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The adventures of Dave the mechanic (aka DTM) and his trusty sidekick, Wrenchgirl (WG) begins like this.  We noticed water coming into the bilge while we were running south and determined that the raw water pumps containing the impellers leaked.  I determined that the o-ring that sealed the impeller cover was probably damaged or incorrectly placed, so I removed the impeller housing covers, cleaned them, and replaced the o-rings.  I did not replace or lubricate the impellers.  Yesterday, we went out for a pump-out and fuel from the Municipal Docks.  We were also testing our repair.  It was a beautiful day after the fog burned off.  We left the slip around 1 o’clock and headed down the San Sebastian River at mid-tide.  We turned north from the San Sebastian, headed towards St. Augustine downtown when DTM noticed that both engines were getting hot.  Frustrating, but not serious.  We pulled to the side of the wide channel and dropped anchor.  WG wasn’t sure that the anchor was holding, but DTM had to get below and look at the hot engine room to try and understand why the engines were overheating.  The last good news of the day was that the leaks were stopped, maybe.

I’ve learned from bitter experience over the years that when the going gets tough on a boat, the tough call Towboat/US.  Cap’n Rick came out very quickly and put us in tow.  Now all we had to do was raise anchor.  We pulled the anchor up to a certain point and it simply stopped.  We looked, pulled, and could not get the bleeding anchor up.  We fully discharged the batteries trying to raise the anchor with the windlass.  Cap’n Rick said, “I think your anchor is fouled.  I’m in neutral and we aren’t moving in this current.”  WG moved to the side and told me, “I can see a line on the anchor.”  We used a boat hook to pull the wire line from the anchor.  I use an unusual anchoring technique and this technique didn’t just foul the anchor, it wrapped the line around the anchor.  Twice.  As I’m pulling the wire line from the anchor, Cap’n Rick calls out, “Be careful – there used to be electrical lines out here.”  At that point, it would have been a relief.  So, the anchor is up, more or less.  We can’t actually get it all the way up since we have no 12 volt electrical power and no one knows where the hand crank is.  The engines are too hot to run and we are still in need of a pump out and fuel.  Cap’n Rick asks if we are staying aboard.  When we say yes, he offers to tow us to a pump out.  One knows that ones life is inalterably changed when one is towed into dock to get a pump out.  But we did get pumped out.  WG suggested that we get fuel, too, but DTM decided not to fuel up until the engines could reliably run again.

We took less than an hour to get up the San Sebastian River to Oyster Creek.  Again, it was a nice ride and I didn’t have to watch the depth, not that I could since the gauges didn’t work.  I did have the battery charger on and the generator running.  Our slip at Oyster Creek is on a very narrow fairway.  In fact, I can’t pull out of the slip straight ahead and turn.  I have to turn before I leave my slip because of the pilings on the other side of the fairway.  Cap’n Rick asked if I could run the engines long enough to pull into the slip and I said I could.  We called Oyster Creek to ask for a roomier slip and some help coming in.  We are in the same slip and we received no help docking.  But I did get the boat into the slip.  WG walked down the stairs on the dock to begin tying lines.  I turned off the engines.  We failed to get a stern line on before we drifted up to the sale boat next to us.  I restarted the engines and backed in again (not a big deal), so WG could hand me the wrong stern line.  At this point, people in the bar began feeling sorry for us and came down to the boat to ask if we were okay.  They didn’t help, but they were interested.

We did finally get the boat into the slip, tied up, batteries charged, and at least one leak either corrected or unable to pass any water.  Later today or next week, DTM and WG once again descend into engine room hell to attempt another repair of the leaking water pumps.  Stay tuned.

Dave the mechanic

Epilog:  We did successfully replace both impellers (one had 4 of 12 blades and the other had 2).  The marine electrician who came out to fix the windless found a few other minor problems and fixed those.  Total cost of that pumpout, excluding Towboat/US and aggravation, about $810.00.