Thanks again. This little Slice of Heaven has been a real encouragement to me. I have endured a lot over the last two and a half months. The latest setback it's just one in a long string of them.
We arrived in Dunedin Florida last Saturday. the engine died in the middle of the channel. Bad fuel this time. We managed to get it running and
motor to Marker 1 Marina near midnight.
Sunday, Scott broke down the fuel system and pumped all the fuel out of the tank. It was filled with black rubber powder. We suspect the supply lines to the fuel
dock in
Jacksonville. The reason being that one of the 5-gallon cans we used to supply the tank was never used. It was the dirtiest and it was filled in
Jacksonville.
We decided to err on the side of caution and replace all of the rubber lines on the boat with $5 per foot synthetic lines. We had to wait till Monday to get the lines. I also had to drive to Tampa to get replacement elements for the
Racor and then back to Tarpon Springs to get the elements for the
Yanmar fuel filter. It wasn't until Tuesday afternoon that we were able to set out.
We motored to the end of St. Joseph sound and into the
Gulf of Mexico. Setting course for Gulfport
Mississippi, we continue to
motor. The
wind was directly on our bow. Well
offshore, the motor died again and the boat turned beam to the waves. It wasn't quite as easy to bleed the fuel system again, but we did.
It was already getting late when we turn back. Scott and I spent a couple of hours analyzing the exact order of
events and speculating as to the cause. However, the boat performed flawlessly on the return to the marina.
Marker 1 had no spaces, the last one reserved for a large Motor yacht. We move South to the Dunedin City Marina and tied off at the Bon Appetit restaurant's visitors
dock that doubles as the transient dock for the marina.
At first Scott believed the boat to be unseaworthy. But as we talked it out and discovered the nature of the problem that changed. However another problem arose. The weather
forecast for the Northeast
Gulf of Mexico went from bad to worse. We had missed our weather window and this is where I remain.
We had made about half of our voyage so I paid Scott for half the
contract. It was only fair. He said he was prepared to finish the journey when the weather cleared. I've been working on the boat and waiting. Seems like I do a lot of that lately.
There is some good news. The problem with the fuel was just that, the fuel. Also, the harbor master in Dunedin turned out to be an old acquaintance. It's nice to see a friendly face and to be treated well in a sea of strangers. It's also nice to get some of the
maintenance out of the way.
Scott just called. He was looking at our
AIS track on Marinetraffic.com. It showed we were averaging five knots against the
current. This coupled with what we know about the diesel
consumption confirms we have a comfortable margin of
safety, even if we have to motor the entire way.