Heading south for the winter

[Administrator]

Hi, Paul:

You raise a very good point. Sometimes it's not a lack of ears. It's a lack of a mouth.

With a receiver on board your boat, you should have seen that tug, IF he was transmitting. Our experience, mostly on the Upper Bay, is that tugs are the most frequent sinners, although the regs under which they operate require them.

As you said, it's a tool, but it doesn't relieve one of the responsibility for a proper lookout.

Bill

[hanleyclifford]

From the Eldridge Pilot Book

"Both in safety and in doubt, always keep a good lookout.
In danger with no room to turn, ease her, back her, go astern."

[hanleyclifford]

Got'em on screen

About 1230 EST, PT26 approaching the Gilmerton Bridge. Should be interesting to hear how the construction site is doing.

[hanleyclifford]

Looks like PT26 halted at Deep Creek lock, probably waiting for the 3:30 PM locking.

[PT26]

Water and then some!

So we left Hampton Roads and within an hour the A4 was choking and burping again...

I shut it down and used the auxiliary outboard and called Tidewater Marina at Hospital Point to see if they had a new water separater. They had the one we needed in stock so we pulled in to pick it up.

They were great they let us stay on the dock, pump out the fuel tank, and even had a place for disposal of the watered fuel. I couldn't take it any longer it had to be dome. I was sure we had picked up bad gas when we fueled in Solomans. We had not had any trouble until we fueled there.

My assumption was right we pumped out six gallons from the tank and two were water!

Before installing the new filter we ran the last of the water out of the lines through the old water separator after putting in new fuel. After we were sure that the water was out of the line between the tank and the separator, we installed the new filter.

This made for a long day, thank goodness we started out at five in the morning.

Hanley was right, we made the last lock opening for the day and we are in and tied to Elizabeth's Dock just south of the lock. The A4 is finally running like she did before this mess started. It has been long enough so an oil change and spark plug check are due tomorrow.

The bridge at gilmerton looks like it is comming along well , we got a good look while we waited for the train and the bridge to open!

[hanleyclifford]

Paul, Sorry to hear about the fuel problem but sounds like you handled it well. You will be able to get extra filters at that Advance Auto; I don't recall any being available in Elizabeth City (maybe at the Ace?). Those two links you posted are fantastic; I can see your green dot! All the best, Hanley PS..don't be shy about posting us some pictures!

[Mo]

Happened to me too.

Hi Paul,
Same thing happened to be 2 yrs ago as we headed out on a weekend trip. I poured 10 gallons in the boat and had trouble as soon as I used the engine.

My problem was that I typically back off the dock and before I pass 6 boats the sails are up (I get away with that....a couple of hours later going through a rough, fairly narrow area, called the ledges I fired up the engine....within a few minutes it was sputtering, dropping and gaining RPMs...finally got to the point where it would only idle rough.

Sailed in light air to our destination....long day. Changed out filters 3 times and finally had to suck the water off the bottom of the tank. That was my only problem with water in fuel and I was sure I poured it in there.

I was looking at your AIS today as you were in deep creek.

[sastanley]

Paul,

Lots of Q's-
So that place had the facilities to pump out your fuel for you or did you use your own fuel pump?

Where did you buy your fuel in Solomons? I wonder if their tank got contaminated from the Sandy related rains?

[Administrator]

Removing fuel from the tank

If you used a traditional outboard fuel line (with a priming bulb) to siphon fuel/water out of the bottom of the tank, and you got the discharge end of the fuel line well below the bottom of the tank (on the hard, of course)....

Once you primed it, would the fuel continue to flow? A gallon a minute? A cup a minute?

Bill

[lat 64]

Paul,
I'm sure most of this is not new to you, but I found this good discussion about water in fuel on the Cruiser's Forum:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f54/fuel-filtering-on-tank-fill-up-88207.html

Happy travels,
Russ

[sastanley]

Bill..I didn't think about that, but that is how I emptied my tank..

I had a squeezy bulb on it, & when the tank sprung a leak, we emptied it into jerry cans right just by yanking the pump inlet and sticking the hose in a jerry can...probably 15 gallons in 30-45 minutes...in the dark, and druing a storm, uphill both ways, with my finger on the hole in the tank...yadda yadda yadda...

My how quickly we forget.

[PT26]

Hello from the swamp

to answer the first question I have an on board pump for changing my oil so I used it and then dumped it carefully into a five gallon container.
Tide Water Marina "Hospital Point" has full facilities and would have done it for us but we were able to do it ourselves and dump it at there station. If you use this way of doing the job make sure to connect the smallest hose to the unit so it will bend a bit and get to the bottom of the tank.

As far as the fueling station it was the one across from the Tiki Bar headed north on the port side. Sorry I can't remember the name. I am thinking along the same lines the hurricane probably got some water into their tanks... It happens.

[PT26]

Thanks for the link... The next item I will purchase will be a Baja filter.
We used this religiously while cruising Mexico three winters ago.
It is a nice unit that has filters in it and will stop any water among other things going into the tank. If you cruise anywhere in Mexico it's a must.
I did not get one for a trip down the ICW because I did not think this would be an issue... Boy was I wrong!

On a happy note I am loving the new Bimini top and attaching forward cover my buddy made for us before we left. it's raining and we don't have to close up the boat! I will attach a photo of fitting it while getting ready to leave.

[Mo]

Just a point of interest...off topic.

Love the boat Paul. I spent allot of time in VA and loved every minute of it. Been to that very marina....even did courses in that Hospital back in another life. LOL

Note the pilings in that marina in the above post....docks that could float off in a storm. I am attaching a pic of Odyssey (last one left in...but out now) You can see what we did with our pilings. During Hurricane Juan our docks came close to floating off the pilings....we put 12 foot wooden posts down in them following that storm. A couple of cross braces to keep them from falling all the way in...they floated up once since and saved the works....doesn't take much to keep it together. Might be something for anyone who is docked like we do to check into.

Your "transient" case excepted Paul

[PT26]

Elizabeth City

Hi Mo

Thanks, I do like the new top. I didn't mean to upload the photo so big though...lol

Nice shot of the docks at Hospital Point. Like I mentioned before they we great.

We arrived here in Elizabeth City yesterday afternoon and tied up north of the bridge ( a Hanley move) the wind is somewhat east and we don't want to be on the free docks and get bounced around!

Looks like we will be waiting for weather, we got up at five and I watched the storm that is down the road and counted the days and I would rather be here in a storm than at anchorage or paying for a marina stop.
Plus the Albemarle sound will be kicking at 15 knots with gusts and getting worse for the next few days up to 25 or more with a rain storm not my type of cruising.
It's sad to see the newbies fooled by the weather here in the city, not looking down the road for what is to come or listen to the warning and then heading out thinking it will be ok. I guess some have to learn for themselves, I find it much easier to listen.