Maiden Voyage From Hell, Part 2

[Freebird]

Just received some interesting news from one of my buddies at the marina here in Tennessee. It would seem there has been some sort of collision between a barge and the primary lock at Wilson Dam near Florence, AL. Apparently barge traffic is backed up for miles as they are being forced to use an auxilliary lock to keep from stopping river traffic altogether. This lock is considerably smaller and slower than the primary.

As fate would have it, I have to lock through this dam to get home on FREEBIRD. I guess I should look at the bright side. I could have been 5 miles downstream of this dam when the accident occured. That scenario would have been more in line with how things went on my maiden voyage. Seeing as how commercial traffic receives priority over pleasurecraft vessels, there is no telling how long it will take to clear this mess up where I can get through. I was hoping to start the trip back home later this week assuming the mechanic I have working on my starboard 1271 doesn't run across anything major. It's losing oil, but he can't find the leak. Has narrowed it down to a problem with an oil cooler, or thinks it may be a broken ring. Oh well, we'll see. Hope it's nothing internal ($$$)

I'll keep you posted on this as some of you have requested I share this trip home on this forum. If you have a prayer for a good ole' boy's safe return home, please remember me!

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Well that's the way river travel is. You just never know for sure if you'll have to wait. We kept our boat in Guntersville for a couple of years. We never had much wait at the locks, though. Sure is pretty down there.

 

[MikeP]

Seems a strange combination to be narrowed to; the symptoms are totally different. The bad oil control ring will put the oil in the combustion chamber and as blue smoke out the exhaust. A bad oil cooler will not cause the oil to be burned - just leaked into the boat or into the cooling medium.

Keep a vigilant eye on your wallet!

Hope it turns out to be something cheap!

 

[Freebird]

Well that's the way river travel is. You just never know for sure if you'll have to wait. We kept our boat in Guntersville for a couple of years. We never had much wait at the locks, though. Sure is pretty down there.

Sky,

I have on occasion found myself trying to lock through a dam at the same time a barge is coming through. This can result in a 4-5 hour delay as commercial traffic has priority, and they won't let a pleasure boat lock through with a barge. They will however allow lockage with the tow.

I always radio or phone ahead to make sure not to get surprised. If you find out your timing is off, it's best to find yourself somewhere to hang out until the barge clears the lock. However, with this lock being damaged, I don't know what I'm in for here.

I'll keep you posted on future developments. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Freebird]

Seems a strange combination to be narrowed to; the symptoms are totally different. The bad oil control ring will put the oil in the combustion chamber and as blue smoke out the exhaust. A bad oil cooler will not cause the oil to be burned - just leaked into the boat or into the cooling medium.

Keep a vigilant eye on your wallet!

Hope it turns out to be something cheap!

Hey Mike,

That's a big 10-4 on the wallet watching! I won't authorize any internal work to be done unless I am there looking over the guy's shoulder.

I'm no expert on the subject of engine troubleshooting, but I thought this was a bit odd myself. The engine is smoking badly which is something it never did before I ran it out of fuel (Maiden Voyage From Hell). I had an oil line replaced after the fuel snafu, then got the smoke after replacing filters and the oil line. I wasn't able to run it very much due to time constraints, but on the one occasion that I did throttle up to 2,100rpm, the engine quit smoking. There was never any noise or vibration which would indicate problems, just a lot of smoke.

This is my first experience with 12V71N's, but I would have to think I would feel or hear something if I had major problems, or any internal problems for that matter. I've been meaning to call DD to get their view on this, but I've been slammed the last few days (guess I could be doing that now instead of banging on this computer). Oh well, we'll see what happens.

Thanks for the reply and the wish for something cheap!!!

 

[Freebird]

Can you say "SCREWED" boys and girls?

Check out the thread "Barge Damage To Wilson Lock".

Will this adventure ever end???????