Headed South Again

[ndutton]

How about revert to raw water cooling and deal with it when you get home?

[edwardc]

How about revert to raw water cooling and deal with it when you get home?

That's plan B if this doesn't work. Don't really want to put salt water through this engine, as it's been FWC since the rebuild. Plus I'm not sure I have all the fittings I'd need.

I decided to go with epoxy, as I don't think I could get enough heat from a propane torch to solder on this heavy metal. If I was home with a maap torch I wouldn't hesitate.

Let you know how it works out tomorrow.

[roadnsky]

Wow. Rescue tape didn't hold for the temporary fix huh?

[edwardc]

It wasn't that it it wouldn't hold, I just couldn't get the tape to cover the holes right up against the body while the HX was still in place.

[edwardc]

The epoxy fix worked perfectly. We put in 5 1/2 hours before anchoring on the South Edisto River to wait out some T-storms. Only 7 1/2 more hrs to Charleston.

Meanwhile, a friend contacted me and offered a very attractive price on a new HX, including FedEx to Charleston. I accepted the offer, and will replace the HX when it gets there.

[edwardc]

Well, the new HX arrived and is installed, but there were a couple of "gotcha"s along the way. Monitor has made some changes in their design in the 8 years since I installed my original HX:

1) The zinc location has changed from the bottom to the top, on the diametrically opposite side. In my case, this moved it from 100% accessible to a cramped and blind location. . But it's better positioned to protect the raw water barbs.

2) The coolant return fitting location has moved from the side of the header tank to the end. Fortunately my hose had enough slack to reach.

3) Both of the coolant fittings have changed from 3/8" NPT to 1/2" NPT! This caused me some grief as I had to hike all over Charleston looking for new elbow barb fittings. Never found them, but did find some adapter bushings that allowed me to use my original fittings.

Never a dull moment...

[lat 64]

Well Ed, I guess you made your boat payment for this month, challenged your brain, and got some good cardio points too.

May you be less challenged for the remainder of the trip


Cheers,
Russ

[edwardc]

Since Charleston, we've been making rapid progress north.

After leaving extra early to catch a favorable tide through the shoaling at Isle of Palms, this put us at a poor tide for transiting McClellenville. Thank goodness for the Navionix crowd-sourced sonar charts! I crept from one slightly deeper spot to another, and we made it through without touching bottom.

Since it was still early, we continued on all the way to Georgetown SC, anchoring for the night.

Next day, we went up through the beautiful Wacamaw River, some of the prettiest scenery on the ICW, and stopped at Osprey marina for a few days to visit friends. Osprey is a great place, and very inexpensive.

From Ospery, we did a long day (56 nm) to Southport to position ourselves for an early flood-tide current up the Cape Fear River.
The next day, our timing worked, and with wind & tide in our favor, we did 7.9 kts for a while! A second long day (56 nm again) got us to Mile Hammock, just outside of Camp Lejune. The military entertained us until midnight with repeated landing practice for both large helicopters and Osprey V22 tilt-rotors.

We had checked with Camp Lejune, and they were supposed to be closing the ICW from noon until 5 , so another early start to avoid that. But when we got there at 7:30 am, a Navy patrol boat stopped us and told us the ICW was "closed for live-fire exercise" until noon!! A four and a half hour delay!! We had to backtrack a bit and anchor, along with two other boats. And as soon as we got settled in to wait, the Navy called on the radio and announced that the exercise was canceled and we were free to go! Typical SNAFU. At least it only cost us an hour!

We finished a third long (51 nm) day with no further trouble, and are anchored in Adams Creek, just south of Oriental NC. We're going to visit some friends near here for a few days.

[edwardc]

Left the South river on Monday (Memorial Day) after a great four-day visit with cruiser/looper friends who live there. Ther even took us fishing and Joan caught her first-ever fish, a Speckled Sea Trout. He, and his 8 brothers grilled up wonderfully with Old Bay and a little butter.

Monday, we anchored in Belhaven, and last night on the entrance to South Lake, just off the Eastern shore of the mouth of the Alligator river and south of the Abelmarle sound. It's a ways off the ICW, but makes a good staging point for crossing the Sound.

Today we'll head for Coinjock, and grab some of their famous Prime Rib tonight.

[edwardc]

Almost Home!

After Coinjock, we spent a night on the Portsmouth free dock, on the South basin, while a very active T-storm rolled through. From there, we took a short day (18 nm) to get to Salt Ponds Marina, just off of the Chesapeake East of Hampton, to wait out more T-storms for the next day and a half.

Left there this morning for a day of beautiful weather, bound for the Great Wicomico river, near Reedville. Even got in an hour of actual sailing with the engine off (!) before the wind died down and we had to go back to motor-sailing. Expect to arrive around 5 this evening.

Tomorrow, Solomons, Tuesday Annapolis, and Wednesday home!

[edwardc]

Yesterday was a sloppy day. Started out with 15-18 kts on the nose, seas 3 ft @ 3sec. Had to push the A4 to 2800 rpm the whole day, but the temp stayed rock solid just below 180 and oil pressure ran just over 30 psi. (My WOT is 3100 thanks to 2:1 V-drive)

Spent the night at anchor on Back Creek in Solomons Island, MD. On the way in, we ran into a fellow Pearson buddy on his P31 "True Blue", and he rafted up to us for a while for a visit.

In a few minutes, we'll be leaving for Annapolis, where we'll stop at Cantler's Crab House for some real Maryland steamed crabs!

[roadnsky]

Hey Ed-
Not trying to hijack your thread here...

I helped my friend on HONU (you met him in Man-O-War) sail back to Jacksonville.

Really nice sailing except for a little bumpy weather on the last 50 miles of the crossing.
(We sailed Great Sale to Ponce Inlet)

We "hit the bottom" four times on our way up the ICW to Jacksonville.
Once (in St Augustine) we were smack in the middle of the channel?!

A few pics...

[edwardc]

Great pics Jerry!

I'm really sold on the Navionics charts with their crowd-sourced sonar maps.

I downloaded the free app onto an old 7" Nexus tablet I had, and bought a year's subscription to map updates for the princely sum of $28. It got us through all the skinny spots without touching bottom. Even Jekyll Creek and McClellenville, both at low tide!

I also used bob423's tracks to help get through Fernandina Beach. An awful lot of cruisers owe that man a dinner or a bottle of good rum!

We had a good stop at Cantler's Crab House in Annapolis. About a half-dozen of our friends met us there to welcome us back. The manager let us spend the night on the dock as long as we were gone before they opened in the morning.

Last day was an easy one, with light SW winds, although we pushed the speed a little in order to get in before the severe afternoon T-storms they were predicting (which never materialized!)

It's truly strange being back home, but we're settling in. Tried to do a load of laundry, and the washing machine started leaking, requiring a teardown and then ordering parts for overnight delivery.

This all seems somehow familiar...

[roadnsky]

Welcome home Sailor!

[lat 64]

Thanks for taking us along this year.
Now you have to mow the lawn.