John EarwoodWhen we left off, the Fourth of July was the day of the 4 disasters. After the storm wrecked the teak cap rail, the day turned and actually ended with a beautiful sunset.
I couldn’t really enjoy it, because I was struggling with the fact that I was not getting to Jarret Bay the next day. I wasn’t sure if I was getting to Oriental the next day as I doubted I could find a mechanic. I knew where the fuel was leaking, but I didn’t know how to fix it. I called our River Dunes harbor master to get a recommendation on a mechanic, and he listened to the problem and identified the issue. A little internet sleuthing later, and the culprit was positively identified – end cap on the injection fuel return was FUBAR. Ignorance of diesel, my fear of messing with stuff I don’t fully understand and a $2.25 part had ground our trip to a halt. Here is the offending culprit.
We have a ton of spares on this boat. Boxes of bits and pieces of very salty boat stuff. Claire found some spare fuel line, but a canvas of all of the spare parts, bits and pieces did not yield a spare end cap. Which, as Claire would attest, was surprising given the volume of spares and parts and pieces we found on Study. I foresee years of “debating” the virtue of having spares and tools onboard versus the “clutter” “too much stuff on here” factor. Fortunately, there are lots of places for me to squirrel away such vital items without being found out. I can assure you, we will have spare end caps.
One thing I like about owning a boat is the fact that you have to be self-reliant. Either that or you have a ton of money, time and don’t stray far from civilization. While not the handiest of people ten years ago, I have learned that I generally can’t screw it up too badly. Even so, I still have a hard time tackling something for the first time. Plus, the dreaded diesel intimiadates the hell out of me. Without a little Macgyver attitude, we could still be tied to the dock in Belhaven. Fortunately, Rich’s advice and the interwebs demo of the replacement of the fuel return line gave me the push I needed. I was encouraged to read that if the end cap is FUBAR, you get a gusher of diesel fuel. So, I made my own end cap with spare fuel line, a screw and electrical tape. To account for drips, I used a empty water jug. Shockingly, it actually worked. MacGyvered it!
At some point, I am going to figure out why the hell an “end cap” is needed for this system. I mean really, why not just have it terminate. Anyway, we fired it up on the morning of the 5th day and gave it the “smoke test.” One problem solved and another takes its place. The engine alarm was now blaring, but switching the dual racour fuel filter to the clean one seemed to take care of it. Guess the 30 spare fuel filters on the boat made sense. We departed the scene of the Fourth of July massacre – hoping that we were back to being the windshield.
We had planned on sailing the lion’s share of the trip from Belhaven to Oriental, but we decided given this unfortunate state of events that we would be better served to get to River Dunes ASAP. Sailing a large portion of the day was scraped. I made myself feel better by thinking we could still get the sails up and sail home from Bay River.
It was a hot one, but the scenery was great, and we got through our last bridge without issue (although, note Claire’s gaze upwards at the crucial moment).
We got to see the Coast Guard chase down a power boater who was not following the no wake ordinance, which kind of made my day. We also found a great place near the bridge to buy fuel and seafood. What more could you ask for?
We are going to find a way to anchor out near there at some point.
We came out into Bay River, and I thought we were in the clear. A nice wind was setting up perfectly for us to sail down to River Dunes. So we started trying to get the sails up for the first time. There was one issue though, there was a huge storm brewing aft and depending on its course, we shouldn’t be engaging in our first sail. Undeterred (I guess I still have some Captain Ron in me), I agreed to a reef in the main, and we set about hoisting sails. Twenty minutes later (the reefing system wasn’t as easy as on Cuchulain) we were reefed and ready to kill the diesel (which was leaking oil and clogging filters – so I was hoping to turn it off for a while). Sadly, the wind died and the storm seemed to be getting closer, or at least the lightening was getting closer. Here is a picture of our 2 minute sail.
Didn’t even get out the jib. Next time….
We fought engine alarms and the coming storm, but we made it into River Dunes. We pumped out the leaky head, drained the smelly, green fresh water, and tied up next to Cucchulain. Happy to be safely home.
It was an exhausting drive to Raleigh and a tough couple of days reacclimating to work. As I reflect on our trip from the cool mountains of NC, I am struck by a number of things. We had a blast, even with the setbacks (which were much less than I had expected). Claire has a gift for journey planning – although she needs to be tempered a bit on galley stocking…we would not have starved even if we were still tied to the dock in Belhaven – but, seriously, two pounds of ham…..?!?!?) We did a great job dealing with adversity and tackled it as a team. Attitude is 90% of it, and we have that in spades. At the end of the day, we had some learns and a lot of laughs. Claire found a favorite seat, and I am slowly getting over my diesel phobia. Now.. where to next?
