a dock!

We were tied-up by 8 pm. We had left that morning at 8 am. So, we motored a full 12 hours on Monday, to cover almost EXACTLY 100 miles – much of it upstream. We had covered almost exactly 100 miles the day before (Sunday,) but in only nine hours (because we were running downstream all day.)

Once safely at the dock, we called a few family/friends to inform them that we arrived safely, and tell them a bit about our issues. (We didn’t want to alarm anyone, so we played our cards pretty close…) We weren’t really in any “danger.” But, we all know how parents can worry…

Safely in port, I checked the alternators as best I could (in the now COMPLETE darkness,) and I couldn’t see them producing any voltage. The generator was still an oily mess that I didn’t want to confront, because I was fearing the worst…

So, we essentially “camped” Monday night. Fortunately, we had purchased a propane-powered BBQ grill before we left. (We have actually been cooking with it every night.) This night would be the same – BBQ pork steaks, plus one of Kelly’s knock-off Pasta House salads – and LOTS of rum! ;-)

We would need to put in an early/busy day on Tuesday to make repairs, and get back underway. So, we turned in early Monday night.

Flashback to the night prior: Sunday night was our first night “on the hook.” It was really quite pleasant. After covering nearly 100 miles in only 9 hours, we felt GREAT! When I awoke Monday morning, there was a slight hazy fog lifting off of the river. (See the pic.) It was pretty breathtaking…

Outside of our power issues, the “cruise” itself was “interesting.” There were TONS of floating trees/debris in the Mississippi for awhile I felt like I was running a slalom course. There were also a few fast “chutes” at bends in the river. At times, they pushed my normal cruising speed of only 9 knots, up to 11.5 knots! It was truly like surfing the current – being PUSHED along – it made steering “interesting” – you had to stay on your toes.

Toes: We steer our boat more with our feet than our hands. The captain’s chair has a foot rest that is strategically placed at the PERFECT height/position for your heels to rest on the foot-rest, and your toes to rest on the lower-side of the ship’s wheel. We steer so much with our feet, I think I’m getting calluses! But, here’s the icky part of it… When we are steering with our hands, we are essentially grabbing a wheel that 30-years worth of OTHER people’s feet have been dancing on!!!! Ewwwww!!!! Athlete’s fingers!!! Toe jam!!!!!

Back to cruising…

I was surprised by the LACK of tugs/tows again (this time on a Monday/weekday.) Maybe the amount of debris was keeping them off the river? I wish they WERE on the river – they act like big Roomba’s and push the debris out of the channel, and chop it into smaller pieces as well (easier for my boat to digest…) Pre-chewed roughage.

We got GREAT fuel mileage with the PUSH downstream. I don’t know the exact amount (yet.) But, the tanks looked like they hadn’t lost a single gallon since we topped off at Hoppies Marina.

The Mississippi River is VERY twisty – more so than I had imagined or expected. It truly felt like a float trip at times. I just wanted to make sure we made it through the turns and chutes before any barges came from the other direction. Down by the Missouri boot heel, the Mississippi almost makes a complete loop to the left, before then doing ANOTHER complete loop to the right. At times, we were heading “north” going downstream.

As the Mississippi River meets the Ohio River, the differences in water coloring is pretty significant. The muddy Mississippi truly earns her name. The Ohio River was a deep green (by contrast.) The two swirled and mixed together and the confluence (the Mighty Mississippi eventually winning the color-battles, and turning the green Ohio waters muddy brown…

But, as we turned to head up the Ohio, it was surprisingly wide, green, calm, and straight. It was like boating on a REALLY long/straight lake (except for the current we were now battling…) While we were making a steady 9 knots down the Mississippi River (with occasional bursts up to 10-11 knots,) we were now only making 5 knots upstream.

When the alternators died, I increased our RPMs a bit, to make about 6 knots (so we could make it to Metropolis before sunset.) And, with the Genny running, too (for awhile there,) we were making the WORSE fuel economy that we will likely achieve during this whole trip (three diesels pounding away – gulp, gulp, gulp…)

But, the Genny soon died, and we were back to our two primary motors. And, I didn’t want to tempt Murphy to teach us any ADDITIONAL lessons for the day, so I throttled-back to only 5.5 knots.

Note to would-be mariners: Driving UPSTREAM is WAY easier and more controllable than being SHOVED down the Mississippi River!

Along the Ohio, we were blessed with several other treats along the way. We saw a pair of Ospreys hunting, and our first wild Bald Eagle as it swooped down towards a fish as well, and then flew past us.

I also saw something that looked like a muskrat or river otter or something surfing the wake of a passing barge – just in front of us. As we approached, it dove under/away.

We have also seen some HUGE deal fish (I think they call them whitefish???) HUGE!!!!

We are moored at a state park that is an old French fort overlooking the Ohio River. The people here have been very kind to us and considerate of our situation.

I installed a new alternator, and a new voltage regulator on the motors. I found the issue with the generator, too! Fortunately, it was an inexpensive/easy fix. The line to the oil pressure gauge had burst off of its fitting (apparently over-tightened in the past due to a slight leak that it had.) Over-tightening it caused it to weaken and then snap-off entirely.

Also fortunately, this boat has a top-of-the-line generator (for its day.) It has an automatic safety switch that immediately shuts it down if the oil pressure or oil level gets too low. This prevents the motor from seizing up.  The motor only lost about a quart of oil before it automatically shut itself down. (But, the spray of one full quart of oil all of your engine room wall LOOKS like a complete disaster!!!!) With all of our batteries completely dead, and no shore power here, there was no way to start the engines or the generator. So, we had to either rent a portable generator for the day (to recharge our batteries,) or buy one. We chose option #2 and bought one (and thus we now have a FOURTH layer of safety/protection.) I figure that we will just sell the portable generator once we get back to Florida (people down there are always buying them for hurricane protection.)

Our only possible sacrifices due to the electrical issue was our frozen foods. Some of them may have thawed out, so we are putting them into the fridge, and will cook them ALL up during our next BBQ (to night) and store the cooked meats in the refrigerator, and re-heat them later. But, all else appears fine…

We toured the fort, rode out bikes into town, and generally just spent the day getting things shi-shape. We don’t think that we can make it to Kentucky Lake before nightfall, and there is a storm approaching as well, so we are going to hold-out here one more night (and depart early tomorrow/Wednesday) morning.

Oh, and I have now graduated from diesel mechanics 101 class, to a Sophomore-level class. Before we departed, I fixed our fuel supply issue/s (and they have been FLAWLESS on the trip – knock on wood.) I also rebuild the raw water impeller on the genset before we departed.

At Hoppies, I replaced a water pump on the port motor (spare was already aboard and ready.) And now I have replaced alternators/regulators plus fixed the genset oil leak.

Ah, it’s just boating… If you aren’t prepared to turn a couple of wrenches, bust a few knuckles, hang upside down in a hot engine room in the dark, and get smelly/oily/dirty – DON’T BUY A BOAT!!!!! -- especially an OLD boat! ;-)

Venture Out – still venturing out…

Nite all.

Princess cruise

Today was like a princess cruise – the princess stood the helm for most of the day! Kelly is now somewhat of a riverboat queen. She drove, while I tended to a few chores that I needed to complete.

Today was a FLAWLESS cruise! 

We got out onto the water a little later than I had hoped. And, she wanted to stop a little sooner than I had planned. Nevertheless, we made it to nearly Cape Girardeau (we are close enough to pickup their radio and TV stations.) Watching Thomas Crown Affair.

We stopped at about the 66.5 mile-marker, at the Moccasin Springs Marina (more of just a protected boat ramp area – hidden behind a rock levy.) This spot wasn’t on ANY of the cruising guides (but it should be!)

It has a decent deep-water approach from downstream, and the rock levy offers GREAT protection from passing tugs/tows.

An unknown artists has set-up his stool on the boat ramp, and is painting a picture of us and our boat, too! (It is a pretty site…)

We apparently made the news last night as well?! Some guy committed suicide or accidentally fell into the Mississippi River just a few yards upstream from Hoppies Marina yesterday (around noon?) By the time we arrived, the place was swarming with rescue boats from every agency imaginable, as well as the media crews. My mom said that she saw our boat on the news (parked at Hoppies.)

There were fewer tugs/tows on the river than I expected today. But, it’s Sunday, after all. So, maybe the traffic will increase tomorrow? We didn’t see ANY fellow cruisers (heading down or up stream.) The tugs/tows call us “RVs.” (Which is their term for “Recreational Vessel.”) Everyone else calls us a “PC” – “pleasure craft.”

It is indeed quite a pleasure at the moment… As the sun was setting, we bar-b-qued steaks, and Kelly made a dish of seasoned roasted potatoes. Strawberries and blueberries for dessert. (Oh, and a few mixed drinks for myself, and a glass of wine for her.)

It was very peaceful sitting out on the back deck, in the big comfy easy chair, watching the tugs slide past, as I cooked our diner on the grill.

Kelly is settling into the cruising lifestyle as well. When I stood my watch at the helm, she went down below to catch a 2-hour nap (while underway.)

We also BOTH took our first showers aboard. Granted, this isn’t any earth-shattering news. But, you have to remember, this is a 30+ year-old boat (which hasn’t been used in a long while.) So, we kinda have to cross our fingers and hope for the best at times. To my pleasant surprise, the shower was warm, functional, and comfortable!!!! 

We are watching swallows, swifts and bats feast on swarms of bugs at the moment. The bugs appear too large to be mosquitoes (thankfully.) But, I fear what carcasses will await me in the morning up on the flybridge…

Cheers to all. Thanks for your prayers and calls. We pop in & out of cell coverage, so bear with us.

Nick, aboard the princess cruise line.

Bon Voyage!

We set sail (no sails, however,) at 10:45 am this morning from Alton Marina, IL.

Moments later, we were preparing to enter our first lock & gate facility (the Melvin Price Lock & Dam Complex.) Fortunately, the traffic volume was low. There were two other pleasure craft already in the lock as we arrived (the lock was open and essentially ready/waiting for us.)

Our friends Rob & Pat joined us for the first leg of the trip. The extra hands aboard have been a blessing (especially in wrestling with the ropes and such during our first time through a lock.)

There was still a pretty strong current (and winds) pusing us around in the lock, until the upriver gate closed. Things then calmed down a bit...

In all, it went as good as we could be expected. Down 10 feet in a few minutes -- no issues.

We followed one of the other pleasure craft for the next few miles, and into the Chain of Rocks canal, and then into the next lock (Chain of Rocks.)

This one went MUCH smother (we are no loger locking rookies.) And, again, the lock was open and ready/waiting for us -- lucky we are!!!

As we exited the lock, and took a tun on the river, the Gateway Arch came into view (pretty impressive, I must admit.) It was at about that moment that we learned that Kelly's parents and aunt/uncle were down at the St. Louis Riverfront, waiting for us to pass by.

We honked and waved as we passed them -- no traveling at about 10-11 knots of speed (thanks to the push of the river's current down below the dams.)

Another hour later, and we were passing Jefferson Barracks, and then going under the 255 bridge. There was a LOT of tug traffic on the river above and around St. Louis. But, below STL, we passed one tug, and then had the river to ourselves... :-)

As we were cruising, we heard a Coast Guard announcement that the River was closed down-river from us (near the Hoppies Marina.) Apparently some guy went into the water from the shore, and went under...

All types of rescue units were responding to the scene. By the time we arrived at the area, the river was again reopened, but they were still searching for a body. :-( The Hoppies Marina is the headquarters for the search crews. So, as we arrived at Hoppies (our first stop on this trip,) the place was hopping, but also very melancholy.

Kelly decided that we should stay here for the night. So, we topped off the gas tank while we have the chance. and we are going to give everything a once-over double-check while we were here.

We have found a few MINOR issues/inconveniences already. Just normal "settling in" issues... (Thankfully.)

Gotta run, Cheers,

Nick (& Kelly)

Never Set Sail on a Friday

Some regard Friday as a "lucky" day. In maritime circles, however, setting sail on a Friday brings ill-fate to a ship and her crew -- the nautical equivalent of Friday the 13th.

Personally, since we are typically weekend boaters, we have tossed this superstition aside. We USUALLY set sail on Friday (just as soon as we could get off work and get out boat into the water!)

Unfortunately, this will not be the case today... We have chosen to lay-up ONE more day, to finish-up a few odds & ends, and make the most of this last "working" day of the week (I have a few business calls to make this morning.)

We want to get an EARLY start on our first day out, so we can take our time dealing with the locks, and getting used to our new boat underway, plus have plenty of leeway in our schedule just in case anything goes bump during day-one. But, it will be noon+ after we finish our chores, and that's just too late of a start for the mileage we plan to cover (daytime-only cruising) during day-one.

Thus, we get to enjoy one more day of marina/dockside living! :-)

Note to friends & family: We need to be focused on chores and such. So, respectfully, please, no visitors today/tomorrow... (We won't be very good hosts/hostesses over the next 24 hours.)

Just call me N Diesel

Venture Out II has been plagued by an air-leak issue in the diesel fuel supply lines for awhile. Throughout the vessel, there are hints from the previous owner of his attempts to slay the air-bubble dragon: extra fuel pumps mounted on the bulkhead, fuel catch buckets beneath the fuel manifold, notes in his log book, customized fuel hose contraptions here and there, etc.

Our friend Rob has danced with the dragon a few times himself as well. I say "danced," because he had developed a routine for starting and shutting down the motors, which apparently made the fuel bleeding process more predictable, and thus easier to bleed (burb) the bubbles when they would occur.

The process requires opening the floors to enter the engine room, and one person bleeds the system, while the other person cranks the starter (which isn't very good for the starter and batteries, either.) With the distances we are planning to travel, we need a reliable pair of motors, that don't require us to jump down below every morning, nor die on us unexpectedly while we are cruising down-river. (Not to mention a process that would likely kill a starter prematurely enroute, and maybe cause battery failure as well...)

I grew up as a bit of a shade-tree mechanic. I worked on my bicycles, then my motorcycles, then my cars/trucks, and our boats. I have built/rebuilt several motors in my day. But, we have never owned or worked on diesel trucks/cars/boats.

I theory, they are actually easier and less-complicated than gasoline motors (because they don't have a "spark"-based system.) Thus, they have no distributors, no points, no condensers, no spark plug wires nor spark plugs, no coils, etc., etc. Historically speaking, MOST of my motor issues with my cars/boats/cycles in the past have been electronics/ignition-related. So, the concept of erasing ALL of this from a diesel configuration, was/is quite encouraging (from a reliability standpoint.)

Diesels is also supposed to be a MUCH SAFER fuel supply. First, it's flash-point is WAY higher than gasoline. I think the flashpoint for gasoline is something like minus 40 degrees or something like that? (Thus, a gas motor can still start pretty easily in fairly cold weather -- they are easy to ignite.) Whereas, diesel fuel has a flash point of something like 170 degrees or something like that? So, having a candle or open flame burning in the cabin is NO PROBLEM and NO WORRY! (Conversely, it's a no-no for gasoline boat owners...)

Anyway, when we moved aboard the boat, I don't think that I had ever even TOUCHED a diesel engine before (not even checked the oil on one.) But, for the past five weeks, I have been down in that engine room, and pulled out nearly EVERY diesel fuel line, fitting, valve, gasket, filter, and such this boat has. I have been literally elbow-deep cleaning spilled diesel fuel and sludge from the catchpans beneath both motors. My body and clothes now have a semi-permenant ode-de'-diesel scent about them. I wasn't a diesel mechanic when we moved aboard; but, now I ar' one!

Just call me: N Diesel

The story is quite long (weeks long in fact.) I tried a "soft" touch in the beginning, hoping that the issue was just too much non-use and sitting (some things just work themselves out with enough use.) Or, something that Captain Obvious could find/fix. When those two ideas didn't pan-out, I figured I'd call in a semi-pro team to fix it (I didn't want to pay the high costs of a PRO marine diesel mechanic!) The semi-pros were here for a full day, and pretty much took most of their directions from ME (the rookie!!!) What's up with that? I was expecting them to show-up with some semi-professional equipment -- maybe to pressurize the fuel supply system and inject/squirt some sort of soapy compound on it to see where the bubbles/leaks surface? Nope. That's too sophisticated for these two guys... Instead, they simply did the EXACT same stuff that I was planning to do (if I did it myself.) So, after a full day of the two of them monkeying around down in the engine room, the next day, the SAME EXACT SYMPTOM reoccurred. (Money NOT well-spent...) :-(

But, seeing them fumble worse that I was fumbling on my own, was enough encouragement for me to just deal with it myself! (Note for the record: All along, Kelly resisted the hiring of outside mechancis. She prefers that I fix our boat/cars myself. She trusts MY work, moreso than that of strangers.) So, down into the engine room I went, day after day, chaning fittings, filters, hoses myself. Trying, day after day, to identify/isolate the issue.

I don't have the luxury of time to SLOWLY diagnose the issue (one piece per day, then wait 24 hours for a cold-start to see if it's fixed.) Instead, I had to attack the situation in bulk. I owuld change a half-dozen things, and then wait 24 hours to test it. Then, change another half-dozen things, wait another 24 hours, and test it again.

After five or six weeks at this game, I'm pleased to (cautiously) report, that the boat cold-started PERFECTLY FINE this morning!!!! Yippee!!!!

We now plan a few more warm-starts, and then a short cruise around the marina, and then a cruise up-river for 30-90 minutes (just to make SURE all is well.) But, the successful cold-start this morning is VERY encouraging news!

Next lesson for N Diesel: Glow plugs. (Our generator starts/runs fine -- with a little priming. I discovered that the glow plugs are working properly. Guess what -- they are ELECTRONIC!!!) So, while diesels are MOSTLY non-electric, there is still SOME electric involved... I applied a DIRECT jump-start of the glow plugs, and they glowed BRIGHTLY. So, the plugs aren't bad/defective! There is something wrong with the electrical supply to them (probably a bad solenoid.) It's not a show-stopper for our journey. Just an opportunity for yet ANOTHER self-taught lesson in Diesel Mechanics 101 for yours truely...


Provisioning (Roud Two): Kelly returned from two grocery stores with BOXES full of stuff yesterday. I don't know HOW she got all that stuff into our fridge, freezer and pantry? So, this afternoon we will be returning our borrowed car, making the rounds to say farewell to family & friends, and preparing to launch tomorrow (Friday) morning (on Kelly's birthday.)

L8r g8rs,


N Diesel.

P.S. I mounted our new flat-panel TV on the aft wall of the cockpit. It looks clean/neat! This prevents it from coming CRASHING to the floor from atop the refrigerator when we hit an unexpected wave/wake. It also allows us to repurpose the space above the fridge for storing other stuff.

Mass Provisioning -- Round One

I have read countless articles about long-range cruisers. Most of them are about blow boaters (sailors) who are preparing to sail across the Atlantic or Pacific oceans.

In days gone by, they used to do all kinds of weird things to help make the provisions last longer. Much of their long-term food stores had to be stored within every nook and cranny of the boats. Thus, they would receive an occasional soaking of rainwater or seawater from a storm. Labels would fall of tin cans, and some tin cans would fail/spoil. They coated their eggs with Vaseline and such to keep them from spoiling. Since cans were susceptible to loosing their labels, sailors would use permanent markers to label the contents of the cans, and then proactively rip the labels off (to avoid them sliding off on their own, and then clogging-up a bilge pump or other necessary gear.)

Similarly, cardboard in the tropics was the home of all sorts of unwanted bugs. So, most provisions were removed from their cardboard boxes/containers, and transferred into Tupperware or other plastic/tin holding containers (while still ashore.)

Thanks to refrigeration, solar power, wind power, diesel generators, power inverters and the like, provisioning is a bit different these days... Especially while cruising inland waterways and coastal cruising. We will pretty much be within a short cruise/drive of major metros throughout our trip. So, we don't need to store as many foodstores. I'd guess that we have enough to last us a bit more than a week (maybe even close to two weeks?)

When we have the chance to stop/stay at a major city/marina overnight, we will likely dine-out as oppose to dinning aboard (which will extend the duration of our provisions.) Many marinas have their own restaurants, snack shops, etc. Our marina here in Alton, has a decent breakfast and lunch menu -- not to mention drink service delivered right to your boat!

Also in days gone by, boaters/sailors ate some pretty gnarly meals. Fortunately, our meals aboard are VERY similar to those we eat ashore. Our freezer is stuffed with chicken breasts, filet minon, pork steaks, brats, pork tenderloin, fish fillets, bacon, frozen veggies, hamburger, etc. Our meals include pastas, Asian stir-fry, and a variety of Mexican and Cajun surprises.

But, once we cast off, we will be between grocery stores for quite a few days... If we forgot something, we can't just hop in the car and run down to the local grocery store to pickup whatever we forgot. Instead, we have to wait a few DAYS to make landfall, and trek into the store (via bicycle or taxi or public transporation.) Some grocery stores offer delivery to the docks. :-) Otherwise, grocery shopping can still be a bit of a chore/hassle... Along the Gulf Coast, some grocery stores are waterfront and have docks, too! (We can't wait to get back to waterworld -- where grovery stores, fast food restaurants, banks, Walgreens, shopping malls, etc. are all available waterfront!)

Sidebar: After all of my work on the fuel lines the past few days, the motor started/ran flawlessly today -- ALL day! So, it's looking like I have slayed the fuel gremlins! (Or, at least I won this round...) We will put the boat through a few more sea trials on Wednesday and Thursday, with fingers crossed that the fuel gremlins are gone.


We have two final days of provisioning left: Aldi's, Schnucks, WalMart, West Marine, Sprint Store, plus a few other odd stops. Then, top-off the fuel and water tanks, and it will be time to shove-off.


Critter Watch:
When we arrived, there were two groups of baby ducklings. Our most friendly/familiar group initially had six little ducklings. They were VERY cute -- like waterborne fur-puffs. Unfortunately, nature claimed two of them, and we were soon down to only four duckings... We feed them from the stern of our boat daily (they now make housecalls to us.) They are growing quickly, and I wonder who will depart the marina first -- the baby ducks, or us?

It's gettin' late, and I have a full day of chores to complete tomorrow. So, nite all!


Nick.

Delays for the Space Shuttle and for Us as Well...

Our adventure begins!

Well... Not (yet.) :-(

We had planned to depart on Monday, July 6th, the day after my family's reunion get together. But, we still had a few items remaining on our punch list, so we rescheduled our launch date for Sunday, July 12th. We got most of our issues fixed, and had sufficient workarounds for those that remained. But, there is no use setting off amidst a storm, and via workarounds. So, we rescheduled our launch (again.) But, HECK! If those NASA rocket scientists can scrub/reschedule their launches, then so can we!

Sidebar: We once drove halfway across Florida for a shuttle launch, and heard that it was scrubbed as we were passing through Orlando. We simply diverted to some local Orlando entertainment for the day (no great loss.) Fortunately, our next adventure to Cape Canaveral was a SUCCESS! Also FYI: You CAN see the shuttle launches with the naked eye from the opposite coast (Clearwater/St. Petersburg) -- especially at night!


Our new go-for-launch date for Venture Out II is scheduled for Friday morning, July 17th. For those of you who don't know, that is Kelly's birthday. (I had originally hoped to arrive in New Orleans upon her birthday.) Instead, we will celebrate her birthday with the launch of our adventure!

Note: The girls are planning a "girls' nite out" on Thursday evening. So, our Friday "morning" launch may be more like a Friday "noon" launch... ;-)

Goal for Day One: Make it safely through the two locks up here, and then pass the Gateway Arch, then pass the Meramec River, perform a systems-check as we approach Hoppie's Marina, and then cruise to Ste. Genevieve, MO. If all goes well, we will pull into the Ste. Genevieve boat ramp cove before sunset (with plenty of time to spare.) Estimated mileage: 80 statute miles. Duration: 8-10 hours (depending on how long it takes to get through the locks, and how fast the river is running below them.)

So, that's the plan, for now folks! Things are looking good (mechancially.) The weather could still throw an unwelcomed wrench into our plans... For now, however, all systems are "go for launch!"

Nick.




P.S. For weeks now, people have been asking, "When will you guys leave." "Cruising" aboard a boat isn't performed via a calendar. It's performed based on the readiness of the boat, readiness of the crew, and the readiness of the seas/weather. We try to publish "dates" so landlubbers can conceptualize our timeline. But, honestly, we just kinda have to go with the flow...

We expect the trip to New Orleans to take about 10 full days (10 hrs per day) of cruising. And, the trip from New Orleans to Tampa/Clearwater to take another 6 full days. But, we will likely stop for a day or so here and there along the way. Sometimes due to maintenance, other times due to weather, and still other times just because there is a good party/event being advertised.

So, as we publish dates and ETAs, please understand that we have a TON of flexibility in our timelines. Heck, who knows, we might find a way to get stuck in New Orleans for a whole YEAR or something?!!!!