So now the birds tail is between his legs? Flying home on a jet, not the jet stream. One genny, two motors, and two fouled props on the ICW? Another great story coming up!
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Thread: Mobile To Sarasota 53MY
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Re: Mobile To Sarasota 53MY
yachtsmanWILLY
I used to think I knew everything until I found the experts HERE; Now I know I dont know SQUAT
www.flybridge.proboards.com
Uncensored, no nonsense boating fun for adults
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Re: Mobile To Sarasota 53MY
Randy Register - Kingston, TN
www.yachtrelocation.com
www.Safes4Guns.com
aka Freebird aka Sparky1
1965 41DC #93
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12-08-2019 10:12 PM #13
Re: Mobile To Sarasota 53MY
That’s just cruel! Enjoy the airplane ride, tomorrow you must start typing.
Dave & Trina
Benedetto
1989 60MY HATDK310
Sturgeon Bay/Ft. Lauderdale
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Re: Mobile To Sarasota 53MY
Okay, now that I can focus and have a keyboard instead of a touchscreen phone, here's the Readers Digest version of this trip.
It started with me arriving around 10PM local (11 for me) and taking an Uber to the boat with the owner who happens to be Canadian (eh). The plan was to leave out at first light and stop in Fort Walton Beach. Unfortunately, that was not going to be the case as there were questions about him having purchased a USCG documented vessel as a non-citizen, cruising permits, etc. etc. etc. With that, given he wanted to make absolutely sure everything was 100% legal and by the book, we headed out to the customs office in Mobile. I'll spare you the details, but they collected $19 from him, lectured him on things they knew nothing about, and ultimately refunded his money a few days later.
Now for the good part. The transplanted Cummins engines performed flawlessly, and we made it to The Wharf in Orange Beach where we called it a day and shared a nice dinner. We later emptied the bowls and replaced the Racor's as the fuel had this nice, Hawaiian Punch look to it along with assorted goo. At first light, we headed out to Panama City, at least initially. The owner had something come up which required sending a fax, so we altered course for Destin having gone outside at Pensacola. Given the logistics of stops on this trip, we opted to stay in Destin as our ultimate stop had to be Apalachicola anyway. Again, the boat ran flawlessly on that leg, but on the next morning, we lost the generator. The only thing that made any sense is that there is a blockage between the generator and the tank. It ran after replacing the secondary filter (had already replaced the Racor), but died after about 15 seconds or so while the Racor was still full. Given we had a long run ahead of us, we opted to run sans generator for the day and made it to Apalachicola via Port St. Joe and up to the ICW. This time, I was treated to homemade spaghetti, and we headed out to Steinhatchee at first light. After dinner and the nightly Racor maintenance (and trying to blow back into the supply line for the gen, no luck) we headed out to Clearwater. That leg would be the last of our troublefree Cummins experience.
We were approximately 25 miles out of Clearwater in the GOM when the port engine shut down rather abruptly. At that point, I just ASSumed a Racor had become clogged, even though we closely monitored the gauges throughout this trip. The owner went down and swapped out a filter as I did the one engine thing at about 6MPH. He came back up to the pilothouse and told me the change was complete, but when I hit the starter for the port, I got nothing. I tried to parallel start it, and still not so much as a grunt. With that, I locked the shaft with our trusty DeWalt adjustable wrench, and we single engined it to Clearwater at about 9MPH. No big deal as that was only going to delay our arrival by about an hour and a half, and I know my way into Clearwater in the dark. I had requested a face dock in Clearwater Municipal (another long story) but none were available. No big deal, worst case scenario I nose the boat into the slip... or so I thought.
I pulled alongside the fuel dock to take a look at the slip they assigned to us which was directly behind the fuel dock office. Looked plenty roomy, so we eased off the dock and proceeded to the slip. Unfortunately, I heard the sound of line being eaten by our only functioning propeller (the joys of crab pots while running at night). Next thing I know, the boat is doing something totally unexpected as I approach our slip, and I realize I have zero steering. To port are boats in slips, and I can only turn or back to port with the starboard engine. We are in a significant current and headed towards a bridge that is nowhere near tall enough for us to fit under. That's when I remembered we had seen the big dinner boat leave, and their big slip was open. With that, I let the current take us in that direction, then I pulled the starboard into reverse and put us in against the pilings for that... ship. I lassoed them which kept us out of danger. Then I exchanged pleasantries with someone who informed me we couldn't dock our boat there, but I'll move on to our calling TowBoat US. That in itself was borderline comical, but I'll skip forward to the part where I flagged down a million dollar center console who I talked into pulling us out of that slip and back to the fuel dock. I'll even skip the comedy that ensued when they tried... never mind.
For whatever reason, they cut us loose after pulling us out of that slip. By that time (an hour or so), the current had slacked, and I was able to get the boat to go semi-straight, then pull the starboard into reverse to keep us straight, repeat... repeat... repeat... until I was able to make a circle and put us back on the fuel dock on our port side. Once again, I am chastised by security in that I can dock the boat there, but I assured him it was an emergency situation, and that TowBoat US was en route to put us into our slip. This all concluded at around 10PM where we went for dinner.
The next morning, I tried the port engine, and it fired right up. I could only conclude that we had a charging issue which resulted in that engine failing the day before, and being on the charger overnight cured it... sort of. I then walked the docks in search of a diver to free us from what turned out to be 1,264 feet of crab pot line... give or take a thousand feet. I could see no reason to spend God knows how much to try and get the charging/battery issue addressed on a Sunday, so I decided I would only use the port engine for docking. Unfortunately the wind was blowing pretty good that morning, so I fired it up. It ran for about 10 seconds which lead to a very interesting departure which including enlisting the services of fuel dock personnel which enabled us to get the old girl out of her slip by hand (and a little starboard thrust) and pointed in the right direction. Then it was off to our final resting spot at Longboat Key. Only problem was, I had a flight that boarded at 7:30 in Sarasota.
Holding position at the two drawbridges between points A and B was a bit of a pain, but we hit them pretty good. I managed to back the boat into her new slip in Longboat Key, and we made it to the airport with 8 minutes and 14 seconds to spare. We said our farewells, thanked each other for our mutual contributions to this adventure, and the trip was finished. The owner is a HOF'er, so if he wants to identify himself and add anything to this, he is more than welcomed to do so. We had a nice trip, all things considered, exchanged a few lies (I assume some of his stories were lies as I know mine were), shared a few laughs, and even cussed each other a few times. Hopefully our paths will cross again, but until then, budee budee budee… that's all, folks.Randy Register - Kingston, TN
www.yachtrelocation.com
www.Safes4Guns.com
aka Freebird aka Sparky1
1965 41DC #93
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Re: Mobile To Sarasota 53MY
Wow. And this why I m so glad I don’t have to do deliveries anymore! You ever know what to expect. It s not a job it s an adventure!!!
Pascal
Miami, FL
1970 53 MY #325 Cummins 6CTAs
2014 26' gaff rigged sloop
2007 Sandbarhopper 13
12' Westphal Cat boat
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Re: Mobile To Sarasota 53MY
Randy Register - Kingston, TN
www.yachtrelocation.com
www.Safes4Guns.com
aka Freebird aka Sparky1
1965 41DC #93
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12-09-2019 10:47 PM #17
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Re: Mobile To Sarasota 53MY
Randy Register - Kingston, TN
www.yachtrelocation.com
www.Safes4Guns.com
aka Freebird aka Sparky1
1965 41DC #93
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Re: Mobile To Sarasota 53MY
Randy
Just a few followup notes regarding our delivery adventure..
We had a mechanic take a look at the boat in the slip. It seems that there was an issue with the grounding terminal on the stbd battery, as it disintegrated in his hand while he was trying to tighten the connection. After a $1.50 part replacement, both engines started up, and ran at 1000rpm at the dock for about 1 hr. Alternators are charging the batteries, lots of juice (over 13 V). Still problems with the fuel, but the bowls are cleaner, and the gunk is less noticeable. The generator fuel from the tank to the racor is totally clogged. The mechanic is coming back next week with an air compressor to blow out the crap.
All in all, no one died, the boat is safe, the satellite tv is working, and the dog is happy. So chalk up another successful delivery. And merry Christmas to you and yours.
mderlick
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Re: Mobile To Sarasota 53MY
Great news, Marty, but that really surprises me about the battery given the guys at Dog River checked the connections when the starboard wouldn’t start and found a loose ground. Glad your pup is back with you and enjoying the boat.
Merry Christmas to you and yours as well. Hope you and your family enjoy the boat.Randy Register - Kingston, TN
www.yachtrelocation.com
www.Safes4Guns.com
aka Freebird aka Sparky1
1965 41DC #93