Sorry, no pics today! Too busy with other stuff. However, I did do one video of a ship coming out of the lock (see Twitter link).
The outboard fix ended up being more involved than I thought with a fuel jet jammed because the last guy who worked on it stripped or otherwise damaged the threads. So the bottom line is the carb has to be replaced, which is expensive!
Then the problem got worse since the shop cannot get a replacement until Monday! He was going to check to see if they would overnight the part and call me back if they could.
They did call back, so hopefully it will be in tomorrow and the fix can be made by the end of the day. The mechanic (owner) will work on it on a Saturday, thank goodness. I might get out of here on Sunday, if that works out. We'll have to wait and see.
Yesterday, the fridge seemed to be on the fritz. I thought it was dead! I had been so busy with the ships, the lock, docking, and getting to the slip that I hadn't noticed the fridge had ceased operation! By the time I noticed, the freezer was 40F and the fridge 50F!
All my freezer stuff was partially thawed. I tried to recycle the fridge switch to see if that would fix it. There were no flashing lights that you get if it is malfunctioning. Nothing worked so I thought the compressor failed. Then I went to the main power panel and cycled the main breaker then it started to run?? I have no idea why. I put it on manual cold and in no time had it back to normal. I just hope it didn't ruin all my frozen steaks and other frozen food?
I feel like there is a black cloud over the boat. In all the years with this boat I have never had so many things fail or go wrong on one trip...and I'm just getting started!
Speaking of black clouds! Around noon I got a knock on the side of the boat and there stood two Border Patrol agents with guns. They were courteous and pleasant but did go through all my documentation thoroughly. Fortunately, we had prepared for such an eventuality so things went smoothly.
They seemed to have a lot of questions about the boat unrelated to their duties. Apparently they had more interest in the boat itself rather than whether I was someone in violation of border crossing regulations. I ended up giving them my boat card and told them they could easily track me all the way to Florida if they wanted to!
Later I put additional fuel in the main tanks and then refilled the jugs so everything is topped. I normally fill the main tanks from jugs to prevent spillage and staining the side of the boat through the fuel vent overflow, this can happen if they fill from a regular fuel nozzle. I also added 4 gallons to the spare diesel jug for the furnace and topped off the freshwater tank.
My dinner out last night was so bad I decided to cook my own dinner tonight. Grilled a steak on the marina grill added a baked potato and hot roll with wine to wash it down and chocolate covered almonds for desert.
Tomorrow is wash day along with an install of the new shower pump that was delivered here yesterday. I will hold off on replacing the ceramic filter until I see deterioration in water flow. Hopefully the outboard will also be repaired by the end of the day.
Some interesting facts: The Lake Superior leg was 285 NM or 328 statute miles for you land lubbers! The Great Lakes legs to Buffalo, NY should be approximately 825 NM total, so my trip so far has covered 34.5%. Fuel consumption was almost exactly 30 gallons of gas or an average of 9.5 nautical mpg or 10.9 statute mpg. I have used 4-5 gallons of diesel for the furnace, not sure what that is in mpg but I can tell you the weather has been cold and the furnace saved the day! One Great Lake down, two to go! Goal is to be in Buffalo on August 2nd.
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