It Happened to Us

Friday, April 24th: Thunderbolt Marina - Again

The question is, after you have talked about the mistakes others make that end up in a grounding, do you admit that your own boat got stuck in ICW mud? And do you admit to being at the wheel? - and even though you were within the marked channel, do you admit to not having followed the magenta line on the chart as you should have - even though entering a very tricky section? How can that be explained? I won't try.

The truth is we were stuck well and good this afternoon as we attempted to travel north of Thunderbolt. The short story is that we were the 6th boat that the Towboat US fellow had pulled out of the same spot this week - and when he tried to pull us off - and he was pulling for quite some time - the bridle attached to the 2 cleats at the bow of the boat slipped up around the anchor, pulled the anchor against the anchor roller - and bent the roller considerably. After all that, we decided to return to the Thunderbolt Marina where we know there is a good marine yard and where Bob hopes they'll be able to straighten out the roller.

This morning before we left Thunderbolt, when the boat came out of the water, the rudder was fine, the hull was free of growth and and there was no problem with the "cutlass bearing". However, the zinc on the end of the prop had worked itself off - and was gone. The zinc on the prop shaft was in tact and just a little corroded although Bob took the opportunity to put on a fresh one. This all means that the engine knock is still unexplained. The mechanic suggested that we continue on - that the knocking might have been the now missing zinc clanging around before it came off completely - but if the sound was still there after we ran the engine today, that we should have someone look at again in Charleston and do the "next step" which is to see if it's a transmission problem (that's the best recount of all this that I can do).

While underway (and before we went aground), we were still hearing the knock so now that we have returned to Thunderbolt to have the bow roller repaired (we hope), we'll have the knocking investigated further as well. Bob has already talked to the manager of the yard and they will be ready for us Monday morning - to look at the anchor roller which they think they may be able to bend back into place and also they will have a Yanmar mechanic there to check whatever (re the knock).

Saturday, April 25th: Thunderbolt Marina

What do we do when you have a free day on a boat? - we pull everything apart to find all the stuff we know is hidden away but we've put off looking for. A key item Bob pulled out of some deep hidden spot was no-see-um proof netting that he bought back in Toronto. Today we'll cut some pieces to fit into the ports that we like to leave open at night. Spraying the screens with insect repellent works only up to a point: in the morning we've been waking up with fresh bites.

And what does Bob do when he has a problem on the boat and time to mess about? He can't leave it alone - he has to try to solve the problem. This morning Bob had his head in behind the engine listening for the knock, trying stuff and listening again. In the end, he raised up the engine a little, tightened down the screws and the sound is gone. He's hoping that he's fixed it. Guess what he's doing now? He's got tools out and he's trying to straighten the side of the anchor roller.

Postscript:

Bob was able to bend back the side of the anchor roller and walked up to the marine store to buy a new roller (the piece that anchor rolls over while being threaded through the whole roller --- thingy). It's fixed.

We won't be staying until Monday so as to go into Thunderbolt Marine yard; instead, tomorrow morning, we'll leave early to catch the high tide and resume our trip through the dreaded Georgia ICW.