On the one hand the people here have been wonderful. There are good places to eat, a very informative museum, and a pleasant waterfront park. Dan the Dock Master for the Maritime Ministries free docks came down to meet and welcome us when we first got here. There wasn't room for us on his dock, but we were in sight and had been talking to him on the phone. He was unbelievably (couldn't resist the pun) helpful, letting us have parts delivered to his door, lending us a car, and generally being as generous as one human being can be to others. For that reason alone the town is okay. On the other hand...
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| Roo, Tj, Deb, and Dan Smith of Maritime Ministries |
For a place that is at the headwater of the Dismal Swamp route there is very little support for the long distance cruiser. Fuel, water, pump out, electrical service...all are in short supply or non-existent. When I say “short supply” what I mean is we have been here for a couple of days and have not found any of the above. There is rumor of a pump out somewhere but, as of yet, we have not located it. There is not a water hook-up anywhere to be found. There are public bathrooms but don't need one before 0800 in the morning as they will not open yet. If you need to save ship water (since you can't get more here) shower access will cost you $5 for the code. If you had spent a very long day working in a hot engine room you might come out of the shower cleaner than you went in. Maybe.
The shower is right near the city free dock, which would make them a bit more livable than the dock we have been tied to. But we looked them over and it is doubtful First Light would fit. A Saber backed in while we were watching, both rub rails rubbed down the piling as he backed in. Once in they set lines but I'm not sure why. They were wedged in place. Too tight a fit so far as I am concerned. You can get an Uber back and forth to the store so provisioning need not be too painful. But it was a bit of struggle to get things together so we can be on our way.
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| The free dock at Jennett's |
When we left Oriental we knew we were on a “shake down” cruise. First Light had been sitting on the hard for the better part of four years. Even with all the work we did before splashing the thing there were bound to be glitches. In addition the original plan included a couple of more months of time to work things through as we traveled. So, all things considered, the fact that we are making any progress at all is likely a pretty good sign. We made some good progress during this particular maintenance stop. The gen-set, after the tender ministries of Grand Son Eldest installing his first ever gen-set part, purred quietly while pumping major amps into the house bank. Before that part arrived we also ran down the engine start wiring to get some idea as to what is happening. As I suspected, the port engine is wired to the start battery while the starboard engine is wired to the house bank. There is a “emergency start” switch panel that is wired nothing like suggested on the front plate. The panel states “KEEP BOTH SWITCHES IN OFF POSITION TURN SWITCH ON FOR EMERGENCY START ONLY.” Ahh...no. Turn both switches OFF and nothing will start. I do leave the “BOTH” switch OFF with the idea that at least one of the battery banks will hold a charge should there be a drain on one of them. I'm not completely convinced that is what was intended, but it is working for now so we will drive on.
Though there is still some debate on this, both battery chargers, the old one and the new fancy one, may need to work in tandem with either gen-set or shore power to get the house bank into float. That seems seriously weird to me so I will be looking into it some more. But, at the moment, First Light is back up with all systems running. How long that will last is anyone's guess. I'll just keep reminding myself it is a shake-down cruise. Finding broken things is part of the plan. Well, it's worth a try anyway.
2 comments:
"Finding broken things is part of the plan..."
Laughed aloud from that one!
One upon a time I worked in Beechcraft's experimental section with an old Tech named Kato. We were charging a customized AC system on a King Air 200 modified for high altitude photo work. I was sure there was a leak in the system as (I though) it was taking too long to pull the vacuum. Old Kato looked at me and said "Boy, you got to look at the good side 'till you're SURE you can't do that no more." A few minutes later we sucked the last of the moisture out of the system, got the vacuum we needed, charged it with R12, and cleared that item off the work order. That had to be nearly 50 years ago and I have to be older now than Kato was then. Yet I can still hear the chuckle in his voice as he taught the new kid a lesson. Be patient, do what needs done when it needs done, get the job done. First Light is on the move. We are breaking things, fixing things, and learning about the boat. How else could it have gone? Im not always happy about it or as patient as I should be. There is still no guarantee that this whole living on a trawler and getting it to St. Louis is going to work out. I nearly died, Deb shattered a wrist, we are spending money like we have some, the trip to St. Louis will take two seasons instead of one. Life offers no assurances, you get what you get and do your best. But I'm sure old Kato would say we are not out of good things yet.
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