We snagged some photos taken from our friend Cap’n Larry aboard Adriana. Pics of your own boat underway are obviously always hardest to come by, and Larry captured some very nice shots from our recent travels together. Thought I’d share a few with you. First, our most hair-raising obstacles, after 6 knot current and debris, that is, are aerial cables and fixed bridges that span the waterway. Every single one is an adventure when the clearance is either not very generous or listed as “unknown” (thanks a lot!)

another issue is fog, especially where either high speed fishing boat traffic or slow moving but ponderous commercial traffic is a threat

Tranquil sunsets at equally tranquil anchorages:

and crisp sunrises that promise a great day’s run

going visiting…

So now back to yesterday…

Vertical Clearance: a trip up to the mast to remove a few more bridge benders (just in case). We were very concerned that beside the hassle of taking the stick down, it would impede lock ops, visibility, use of the bimini, etc. Also, water level is very well controlled for the first part of the next leg, and below that more affected by watershed rain; however, nothing major in the forecast right now for down there, so that mast stays up, but with minimum drag and maximum joy (credit to Sade).

 

Electronics: yes we added electronics in LC, but don’t use much of it all at the same time so far except chartplotter/gps along with autopilot, depth and wind. An increase in electrical load may in fact be something that keeps us from going to trickle charge (versus an equipment malfunction as originally suspected). I AM able to make that happen while sitting at the dock on shore power (where we have more available charge AND less load). We do need to remap our total load requirements versus charge capability (shore, generator, engine alternator) since we have made many changes just prior to leaving Lake City, and are now “cruise testing” all this stuff. We installed a new refrigerator that uses half the juice of the old one. We also add a small auxiliarly freezer,a computer (that we usually don’t leave on all day–sometimes “sleeping”, but not up and online). And so on…

 

Engine: gwe were DELIGHTED to get a clean bill of health on the engine yesterday after worrying about a buildup of exhaust pressure. Upon replacing the exhaust hoses, and in the process of finding the interior of our exhaust elbow and manifold on the rear of the engine was SPOTLESS, we breathed a HUGE sigh of relief. One question we had been harboring was why we were seeing water coming out of the “piss valve’ over the (port) side. When asked if it always did this, i honestly couldn’t say. Not only did we spend FAR more time at the dock than underway prior to the last couple of months (in Lake City, MN), when we did get underway, it was only usually for a few miles at relatively low RPM. As a sign of back pressure in the exhaust system, with the exhaust through-hull now lower in the water (now below water, actually, due to the weight of our first-time cruising load), we were now wondering whether this was an issue or not. We had Terry the mechanic here install a fitting on our exhaust elbow for tapping a back pressure gauge into the system. Then based on input from the Ford Lehman guru, Brian Smith at American Diesel Corp, pressure less than or equal to 1.5 pounds (3″ of Mercury) is just fine.

 

So once the hoses were replaced and the gauge inline, we ran no-load tests at the dock every 250 RPM from idle to WOT (wide open throttle). Nothing too far out of line, but some higher RPMs close to the upper limit. The fear then was that it would be even higher under load. So we got underway and ran the same test. At WOT it was very close to the limit but not over (whew)! And, BTW, I almost NEVER run at WOT anyway (emergency only). This was a TREMENDOUS relief for us as we head into the Tenn-Tom, especially the run from Demopolis on down, we’d like to make better time than 6 knots through “Deliverance Country”. This gives us the option to do so confident that we’re not putting the engine at risk. We still, however, had this stream of raw water flowing down our port side hull and rub rail. Mechanic Terry called Brian Smith again, and Brian recommended something that Terry had never heard of–diverting that water (over) flow from the hull side to a fitting installed in the top of the water lift muffler. So Terry drilled and tapped a 9/16″ hole in the top of the WLM (the fiberglass top of that thing was almost 3/4″ thick!!), installed a fitting with hose barbs on top that received the (new) hose from the top of the (above the water line) anti-siphon loop. It seems to work like a champ!

 

Also, while underway with Terry, he attached a photo-tachometer to the engine’s flywheel and we did another WOT run (I had never done this with Sojourn as it presses her to more than half a knot above her hull speed of 7.9 knots. It was actually pretty scary. She did it, but what a ride. She squatted WAY down in the water at the transom, temp rose from normal 178 degrees to 188 (which I’m told is normal for a 190 degree thermostat, but….), went from 50 PSI of oil pressure to almost 60, and smelled HOT. I shared my concern with Terry and he said this is what this engine is designed for, and did what we asked of her. At WOT, I read 2400 RPM on the upper helm tach and 2350 at the lower helm (these are notoriously inaccurate). Terry’s photo-tach read 2215. Brian indicated that if we didn’t have the right prop two issues could result. First, internal carbon build-up. We now know that is NOT an issue for us. Second, it prevents the engine from developing its full potential. While technically true, Terry said since I never do that anyway, also a non-issue.  End of job !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

We have yet to see the bill for Terry’s (mechanic) and Mark’s (electronics) time, but boy, we feel a LOT better heading into “Deliverance” country now

 

So we’re still in iuka, mississippi, we’ll be entering the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway for the last 450 miles to Mobile Bay on the Gulf Coast (not too soo with storms still a brewin’ !). We have a pretty good handle on that leg. Now we’re starting more detailed voyage planning for the Gulf Coast, the Florida Panhandle, and the crossing to Florida’s West Coast. We know there’ll be at least one night crossing, so we’re planning on departure times for daylight arrivals, etc.

 

 For those of you also enroute south, Chip Lucas from Grand Harbor Marina spends a LOT of time on the Gulf Coast, and he absolutely swears by weather info for crossing the gulf that he gets from Mike Venable at The Moorings in Carabelle, so we’ll definitely look him up!

 

We’ll probably be leaving Aqua tomorrow or the next day after changing the oil today, eliminating a kink in our air conditioning water hose, rigging a trip line on our main anchor (the Tenn-Tom is notorious for eating expensive anchors and chain), etc.

 

Well, on to the day’s work (even though today was supposed to be a day off, idle hands and all that).

 

Lator, ‘gators…