The boat engine was de-winterized yesterday and she was taken out for a test run of the repairs. She did well, but, yup, always a but, there was a slight vibration detected on the starboard, damaged right, side at 2000 RPM’s but goes away above and below 2000. There was someone in the engine room during testing and he detected no movement of the engine which indicates proper shaft and strut alignment. Sooooo, right now she is being pulled out of the water again and the starboard prop is being sent back to the prop guy to double check the tuning angles. That SHOULD only take a few days and once it is back, the boat will be tested again. Michael wants me on board during that test run as he and I remember I have mentioned in the past that there was something that just felt a little funny but was not able to determine exactly what it was or even where it was. But it was something I noticed this past season.
We are still heading up there on Friday, March 15th and after the weekend of friends and family visits in Georgia we will be back to the marina on Wednesday the 20th. Depending on where she is, back in the water or on land, will determine if we extend a hotel stay or move onto the boat. The water and toilet systems are still winterized as they are expecting overnight temps back down to the 20’s next week. Once we get back on board we can keep her warm.
This morning we got an e-mail from Katie at the marina informing us that when the guys got on board for the test run they found several cans of soda had exploded in the salon and in the refrigerator. EXCELLENT! We had originally planned to only be gone for 2 weeks so we did not anticipate problems such as that. So we have that mess to look forward to. I can’t wait to see what else happened over the extended time away.
OH, and even more fun! We learned earlier that the lock in Demopolis Alabama has suffered a catastrophic structural failure and it needs to be rebuilt. Their best estimate on a completion date is sometime in May. So once again all pleasure and commercial traffic in these rivers has come to a stop. Many of the commercial traffic is diverting to the Mississippi River, but that is not an option for us. There are very few facilities along the Mississippi for pleasure boats and those that are are spread quite a distance apart. That along with the very heavy commercial barge traffic makes it a no go for us although a few brave souls have done it. For me, no thank you.
So if we are really looking at at least May for the lock to reopen, we will not be able to get back to Florida and safely tucked away before July or August, which is prime hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 31. We have even let our marina in Tampa Bay go as paying $1,000.00 a month for something we have no hope of using this year is just nuts. We will have to hunt for another home sometime the end of the year.
Therefore, our thoughts of skipping Louisville, Nashville, and Chattanooga and blast back down to Florida have come to a screeching halt and those places are now back on the table. So if anyone would like to put dibbs on one of those destinations, place your reservations early.
Well, for now that’s all. Updates will be upcoming as we go along. Love to all, Gina and Mike
