Captain's Blog 8-13-16 Supplemental
Mechanic pulled each of the plugs and drained the sea water - sea water in all 8 cylinders. New plugs and fogged the system with anti-corrosive spray. She turns over again!!!! YES!!!! But runs rough as hell and doesn't want to continue running at idle. Mechanic believes blown intake manifold gasket due to the heat, possible head cover gasket, and possible riser/manifold assy. Going to have to tear the top end off to troubleshoot. But the good news at least - didn't damage a piston or something....! With the engine cleared of sea water and salt, she is put to bed. They will get back on her Monday for further diagnosis.
With work obligations looming for the coming week, Jonathan and I decided that with nothing more to be done until Monday, it is time to find alternative transportation home.... Luckily Naples has an airport and rental cars - and being off season, relatively cheap @ $60 for a one-way rental. I secured the car, we transferred all our gear and we are on our way home.
Until next week - take care Positive Lattitude! It has been quite an adventure!
To Be Continued.......
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Saturday, August 13, 2016
Captain's Blog: 8-13-16
Well one good thing can be said for motoring slowly on one engine..... our crossing south drank about 170 gallons to the tune of $630. However the trip north, at limping speed on one engine, she only drank 84 gallons, to about $290.... I guess there is a silver lining in there somewhere.
Now we motor north to Naples to the Marine Max (Sea Ray Dealer). They have a mechanic that can climb on her for a quick diagnosis - here's hoping it's an easy fix.
Based on google searches and forums, it appears to be Hydra-lock. We saw the exhaust tubes collapse momentarily, implying a vacuum in the engine, which likely sucked up seawater into the cylinders. When I pulled one of the spark plugs, some sort of fluid (likely sea water) seemed to drain out..... With a little luck, they can pull the plugs, drain the cylinders, and ensure no salt crystals remain and we will be on our way..... crossing our fingers!!
Well one good thing can be said for motoring slowly on one engine..... our crossing south drank about 170 gallons to the tune of $630. However the trip north, at limping speed on one engine, she only drank 84 gallons, to about $290.... I guess there is a silver lining in there somewhere.
Now we motor north to Naples to the Marine Max (Sea Ray Dealer). They have a mechanic that can climb on her for a quick diagnosis - here's hoping it's an easy fix.
Based on google searches and forums, it appears to be Hydra-lock. We saw the exhaust tubes collapse momentarily, implying a vacuum in the engine, which likely sucked up seawater into the cylinders. When I pulled one of the spark plugs, some sort of fluid (likely sea water) seemed to drain out..... With a little luck, they can pull the plugs, drain the cylinders, and ensure no salt crystals remain and we will be on our way..... crossing our fingers!!
Captain's Blog: 8-12-16
Cruising is truly an interesting and exciting adventure.....
We started off our morning with a hot breakfast at the attached Hyatt Hotel. Then, shortly before good byes and casting of lines - in recognition for performance beyond the duties and responsabilities of his rank, Bilge Rat Jonathan was promoted to Mr Buoy Boy Clarke, with the responsibilities and privileges which go with it..... As Captain of Positive Lattitude, I of course have 3 buoys on my chord vs his newly appointed 1. Bruce has video somewhere......
We make our way out into the bay and commence our crossing. 1-2' seas from the seas brought them across us broadside, but the big girl took em well and you wouldn't even know they were there....! Then came the buoy minefield..... OH MY GOD!!! These things were freaking every where - you couldn't make a straight heading - constantly zigging, then zagging.....!! Once we finally cleared the little bastards, I noticed that we were having to run rather hard just to maintain RPM and speed - 22mph @ 4200rpm for 44GPH.... not as efficient as usual.... I also noticed that the seas had switched, and we now had a following sea. This can cause her to run funny for sure, but not like this..... I backed her down to check things out. Dawned a mask and jumped in - sure enough, we had wrapped another damn buoy - but to be honest, given the minefield, I am surprised it was only 1! I made short work clearing it, only wrapped around the exhaust port, and we were on our way.
About 30 miles into the 90 mile crossing, the seas had laid flat - Jonathan and I figured it was the perfect photo op and time to pull out our anit-piracy tools.....
At about 45 miles, alarms started going off....WTF!!? We quickly brought her down from plane and opened the engine hatch. Once determined the stbd engine was throwing the alarm and identified she was overheating, I turned her off. Unfortunately, at that exact moment, Jonathan saw the exhaust tubes collapse due to some sort of back pressure situation - SHIT!!! We checked the strainers - yes they were full, but shouldn't have caused any issue. Attempted to restart, all we got was a single "Clunk".... she won't turn over. We continue to limp on the port engine only while I break out my manuals and look for signs of anything else to look for..... I find a few circuit breakers and start to check on them. I climbed into the engine room to look for the circuit breaker in the front by the alternator - I notice on the floor of my bilge is my serpentine belt. I look over at my pulleys - they are missing a belt.... for a brief moment I am filled with elation (I have a belt on board). Then I notice that the idler pulley is COMPLETELY missing. Must have seized and ripped itself apart, which threw the belt, which caused the overheat..... we continue to limp to Marco Island on one engine.
Well crap!!!!! This is all we need with only 1 engine - luckily it was just rain, little if any wind or seas change...
We make our way into Marco Island about 1800hrs - what was supposed to be a 3 hour crossing took 7 hours, but we made it..... well almost.... as we entered the channel, we saw a looming storm just east of Marco Island and heard the CG break Squelch - "Alert - massive thunderstorm along Marco Island, 34 knot winds, high seas, water spouts. All with only one engine to navigate and dock....! Luckily for us though, the brunt of it passed just to our north and we only got breezy gusts during docking maneuvers - played a little bumper pylons trying to back her in, but we got her in!!!
Cruising is truly an interesting and exciting adventure.....
Another perfect Faro Blanco morning as seen from the stern of Neverland
We make our way out into the bay and commence our crossing. 1-2' seas from the seas brought them across us broadside, but the big girl took em well and you wouldn't even know they were there....! Then came the buoy minefield..... OH MY GOD!!! These things were freaking every where - you couldn't make a straight heading - constantly zigging, then zagging.....!! Once we finally cleared the little bastards, I noticed that we were having to run rather hard just to maintain RPM and speed - 22mph @ 4200rpm for 44GPH.... not as efficient as usual.... I also noticed that the seas had switched, and we now had a following sea. This can cause her to run funny for sure, but not like this..... I backed her down to check things out. Dawned a mask and jumped in - sure enough, we had wrapped another damn buoy - but to be honest, given the minefield, I am surprised it was only 1! I made short work clearing it, only wrapped around the exhaust port, and we were on our way.
About 30 miles into the 90 mile crossing, the seas had laid flat - Jonathan and I figured it was the perfect photo op and time to pull out our anit-piracy tools.....
At about 45 miles, alarms started going off....WTF!!? We quickly brought her down from plane and opened the engine hatch. Once determined the stbd engine was throwing the alarm and identified she was overheating, I turned her off. Unfortunately, at that exact moment, Jonathan saw the exhaust tubes collapse due to some sort of back pressure situation - SHIT!!! We checked the strainers - yes they were full, but shouldn't have caused any issue. Attempted to restart, all we got was a single "Clunk".... she won't turn over. We continue to limp on the port engine only while I break out my manuals and look for signs of anything else to look for..... I find a few circuit breakers and start to check on them. I climbed into the engine room to look for the circuit breaker in the front by the alternator - I notice on the floor of my bilge is my serpentine belt. I look over at my pulleys - they are missing a belt.... for a brief moment I am filled with elation (I have a belt on board). Then I notice that the idler pulley is COMPLETELY missing. Must have seized and ripped itself apart, which threw the belt, which caused the overheat..... we continue to limp to Marco Island on one engine.
Well crap!!!!! This is all we need with only 1 engine - luckily it was just rain, little if any wind or seas change...
We make our way into Marco Island about 1800hrs - what was supposed to be a 3 hour crossing took 7 hours, but we made it..... well almost.... as we entered the channel, we saw a looming storm just east of Marco Island and heard the CG break Squelch - "Alert - massive thunderstorm along Marco Island, 34 knot winds, high seas, water spouts. All with only one engine to navigate and dock....! Luckily for us though, the brunt of it passed just to our north and we only got breezy gusts during docking maneuvers - played a little bumper pylons trying to back her in, but we got her in!!!
A couple of Miami Vice's for the boys of Positive Lattitude.
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Captain's Blog: 8-11-16 Supplemental
Will managed to simultaneously fall off and onto the boat this evening - landing straight on his knee..... it is now the size of a softball.... poor guy! He is out for the evening, full up on advil - with a little luck, taking our advice and elevating it with an ice pack.
We sit on the dock, enjoying drinks in his absence.....
Will managed to simultaneously fall off and onto the boat this evening - landing straight on his knee..... it is now the size of a softball.... poor guy! He is out for the evening, full up on advil - with a little luck, taking our advice and elevating it with an ice pack.
We sit on the dock, enjoying drinks in his absence.....
Captain's Blog: 8-11-16
Our last day of diving....!! Each year, we have a game to see who can come up with the best "Party Hat" - the jury is still out on the winner of this year's contest - comment your winning vote please...!!! My dive flag (should have taken this picture a week ago when it was fresh....) or Jonathan's shark hat.......
Our last day of diving....!! Each year, we have a game to see who can come up with the best "Party Hat" - the jury is still out on the winner of this year's contest - comment your winning vote please...!!! My dive flag (should have taken this picture a week ago when it was fresh....) or Jonathan's shark hat.......
We took Bruce's Regal 2860 "Neverland" out this time to see how she would handle 4 divers and their gear...... she's a great boat - but a dive boat she will never be unfortunately.... she got us to our dive sites just fine, but struggled with all the weight unfortunately. Not much for bugs today, but at least Jonathan caught a few more hogfish!
Another night of grilling burgers and bratts on the pier - seemingly a total success until Will dropped his Chef's knife. Luckily, it landed on a rock about 4' down and we could just barely see it! Will HAD TO HAVE IT BACK - so he went in after it....... what could go wrong?
Another perfect ending here at Faro Blanco!!!
Tomorrow we cast off lines from Faro Blanco for the last time and begin our journey home. Bruce will be tailoring Neverland back home to Melbourne and Jonathan and I will be motoring back up to Clearwater. For now, we sit and enjoy the sea breeze from our transoms one last time, watching a distant lightning storm - CHEERS!!
Captain's Blog: 8-10-16
Well this trip is nothing short of surprises....!! We decided to make our way 10 miles out to the Thunderbolt - a wreck defined as "The Jewel of Marathon". Well, this particular jewel has buoys for mooring (as many wrecks do), only come to find out they are submerged 15' underwater.... WTF is that all about.....!!??!! After an hour of back and forth, trolling, searching with the sonar, and someone on the bow - no luck in finding either the buoy or any indication that the ship even exists - sonar was FLAT!
We finally decide that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome, and that it is time to scrub this effort and go elsewhere. We make our way to "The Gap", a nearby reef formation that drops from 60' depth to 80' depth. Jonathan and Will make the dive. They return with 1 bug and a few hogfish to add to Jonathan's collection. All in all, not a total loss. Bruce and I decide we aren't feeling it and we make our way inward to "Coffins Patch" reef - a shallow and picturesque dive. Bruce and I gear up and prepare to dive. With perfect weather conditions, Jonathan decides to launch the drone - expecting some great shots of us under water. Well - that was the idea at least. About 30 seconds into his flight, he lost control of one of the attitude rotors and the drone ran off on him. He attempted his best to regain control, but unfortunately we were all witnesses to an unfortunate catastrophe as she continued to walk out on him until he lost all control and she dropped sideways into the ocean. I ripped off my gear, threw it onto the swim platform and scurried to the bridge to fire up the engines and raise the anchor. Bruce remained on the platfrom (gear fully dawned). We motored to the approx location we thought she dropped in (approx 100 yards off our stern) - commence rescue operations!!! Bruce dove in. I set my anchor, chucked my gear in the water and was putting it on while going down.... Bruce tracked East, I tracked west, and Will snorkeled the radius of the boat..... Bruce successfully recovered the drone - no CLUE how he managed that one!!!!!!!?????!!!!!
Back to the dock - "let's not press our luck" and end this day before something else happens.....
Well this trip is nothing short of surprises....!! We decided to make our way 10 miles out to the Thunderbolt - a wreck defined as "The Jewel of Marathon". Well, this particular jewel has buoys for mooring (as many wrecks do), only come to find out they are submerged 15' underwater.... WTF is that all about.....!!??!! After an hour of back and forth, trolling, searching with the sonar, and someone on the bow - no luck in finding either the buoy or any indication that the ship even exists - sonar was FLAT!
A BEAUTIFUL RUN OUT!!!...
Operation "Drone Recovery"
Back to the dock - "let's not press our luck" and end this day before something else happens.....
Spaghetti Dinner on the dock and another beautiful Sunset at Faro Blanco
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Captain's Blog: 8-9-16
Weather report called for thunderstorms in the morning, clearing into the afternoon..... Well, weather is probably the only job in the world where you can be wrong 99.9% of the time and still be considered good at what you do..... woke up to 89 degrees and nary a cloud in the sky! Quick - let's dive! Given the weather was so ideal, we decided to make the trek west down by Cudjoe Key to dive the Adolphus Busch - about a 25 mile run south. Adolphus is a wreck situated at 110' on the bottom. Beautiful dive! The ship is still intact - you can actually tell it is a boat still....!!! Great dive - clear water, 30-50' visibility, perfect temp (even at that depth). When finished, we ran back north to a couple of our "Friends in Low Places" coordinates. Nope - they still haven't come back in....!!
At 1700, Bruce got a call from Faro Blanco telling us we have to move our boats tonight. New slip assignments due to piling work being done the rest of the week.....WTF!!!!????!!!! Fine, we will accommodate and move - what an annoying PITA, having to move our lines, dock box, bumpers, power and water cables, dock chairs, etc. So we move to the new location - which doesn't have a wall ro protect the boats from the beach sand which constantly blows up onto the dock and into the boat. And the worst of it all - the slips they put us into, all the power was already being used. The boats to the left and right of us were consuming all outlets on each pedestal. Called up Faro and due to the hour, all dock personnel had already left for the day. So of course, we get screwed with no power. Their solution, "run an extension cord from another pedestal..." That shit doesn't fly with me..... you are going to inconvenience me like this, then put me into a slip that has no power available. Straight up unacceptable! Bitching will be had....!!
After 1.5 hours of moving everything and making the boats secure, time to cleaned the gear..... now dark, time to clean fish and lobster..... PITA!!! Time to finally make our way to the pool.
While at the pool, out of no where a squall blows in!! Back to the boats to make sure everything is secure!!! Our lines pulled taught and we were pushing hard into the dock - luckily we stayed inches off the rocks and clear! A few boats snapped lines and others got pushed into the rocks..... We tightened our lines and secured our glass - by the time we were done, the storm had passed, OF COURSE!
Weather report called for thunderstorms in the morning, clearing into the afternoon..... Well, weather is probably the only job in the world where you can be wrong 99.9% of the time and still be considered good at what you do..... woke up to 89 degrees and nary a cloud in the sky! Quick - let's dive! Given the weather was so ideal, we decided to make the trek west down by Cudjoe Key to dive the Adolphus Busch - about a 25 mile run south. Adolphus is a wreck situated at 110' on the bottom. Beautiful dive! The ship is still intact - you can actually tell it is a boat still....!!! Great dive - clear water, 30-50' visibility, perfect temp (even at that depth). When finished, we ran back north to a couple of our "Friends in Low Places" coordinates. Nope - they still haven't come back in....!!
At 1700, Bruce got a call from Faro Blanco telling us we have to move our boats tonight. New slip assignments due to piling work being done the rest of the week.....WTF!!!!????!!!! Fine, we will accommodate and move - what an annoying PITA, having to move our lines, dock box, bumpers, power and water cables, dock chairs, etc. So we move to the new location - which doesn't have a wall ro protect the boats from the beach sand which constantly blows up onto the dock and into the boat. And the worst of it all - the slips they put us into, all the power was already being used. The boats to the left and right of us were consuming all outlets on each pedestal. Called up Faro and due to the hour, all dock personnel had already left for the day. So of course, we get screwed with no power. Their solution, "run an extension cord from another pedestal..." That shit doesn't fly with me..... you are going to inconvenience me like this, then put me into a slip that has no power available. Straight up unacceptable! Bitching will be had....!!
After 1.5 hours of moving everything and making the boats secure, time to cleaned the gear..... now dark, time to clean fish and lobster..... PITA!!! Time to finally make our way to the pool.
While at the pool, out of no where a squall blows in!! Back to the boats to make sure everything is secure!!! Our lines pulled taught and we were pushing hard into the dock - luckily we stayed inches off the rocks and clear! A few boats snapped lines and others got pushed into the rocks..... We tightened our lines and secured our glass - by the time we were done, the storm had passed, OF COURSE!
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