SO YOU THINK YOU WANT A BOAT, HUH?

Captain's Note: This is another one of my long winded stories that I doubt you will want to read, but I needed to vent and needed to chronicle these events.

So you think you want a BOAT, and you want to keep it WHERE? Just imagine it, the wind in your sails as you approach the most beautiful little anchorage to spend a relaxing night enjoying your freshly caught lobster:) Or, maybe your image is a big Bull Dolphin leaping in the air after hooking up on your perfectly presented bait as you troll the depths along some remote island far away:) Or, there isn't a more exciting sound than your reel screaming as the line is peeling off like it just got hooked to a freight train going the opposite direction, just to see a big Blue Marlin thrashing the water nearly a quarter mile away:) Well, let me tell you what you're in for:(

We are on our way home from 3 weeks in the Keys. Sounds great, huh? We planned on spending quite a bit of time readying the boat for a Bahamas cruise which we hoped would include some fishing time to test out all the equipment. Now keep in mind we did knock off early a few days to enjoy Happy Hour with Oscar:) The first 2 days were spent changing the sending unit on the holding tank and moving the pump out motor so it will hopefully prime itself easier. As you can imagine that was a very "nice" job. We also flushed and changed the coolant in the cooling system on the generator. Wednesday we were supposed to meet a Yanmar mechanic to do some routine maintenance on the engines. He couldn't make it because a commercial boat had broken down and he needed to help them out first. He thought maybe he could get to us the following Wednesday. So, we switched gears to the TT for a couple days and fixed the running lights, installed a water separating fuel filter, changed the thermostat and flushed the engine with "Salt Be Gone" to help the cooling system. The next day we took "off" to run to Marathon for a few supplies and week number one was over.

Monday morning of week number two the much anticipated warranty project with the Luhrs guys was supposed to take place. We were also having trim tab problems and the only way to work on them was to pull the boat out of the water. So, while it was out we decided that we might as well do a bottom job and wax the rest of the hull so she would be good to go for another year. The Luhrs guys showed up as promised and went right to work on the boat. The louvers on the sides of the boat were allowing salt water and salt air into the engine room, which is not good, and had rusted the straps that hold the fuel tanks in place. Obviously this is not a good thing....400 gallons of diesel fuel flopping around in the engine compartment. The starboard tank had shifted, so we had to have the fuel pumped out of the tank, the tank moved, and then have the fuel pumped back in. The trim tabs are made by Volvo and of course there were not any parts to repair them in stock in the entire country. However, a young captain of another 35 Luhrs that we know had had similar trouble with his trim tabs and had replaced them both so we got the used one from him that was working to get us going again. Wednesday soon rolled around and the Yanmar guy said, "Can't today, Thursday for sure." I was actually driving to meet him at the boat Thursday morning when he called and said, "I am going to have to disappoint you one more time." Well, as you can imagine, it will be the last time he will disappoint us and we are currently looking for another Yanmar mechanic. In the meantime the mechanic at Coral Bay Marina, Danny, where the bottom job was done, said he could do what we needed on Thursday afternoon when we put the boat back in the water and we would be ready to fish a few days beginning Friday. While in the engine room he noticed the exhaust hoses and one intake hose on our three year old boat looked very suspect. I asked how soon we needed to change them and he said, "I wouldn't make any runs to the Bahamas unless they were fixed." So, first thing Friday morning we tackled that project. Changing 5" hoses is at least a two man project, so of course I was the helper. I don't know if you have ever changed a hose that has been clamped to something, but it is almost impossible to remove it without cutting it. FINALLY, we were all finished and I was on my way to pick up everyone and planned to be fishing by 12:30. With the marina still in sight I powered up for about 10 seconds and the starboard engine shut down. I immediately went into the engine room and saw that the fuel filter was full of water. In the process of pumping the fuel out of the tank, moving the tank and then pumping the fuel back in we picked up a huge dose of water. Lesson learned, never let anyone pump fuel you are saving into any container unless you personally check to be sure it is clean.

Danny caught a ride out to where I was stranded and confirmed what I had found. He said I needed to drive it back to the marina so he could work on it. Now let me tell you something, driving a twin engine boat through a narrow channel with only the port engine running with a counter-rotating prop and making a 90 degree left turn is nearly impossible. With help from almost everyone at the marina, I made it in. The water had made it's way through the primary and secondary filters but had not made it to the injectors. In pretty short order, Danny had the filters cleared and we were ready to test it. Each time we would power up, another dose of water would fill up the primary filter. After 3 or 4 times of cleaning it out, it seemed OK. The fuel was a little cloudy, but Danny said it would be safe to run and to just keep checking the filters.

Finally on Saturday of the second week we were able to go fishing. Now with CJM by my side and Matt (Jabet & Lola decided to stay behind) and Megan & Patrick on board we finally were headed out about 11:00. The seas were very rough and so was the fishing. We found a really good weed line late in the afternoon and managed to catch enough dolphin for dinner and the boat ran good.

Sunday morning was dead calm and we were heading out to hurt the fish population. I checked the engine room as usual before heading out and found the filter full of water once again. I drained it and it started and ran for several minutes, so we headed out. Before we reached the end of the canal, the starboard engine died. We limped back in to the slip and called it a day. I spent most of the rest of the day trying to decide what I was going to do with all my free time as soon as I could sell this POS. Since I don't play golf any longer I thought, NASCAR! So, the rest of the day I watched the race at Talladega:(

Monday morning we decided to put an end to the fuel problem. Monday afternoon we had the bad fuel pumped out. Tuesday morning we got fresh fuel and a double dose of additive and Danny came down and cleaned the lines and changed the filters one more time. The fuel looked great. On Wednesday CJM and I took a long test drive, 40 miles or so, and only found a few ounces of water in the filter and the fuel still looked great. The nightmare was finally over. We spent Thursday of our third week cleaning the boat up so we could spend our last day, Friday, bar hopping in the TT. We were nearly ready to call it a day when CJM reported, "The front air conditioner is not working.":( You have got to be kidding me. We spent a good part of the day Friday checking all we knew how to do since the AC repair man could not get to us until the following week after we would be gone (RIGHT). We determined there is a blockage in the water line feeding the unit and in the unit itself. Time for help. We packed up and left on Saturday as planned, now hoping that the AC guy will show up and fix our problem before our big cruise.

If you are still reading this then my guess is you have a lot of time on your hands because YOUR boat is broken down and you are killing time waiting for the mechanic to show up. Almost everyone either owns a boat now or has owned one or more at some time or another. In fresh water we always say B O A T stands for "Break Out Another Thousand." In saltwater, boat is spelled B O A T T, "Break Out Another Two, Three or Ten Thousand." My advice is if you think you must own a boat, keep it in fresh water. As for saltwater, DON'T #U&K*!G DO IT!

CTM