The Great Wander

Not long after fixing the jumper strut we attempted to leave the dock.  We were planning on at least getting to Jacksonville, and maybe going to St. Augustine for a while.  The wind was really calm, so there wouldn’t be much sailing, but we could motor up there, anchor just before the first bridge and then maybe the next day work our way through Jacksonville and then either out into to the Atlantic to head south or take the Intracoastal Waterway.  Either way would get us to St. Augustine.

We tidied up the deck, put stuff away in the cabins that could fall over, fired up the engines, and shoved off from the dock.  I had timed our departure so that the tide would be pushing us away from the dock and after we untied the last dock line, the current gently pushed us off the dock and we motored away from what had been our home.  As I moved us out into the river, everything looked like it was running smoothly.  I was pretty sure that we were going to be on our way.  

Things were moving along just fine.  I was sitting at the helm and Sandy was checking things below, when she came up and announced that in our cabin it smelled really bad and was really hot.  So, we swapped places and then I headed to check things out.

Looking in the engine compartment, I didn’t see anything.  For some reason, I decided to check the bilge…Then we discovered a real problem.  Water was up to the floorboards.  I ran outside to look and see if water was still being discharged from the engine and sure enough, there was no water coming out of the side of the boat.  We quickly killed the engine and turned around heading back to the dock.  Killing the engine stopped the ingress of water.

Sandy navigated us back to the dock, and since were down an engine, I determined that we would need to go to the opposite side of the dock that we had been on so that we could again use the current to our advantage.  While on the return trip I started bailing water and then prepped us for our return to the dock.  At least we’d have a different view this time, since we would be on the opposite side of the dock.

After a day of bailing water, we discovered that the muffler hose clamp had broken and hose with the hot water from the engine had become disconnected, which then pumped water into the bilge.  It was a relatively easy fix.  I have inspected the remainder of the hose clamps and everything looked good.

After several days of being at the dock again, taking care of a few things that are easier on shore…like laundry, we headed back out.  This time, with a bit more success.  We just motored over the cove a little bit away from the dock, but we were at anchor.  Being able to take a dip in the river, much closer to the coffee shop, and no heat from the concrete made things much more enjoyable.  Next week I’ll share some of the high points and challenges of being at anchor!