So yesterday our big adventure began. this is long but a good story.
The last week was a mad dash to get everything done we could prior to the move. Took the power washer down with some fancy no scrub cleaner to clean the hull. The Product was called Instant Hull cleaner by Better boat... bottom line, crap, it does not work at all. And I was shut down while power washing the boat by the marina because the state of NJ has cracked down on power washing boats in marinas.. So we got the bottom as clean as we could and slapped some bottom paint on and called it. Got the boat all ready to travel. The rebuilt carbs I ordered did not get done in time so we were heading out with questionable carbs, and the engines only ran for 10 minutes before this adventure.... so...
Yesterday the boat hauler showed up at our marina at 8:15am, we had gotten up at 6am and drove down to the marina to be there at 7:30 so we could do some last minute things.
Boat was loaded and strapped and off we went for a 1h 45 minute drive from Tuckerton NJ to Salem NJ. Salem NJ is right across the C&D canal on the Delaware river. Short jaunt across the river into the canal and into the Chesapeake. On the way the acrylic windscreen took a fatal blow on the starboard side by a low hung branch and took out a good 9" section of the screen just before the curved corner, chipped and cracks all around. So that will need to be replaced. We got to Salem NJ by 11 am, and splashed. Sat at the marina for an hour running the motors checking fluids and making sure everything was in order, reinstalled the Bimini, and made her ready to set off. I want to thank Graham Page Hauling for his great service, I highly recommend him.
Left Salem NJ around noon. Navionics gave us a 2hr 20 minute travel time from point A to B to our new marina. Weather was good, partly sunny winds 5 to 10, no seas to speak of. Starboard engine only stalled once while maneuvering in the marina and off we went. Out of the marina and into the Salem river we fast idled down to the Delaware river, jumped up to 3200RPM traveling 18 knots. We traversed the river to the C&D canal smoothly and headed down the canal passing a few cruisers and came upon a rather large yacht throwing a huge wake that caught us off guard. Boat slammed by the wake and both Simrad NSS7's began blink and turn off. Must be loose connection somewhere. Luckily we had an iPad with Navionics we were using as well. With the Simrad GPS and sounder down we need to stay on route and in the channels. We were fine we had an iPad back up, we continued down the canal, my wife in the car chasing me and my son to try and get pics of the boat.
As we closed in on the half way mark, we decided to stop at Chesapeake City Marina and Restaurant to get a bite to eat and check the boat over and make sure everything was working as planned. Let the wife know to meet us there, as we closed in on the marina backed the throttle off to bring her to a fast idle. That's when the adventure begun! Starboard engine dies and refuses to start. We spun around outside the marina trying to restart the engine to no avail. Decided to head in on one engine into the marina. As we headed in we spotted an open dock directly ahead of us and went for it. We were able to come in and luckily slipped into the dock uneventful and tied up. Not sure if it was an open spot or not , but it was our only option. Once tied up, we informed the dock hand we were down one engine and came in to assess and grab a bite to eat, he said we were fine where we were berthed, and we went and got some good food to calm our nerves.
After eating we headed to the boat to try and get her up an running. After screwing around for an hour, it was apparent the motor would not run at all. We could not get it to run at all let alone idle. Time to come up with a plan. We could attempt to continue the 1hr 15 minute ride on one motor, or call BoatUS for a tow. The carb was completely blocked and only a new carb would get us going. I made the call to just limp the rest of the way on one engine verses a tow, meant at least a 3 to 4 hr trip. Wife said cant we get a carb somewhere? to which I said yea you can get a auto carb, but not a marine carb. After discussing the option we made the call to drive to an advanced auto and buy ($452.62) a Holley 600 CFM carb that was identical to the one we have on our boat, just not a marine version. So off my wife and son go to pick the carb, closest Advanced auto with one in stock was 1 1/2 hr away round trip. So I removed the old one while they went off, I looked at the Simrads and tried to figure out what was causing them to blink and shut off, but couldn't figure it out. Did a visual check of wired leads and connections but saw no obvious issues. Tried cleaning some connections to no avail. Finally they show up with the new carb, we install it and fire up the engine and she purrs to life. Decide to run with the deck hatch cracked open and blowers on to avoid any fuel fumes issues.
At 5:30 pm we back off the dock at Chesapeake City and head back out onto the canal and continue on. Once away from the no wake we power up to 3200 again and now because we are fighting current our speed drops to around 16.8 knots until we exit the canal and then jumps back up to 17.8 to 18 knots. Uneventful cruise into the Chesapeake down to the Sassafras river. Once we get up to the Marina area we drop down to hull speed and idle into the marina. Now we are heading straight into a good 15 MPH wind which we need to turn to port head into the slip way to our slip and back in with the wind blowing us into the slip. The slipway is a little narrow, but doable. I take my time use the shifters and get us neatly docked stern in and we tie up. its now 6:45 pm. We Take some time tying up the boat as this is our first time tying up to a fixed slip.
Once we got the lines right and the boat closed up, its 7:30 pm and we leave the marina in search of dinner. Pick up a couple pizzas and drinks for the hour ride home from the marina to our home, with a detour to go and pick up my truck from the marina in Salem, we finally make it back home around 10:30PM. Its been a long day! But the boat is now in here new slip at Skipjack Cove Yachting Resort and Marina.
