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We left Wrangell for Petersburg's "Mayfest", and had what we call "the shakedown cruise". We got shook down....
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| Leaving Wrangell |
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| Nice weather, except no wind. |
Right out of Wrangell, the autopilot refused to engage, (Otto von Helm), so Bill went to reboot the system, and convince Otto to get to work. While he was at the nav station, he noticed the bilge pump counter was increasing, and wondered why. Otto was forgotten for the moment, "why is the bilge pump running", is way more important! I hand-steered, and Bill went to investigate if we had water on the inside of the boat, (versus keeping it outside). The answer was yes, the dripless shaft seal was dripping. It was not a lot of water, the maintenance bilge pump was keeping up with it, the high water alarm hadn't sounded [loud enough that people in Petersburg and Wrangell— 20 crow miles apart— would likely hear it...] and we had the spare part to fix it. Worse case scenario, we would stop, shut off the engine, and Bill would fix it on the spot, so we decided to keep going to Petersburg, and not return to Wrangell.
We attended some festivities, and the next day was fix-it day for Bill. Pulling up the sole, (floorboards), Bill discovered that some Guiness beer cans that had been stored in the bilge, had leaked all of their contents, bummer, now major cleanup, along with shaft seal repair. Boat repair projects always cascade into multiple repairs, if you have ever had a boat, you know.
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| Now clean bilge, you can see that it is a great place to store beer. |
And I thought we went to Petersburg to have fun!
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So I guess the lesson learned is to drink all the Guinness as soon as you get it.
ReplyDeleteWise advice... We will still take the risk and try to save a few for you too...
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