Country Cruisin' Part II: Cussin' on The River

[Freebird]

Well, it had to happen sooner or later, ole' Nancy Cay made me cuss yesterday!

Saturday's cruise with just the Register boys was nothing but fun as usual even though ole' Nancy Cay was stinking up the whole marina! I had not turned the key since last November which resulted in the pics I posted on the fall color cruise down below Chattanooga through "The Gorge".

She had fired right up and purred like a kitten and ran like a top the whole time Ryan and I stayed out. Unfortunately, Mamma came with us yesterday and the hex was on!

She still stunk (Nancy Cay, not Michelle! ) when we walked out onto the dock, so I quickly opened everything that would open and got out of there ASAP to keep from having the neighbors throw things at me!

I put her on plane and headed downstream where I planned to drop anchor and soak up sun sunshine while attending to the holding tank problems. I came up behind a couple of sailbotes at Thief Neck cut-off as they were taking up the middle of the narrow channel and a guy in a kayak was trying to race them closer to shore. Unlike SOME PEOPLE I KNOW , I dropped down to no wake speed, and hailed the sailboters to see if it was okay for me to pass to starboard. One of them responded yes, and they moved to port while thanking me for slowing down. I sped up a little, then put her back up on plane hearing "thanks again" from the sailbote Captain.

I found a nice little leeward cove to catch some rays, and I lowered a very light anchor to keep us in place. Ryan got bored and wanted to swim to shore to walk around. Two problems with that, Ryan can't swim and the water temp was 47 degrees. I promise I won't post pics or too many details, but Ryan and I had earlier after brunch accompanied Michelle into Victoria's Secret to show our "support" for her needs. A saleslady gave Ryan a flashlight to keep him occupied, and he proceeded to shine it into some very interesting places! He later made the statement, "I wish I was a girl", which lead to a saleslady busting out laughing! I said, "Please God, don't have him say that on his 18th birthday, I have a hard enough time picking out gifts as it is"! Oh well, back to boating stuff.

When we decided it was time to head back, I hauled the anchor in with the windless seeing the boat had drifted to a position straight over the small anchor. It broke free very easily, and I had about 30 feet of rhode out. During the last few feet, the windless began to slow down as though a battery was weak. Sure enough, when I went to start the port engine, it just clicked.

Yeah, I can hear it now, always have your engines running before you haul anchor. The light wind was blowing us in the direction of a mile wide stretch of deep water, and ole' NC had never let me down, until then. The starboard started fine, and I went below to inspect the batteries. Upon inspection, I saw the caps were missing on two batteries, and one had literally exploded! I can only assume my automatic battery boiler overcharge them to the point that one exploded. I normally do not leave that thing on as I have seen it dry out the batteries before. I had been living on that thing quite a bit and noticed the 12V stuff was really week and flipped it on. I obvioiusly forgot to switch it off before I left the boat a couple of weeks ago. Oh well, I supposed I'll have to buy yet another new battery and maybe cash in all those cash coupons I have from West Marnine for a new charger.

This boat does not have a parallel switch (it will after this!), so I took a pair of jumper cables and connected the two remaining batteries, but the port still would not start. I made some calls to the PO, Chris, and Scott to see if they knew whether or not it was okay to freewheel Hurth transmissions, something I was unfamiliar with. Nobody was home, so I began to start the process of locking the port shaft to make the trip back on one engine. Dang, this sounds familiar huh?

Luckily after about ten minutes of idleing the starboard, I tried the port again and she fired up! I put her on plane and headed home. Chris and Scott both returned my calls within 5 minutes of each other after having left messages about 15 minutes earlier. Thanks guys! The PO, Warren, called me later last night, and we talked about the boat as well as many other things as Warren and I have become very good friends.

He is coming to the office in about an hour, and he and I are heading to the boat as he installed both VaccuFlush heads and the entire system including that holding tank. We plan to check the charcoal filter in the system and flush the vent line. I remembered yesterday that the last time the head had been pumped is when my brother and his wife spent a couple of nights on the boat while I was away. A neighbor had to pump the tank for them, and they did not pour any treatment solution into the tank after pumping it as I always do. I added a double dose yesterday, one through each head, and put a lot of water into the tank followed by a pretty good little cruise. That may have done the trick, but I'll know for sure when Warren and I head to the boat.

I promised him I would treat him to lunch at the all-u-can-eat Mexican buffet a few miles away from the boat, so maybe he and I will return to NC to test the heads and the tank this afternoon!

 

[MarioG]

Randy, the stinking smell could very probably be the exploded battery. it does give off a "crappy" smell when they vent or meltdown.

 

[Freebird]

Mario, I considered that and cleaned that mess also. We'll know for sure later today, but certain smells are unmistakeable!

Thanks for the advice vs the criticism which may follow.

 

[Mike53C]

My port engine did the same yesterday, click, click, but not VROOOM, VROOOM,..I have a parallel switch but it also quit on me.

Murphy's Law!!!.

I had to jumper the contacts with a beefy screwdriver and Voila!..
I will have to check what happened because the charger was on.
Next weekend check.

Miguel

 

[Freebird]

I had to jumper the contacts with a beefy screwdriver and Voila!..


Miguel

LOL, is "Voila" a cuss word where you come from?

We have a similar word in English "Viola" which is what a mechanic usually says when he makes all the cash in your wallet disappear!

 

[Mike53C]

LOL, is "Voila" a cuss word where you come from?

We have a similar word in English "Viola" which is what a mechanic usually says when he makes all the cash in your wallet disappear!

LOL Voilà!...French,..... it sounds chic and upscale....
...and up to now no need for a mechanic yet....knock wood..
Miguel

 

[yachtsmanbill]

So you forgot to finish the story... What happened to the bar that went through the bottom when you forgot to unlock the shaft???
I am surprised that old 41 doesnt have a parallel switch. MAKE SURE that the one you get will handle the load at 100% duty cycle. USUALLY the control switch is momentary contact for starting, but I run a pull-on switch so I can parallel my alternators for charging also. I'm sure that some "bird brain" would probably forget to shut it off though...
Now for the lecture son... I know you dont do hourly walkdowns, but for Crissakes, how about periodically?? I check all that stuff DAILY when we're running; what if theres a surprise and yer stuck out on the river near Soddy Daisy at 10 p.m. ??? TOW BOAT who? If I check the oil in the morning and its two gallons low, I look for the reason. Haha. Dont wait for the marina to call and tell you the waterline isnt visible. Check the packing. UN common sense. Even Ricky Bobby checks his TARS! No more lecture. Tell your brother that you need to know iffin he made DOOKY in the POTTY. Yer right, even that dont smell like a cooked battery ws

 

[Pascal]

just add a wall mount timer on your charger (not in the ER on a gas boat)... set for a few hours a day... that will keep the batteries topped off without boiling them. i'd never leave my boat without the charger on, in case of a leak it's the only thing that will keep the pumps running

mario is right... battery issues can be confused with holding tanks odors. lack of HT treatment should be smelled inside the boat, only out the vent.

 

[34Hatt]

If the Battery exploded make sure you use lots of baking soda in that area!!!!
The acid will raise hell with everything so lots of baking soda unfortunately it won't work for neutralizing the other things that exploded!!!
Hey you asked for it!

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

Seems to me that Randy has "that Cletus Funk" going whenever he's on a boat...

Am now POSITIVE I'll be "out of town" whenever he passes thru as my boat is running fine...

 

[Freebird]

So you forgot to finish the story... What happened to the bar that went through the bottom when you forgot to unlock the shaft???
I am surprised that old 41 doesnt have a parallel switch. MAKE SURE that the one you get will handle the load at 100% duty cycle. USUALLY the control switch is momentary contact for starting, but I run a pull-on switch so I can parallel my alternators for charging also. I'm sure that some "bird brain" would probably forget to shut it off though...
Now for the lecture son... I know you dont do hourly walkdowns, but for Crissakes, how about periodically?? I check all that stuff DAILY when we're running; what if theres a surprise and yer stuck out on the river near Soddy Daisy at 10 p.m. ??? TOW BOAT who? If I check the oil in the morning and its two gallons low, I look for the reason. Haha. Dont wait for the marina to call and tell you the waterline isnt visible. Check the packing. UN common sense. Even Ricky Bobby checks his TARS! No more lecture. Tell your brother that you need to know iffin he made DOOKY in the POTTY. Yer right, even that dont smell like a cooked battery ws

"What happened to the bar that went through the bottom when you forgot to unlock the shaft???" I never locked the shaft ya big dummy as the port started up just before I was gonna do that! The only bar on the 41 is still on the starboard side over top of the fridge!

Now YB, I ain't no dummy ya know. I check all fluids and take a peak inside the ER before every trip just to make sure everything is in the same place where it was the last time I checked. I just never felt the need to be in the ER when Ryan was driving the boat!

I will definitely install a momentary parallel switch like every other twin engine boat I've ever owned had. You have to remember I haven't put a whole lot of time on the 41 having bought the 58 within a couple of months or buying the 41. Honestly, until I found myself in that position I had forgotten the boat did not have a parallel switch.

It is my understanding that you have to own a Hatteras about 1-3 years before you know everything there is to know about one, so I guess I'm on track. I'd have to stop and do some gozintas to see where the 41 ranks among twin engine boats I've owned, but every boat has it's own little system differences as I'm sure you well know. This is not your third rodeo either!

If you ever find yourself stuck around Soggy Daisies around 10PM and you still have one good engine, check out the restaurant at Steve's Landing as long as you can fit under the bridge. TRUST ME, you'll have to dive the sub about 12 feet to make it in there, but you have enough experience to know that for yourself.


Experience is the best teacher ya' know!

 

[Freebird]

just add a wall mount timer on your charger (not in the ER on a gas boat)... set for a few hours a day... that will keep the batteries topped off without boiling them. i'd never leave my boat without the charger on, in case of a leak it's the only thing that will keep the pumps running

mario is right... battery issues can be confused with holding tanks odors. lack of HT treatment should be smelled inside the boat, only out the vent.

Thanks for the input Pascal, but I think curing the problem would be a better choice than applying a Band-Aid to it.

I'm not sure how leaving the charger on would keep it from leaking, but I would use the same analogy as to Band-Aid fixes referenced above. I figure if you do regular checks of your stuffing boxes, thru-hulls, and rudders etc., you won't have to worry about leaks.

Not much chance of confusion between battery acid and poop, at least not in this neck of the woods. We have lots of bears in those woods, but no blown up batteries.

 

[Freebird]

Okay guys thanks for the input on my problem areas with the 41. I just got back from taking the PO to the boat followed by lunch so I thought I would fill ya'll in.

Seems the method I used yesterday in regard to the holding tank did the trick. All my marina neighbors had their windows open again and the EPA CID unit was nowhere to be seen! Warren decided to pass on the Mexican buffet so we went to Cracker Barrel, so the acid test I planned for the heads won't happen any time soon.

He showed me a couple of things about the head system I had forgotten when I bought the boat from him (like where he hid the key to the lock on the handle for direct overboard discharge ). I had teased him last night and again today about sticking me with an old boat with so many problems, and I demanded my money back!

It's nice to have purchased a boat from an experienced owner who took possession of that boat with only 20hrs on the clock since the refit back in '93. He knows that boat inside and out, and I could feel is pain from having parted with it when he came onboard today.

I repeated an earlier sentiment that he and his wife (who made him sell the boat! ) would be welcome to take Nancy Cay for a spin anytime he needed a fix. Needed a fix as in I needed him to fix something else that had broken on that old Hatt he sold me!