June 25th. I drove down to Dog River with Craig
Bursell. We left my van at Kentucky Dam
Marina and grabbed a rental car for the rest of the way down. Obviously Dog River took longer to replace
the tanks then I had expected. The also
charged me significantly more than the estimate but what can you do? The also removed the carpet in the aft cabin
so I set down some foam flooring that works well. Craig cleaned all day while I worked on
getting the boat ready for the trip north.
I had the V Berth A/C charged again and the salon A/C checked out. The salon unit needs to be replaced. We took the rental car back at 5PM and
provisioned with the courtesy car. When
the sun set at 8PM I realized we had less sunlight down in Mobile than up in
Minnesota. That is going to screw up my
itinerary and plans for 16 hour days. We will do the best we can.
June 26th,
up at 4:45. Motors started at 5:10. Away from the dock at 5:26. Sunrise at 5:51. Into main shipping channel at 5:55. Big ocean going vessel MSC Melissa was behind
us heading into Mobile. As we neared
Mobile we were greeted with a Navy Catamaran at 6:50. They had a police escort and the police boat
motored along side us while we passed. A
helicopter was busy taking pictures or video or something secret? We cruised through Mobile Harbor at 7AM. After we left downtown Mobile we saw two
(two!) alligators crossing the river.
WOW! Around 9AM the “Megan
Parker” passed us going downstream….they were going 12mph and kicked up the
biggest wake I had ever seen from a tow!
Sunset at 8:01. Entered
Coffeeville Lock at 8:18. I called
Bobby’s Fish Camp on the phone from the lock at we were going up and ordered
Catfish dinner for two to go. It was as
dark as the Ace of Spades when we found the dock at Bobby’s and tied up for the
night. Very successful first day!
June 27th,
motors started at 5:35. Away from the
dock at 5:45. Beautiful Morning with a
light haze. We say 1 more
alligator! Who knew there were
alligators this far north???? A barge
had passed Bobby’s at 3:30AM and rocked us a bit but no traffic on the river
until afternoon and then we passed a series of barges. We had to wait a bit for “Jane Ann Blessing”
to come around a sharp turn before we passed.
Sunny afternoon and warm. Met S/V
Vanguard coming downstream at 2:30.
Arrived at Demopolis Lock at 5:10 and waited a short time for the
lockmaster to turn the chamber around.
Entered at 5:35, doors closed at 5:36, doors opened at 5:48. Got to Demopolis Yacht Basin at 6:20 and
fueled (161 gal for $599.92) 2748 HRS. Mileage was not all that great but we had run
really hard the first day to get to Bobby’s before they closed at 9PM. There was a serious looking storm cloud
heading toward us as we pulled away from the fuel dock to get to a slip for the
night. I noticed a problem with the port
transmission engaging and then I really screwed up docking as I left the dog
dawn starboard motor in gear and jumped off the boat. Craig and I really struggled with the lines
until it dawned on me I had left the boat in gear. Sometimes I wonder if all the lights are on
in the belfry. After we got things sorted out I heard
screaming from the next dock over…it sounded like HELP with some banging! I asked Craig if he heard it and it took off
like a shot running over to the next dock while I grabbed my phone if we needed
to call for help. Some poor guy had
climbed down into his motor compartment and the strong winds from the
approaching storm blew the hatch closed on him and it latched! He was trapped in his own boat! Craig rescued him. What a hero!
I went below to check on the transmission. Fluid level and smell were both okay but the
transmission was a good 20 degrees hotter than the starboard transmission. The packing on the shaft was fine though.
June 28,
2014 Up at 5AM. Not much sleep…I worried about the port
transmission most of the night. It did
not give me any thrust in gear at idle from the fuel dock. This is the same transmission I had rebuilt
in Key West a couple of years ago. After
my protein shake I went below to check things out. Fluid level and smell were both okay as they
were the night before. Color of the
fluid was exactly the same as the other transmission. I started the motor up at 6AM and it went
into gear just fine. I have zero
indications of problems so I am going to continue the trip. I had spent half the night worried I would
have to leave the boat at Demopolis!
Away from
the dock at 6:30 headed for Pirates Cove.
Once we got out into the channel I checked out the efficiency of the
port motor compared to the starboard motor.
It all looks good as equal speed is achieved with 75 more RPM on the
port motor when using the tachs on the bridge and 50 more RPM on the tacks at
the lower helm. Since everything checks
out okay I will continue to head north.
There was a fishing contest on the river this morning so we were rocked
by fast boats at 5:30. No way I am going
to slow down for any of them on the way up river. Cloudy day to start but the sun came out
around 10:15. Craig operated from the
bridge while I caught up on the boat log. Passed cruiser Crystal Blue
Persuasion around noon. Arrived at
Howell Heflin lock at 12:35. I decided
to try to single hand the lock and have Craig stand by to assist if I needed
any help. I drove from the lower helm
and had the line to grab the bollard all set.
Everything went just fine with no problem at all so I am very confident
that I can handle a lock by myself if I need to in the future. We entered Tom Belville lock at 5:52 right on
time. Pirates Cove Marina called on the
phone to see when we would arrive.
Exited the lock at 6:10 and then hustled over to the marina as a strong
thunderstorm was approaching fast. Dock
hand helped us back into the slip and all went the way it is supposed to (much
better than last night at Demopolis).
After I checked in at the marina office it started to storm. I got back to the boat and secured the bimini
and Craig watched for signs of strong cells.
The storm blew through pretty quick and we had a very pleasant
evening. Sardines for dinner and watched
a Nascar race on the satellite TV. 2859.2
HRS
June 29th,
2014 Up at 5AM. I am having an issue with a leak from the
tub/shower. Dog River Marina thought it
was the shower walls and chalked them up and charged me $190.00. Problem is the tub still leaks. I have been trying to find the source of the
leak every day and last night I notice a crack in the tube near the drain for I
sealed it up. This morning I tested it
to see if I have solved the problem….NOPE!
UGH! Motors started at 5:55, away
from the dock at 6:15. Very nice
morning. Columbus lock at 9:45, Aberdeen
Lock at 1PM, Amory Lock at 3:05, Wilkins Lock at 4PM, out at 4:15. I notice the American Tug “True North” tied
up at Smithsville Marina along with a 36’ American Tug with red hull. The red boat might have been Phillis and Bud
but it looked older than their boat so perhaps not. Fulton lock had it’s doors open for us at
6PM, out by 6:15, and arrived at Midway Marina at 6:35. Nice marina.
“George” grabbed our lines. It got
a little noisy at sunset when the locals came back to the marina in their boats
after a day on the water drinking.
2871.3 HRS
June 30,
2014 Last day of being 63. Up at
5:30. I decided to further investigate
the port transmission issue. I decided
to change transmission fluid and with Craig’s help worked below from 6AM to
7:30. It sure is nice to have him on
board to assist, especially lifting the heavy latch to get at the
transmission. We washed up and left the
dock at 7:45. When I pulled out into the
channel I realized there was a north bound tow to our south. AIS showed me we also had a south bound tow
to our north and it was pretty close to the Rankin lock. Turns out we were too far away to bet the
southbound tow so we had to wait for both tows to lock through. We turned around and went behind the Arthur J
Carlson rather than get in the way at the entrance to the lock. We would have
arrived at Rankin Lock at 8:30 but we had to wait until 10:40 with the Arthur J
Carlson going ahead of us. The tow
Baffin Bay let us go ahead of him when in fact the commercial vessel has
priority….very nice of him. The Roger Whitiker
is behind Baffin Bay. So if Baffin Bay
had jumped ahead of us and then the Roger Whitiker we never would have
proceeded past Midway Marina all freaking day.
There were two cruisers (True North and unknown American Tug red hull)
that had come out of Smithville trying to get north but I bet they stopped at
Midway with the logjam of tows ahead of them.
Then the Corp of Engineers vessel “Tenn Tom” proceeded upstream and held
us up a little also. I called Montgomery
lock to see if we could lock through with Tenn Tom…he called back and told me
Tenn Tom was too big and we would not be able to fit into the lock with
them. Then the “Mary Artie Bannon” is
coming downstream. We arrived at
Montgomery lock a little after noon and watched the Arthur J go up and then the
Mary Artie came down. The lock master
was nice enouh to lock us through at 2PM ahead of the Baffin Bay that arrived
at 1:30. The Arthur J stopped to wait
for the Alice Jane..I tried to jump ahead of him but neither the lock master or
the Captain of the Arthur J would go for it.
The Captain of the Arthur J did try to get the lock master to let us
lock with him at the Jamie Whitten Lock but that was a no go. The AJC had to tie off his load on top and
then come back for three more barges and the lock master would have waited for
him to come back but the Captain of the AJC told him to go ahead and lock us
through. Very Very Nice! Without that courtesy we would not have been
able to make Grand Harbor. I called
Grand Harbor from the lock at 4PM when we started up to let them know it would
be after 8PM when I expected to arrive.
Very sad news……The Broken Spoke Restaurant is closed. Bummer!
We pulled into Grand Harbor just after sunset but with enough light to
see just fine. “Ron” the security guard
was very friendly. I tested the port
transmission – better than before but still does not engage at pure idle. I have to bump the throttle just a bit to get
it to connect. I think we will be okay
for the rest of the trip. Gonna shower
(very hot day) and hit the sack. 2880.5
HRS
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