08/23/2010, Dowry Creek |NC
We enjoyed a trip home to Canada from Aug 10-17. We drove a cute yellow VW Beatle. We spent some time with family and friends and Miss B got to meet the Canadians and we all had a great time. It took us 16 hours to drive home and 14 to drive back. During our visit Miss Bridget experienced another allergic reaction which took us to our own vet. The cause is unknown and after another 5-6 day course of benydryl she is better. Jennifer enjoyed a night out visiting girlfriends from public school. Al and I enjoyed a date night, we went to see Eat, Pray Love then had a lovely supper at Frankie Pestos in downtown Kingston. We are back now doing jobs we started, the galley reno and getting the v-berth ready to have a september guest- we hope. It is nice to be back here and our friends Pete, Pokey, Blackie and Red are here now to add to our fun and entertainment .
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Comments [1]
08/08/2010, Dowry Creek |NC
JOHN DENVER ON MY MIND
I can't remember the title, but John Denver used to sing a song that started "Hey, its good to be back home again, Sometimes this old place feels like a long lost friend............." So indeed, we are back settled at Dowry Creek Marina. We were at River Forest boat yard 16 days, hard to believe. But we are back, new engine, and we are leaving Tuesday morning via rental car to Canada for a 7-10 days, Hurricane dependent. July 25th marked one year as live-aboards, that year went fast. During that year we experienced many new things, traded boats, saw dolphin up close, alligators too, got a dog and met the most wonderful people. We don't have television and rarely hear a radio so it has been way cool, not hearing all the bad in the world, but living all the good things. We have had so many kindnesses bestowed on us by complete strangers, the boating subculture is very friendly. We've had complete strangers throw us the keys to their car for grocery shopping, boat supplies, etc. heck one couple even picked us up and had us spend Christmas and New Years with them in their lovely home at the foot of the Appalachians. Living in 34 x 11 foot space is more satisfying than I could ever have imagined. With the internet, you are only one click away from any kind of purchase and it gets delivered right to your boat. Kind of dangerous actually. Life is pretty sweet really, no schedule , only thing we have to do in a day is decide, read or swim, do a boat project, or not, bbq or oven., you get the idea. We have a list of boat improvements but we will tackle them as we feel like it. After years of rushing to a job and living by a schedule, is so wonderful to not live by any schedule. Life is indeed GOOD.
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Pokey
07/30/2010, Kilmarnock Va
(Above picture of CP test running the new engine.)
AMERICAN DEISEL CORP. ADVENTURE
With our sad engine loaded up, we were off Monday afternoon to Hampton to stay over at a La Quinta Inn so we could get up at the butt crack of dawn to be at ADC when it opened at 8 ish.
On our drive we were full of exciting chatter anticipating interacting with Bob Smith himself. In the trawler community he has movie star celebrity status. We were anticipating a huge factory and at one point I even joked with Al that maybe we'd get complimentary tee shirts for the amount of money we were about to dole out. We very surprised when we arrived at AMERICAN DEISEL CORPOTATION (ADC). It turns out it is smaller than we thought, set amongst trees in very rural Kilmarnock, Virginia. There was one lone red FORD truck outside. Al peered in a rear garage window to see Bob Smith himself awaiting our arrival. To make a long story short, when you hear folks chat about ADC and see their ads in Passagemaker and other boating/cruising magazines, you can't help but conjure up a vision of factory grandeur. Turns out ADC is a very modest family run business with good old fashioned customer service and human values. Its prudent to mention how clean and organized this operation is. There is no job they couldn't do, there were six lathes that I counted, so they are very well equipped for any near disaster. We felt total confidence in this place, unlike some experiences we've had (endured).
Bob himself set out explaining how our rebuild would be handled and as he delved further into our engine Bob was aghast at its condition, turns out she was a disaster waiting to happen. So Al's big faux pas turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Bob spent about 6 hrs with Al showing him all the parts of the engine & how they worked & how to take care of them. Our surveyor would not have caught much of what was wrong, spot welds here and there, and patchwork and so on, also a number of the problems were internal. When she was cranked on his inspection, she sounded great (lucky for the seller). Our word to future purchasers, if you will be spending huge bucks on a trawler(we did not), you should consider spending money as well on a specific marine "engine" surveyor.
We left our engine behind with ADC until Thursday morning when we were told it would be ready. When we pulled up, there she was purring like a kitten just inside the garage doors. CP, a very skilled and qualified mechanic walked Al around and through what had been done. By one o'clock we were loaded up, bill paid and we were on our way.
Bob Smith, his son Brian and mechanic CP all totally ROCK. We were treated extremely well and very fairly, and it was totally worth the rental truck to get there, the hotel where we waited, and the time and effort. We now have great confidence in our near new engine and knowledge gained to continue "living the dream".
So here we are back at River Forest boat yard awaiting the engine to be hoisted off the truck. Al wants to take the time to apply Regal Red Rustoleum, so the engine will be super pretty going back. So we are pretty pumped about getting the engine reinstalled and heading back to Dowry Creek marina. Boating life sure is an adventure.
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Well Miss B. has fully recovered from her allergy attack, & is back to her usual self. The engine is sitting on a block in the yard, in one piece, we managed to remove it without having to take anything off, which is great beacause we will have a new engine from American Diesel that will have been run tested & warranted, so we do not want them screwing anything up here in the yard. It took awhile to get the engine out, in a large part due to having the hoist chain to long so it would not fit through the door, something I told them about 2 hours before, & the fact they did not have a nut splitter to use on a siezed engine mounting bolt, they had to revert to using a hammer & chisel, took along time!! Anyway we are renting a pickup truck tomorrow & staying in Hampton for a day or 2 To take the engine up to American Diesel in kilmanark VA. Hopefully the new engine will be ready for pick up thurs/Fri
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Well yesterday we were picked up by Tow US & towed to Forest River Boat Yard. Almost immeadiately work started on the engine, removing wires pipe etc. We were told there was a good chance the engine would be out today! This morning the mech came for an hour to undo a few more things, & at 2pm nothing else has happened yet, there is no way it is going to be out today... To say I am a little p..... off would be an understatement, we had been warned before we came about this place, but we did not have much choice. There is one toilet that is in the office. What they call a shower, Outside, no roof, & whats more no door!!!! To be fair there are a couple of really good clean showers at the marina, but at 4 blocks away in 100 degree heat, why bother you would need another before getting back to the boat. We are staying on the boat due to the fact they charge $85 an hour labor, & are noting down exactly how many hours they actually work on it.. We have plenty of food, beer & we are plugged into electric so the AC is going full blast, which is good as the temp gauge outside is showing 104 in the shade, it's so hot you can't walk on the deck without shoes!!!!
Miss B continues to improve but is still breaking out but less & less. Today Jennifer is over at Dowry Creek weaving, Mary came to get us yesterday(she is such a sweetheart) afternoon to bring us back for super that Linda was cooking, it was so good, & gave us the car to get back here, & jennifer drove back this morning.
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07/20/2010, Dowry Creek
I blame the pink glasses!!!
Well it would seem that in putting back my oil cooler & lines, I managed to get 2 of the lines in the wrong place. Started the engine & checked for leaks etc & all was good, on going back to the dash to turn off the engine, I noticed the oil presure gauge read ZERO. Stopped engine checked everything all looked good, restarted engine & checked the oil pressure gauge on the sending unit, it was also ZERO, so stopped engine. Called American Diesel, they said I had 2 of the oil lines wrong, told them I checked & they were good, so rechecked again..... Sure enough I screwed up.. Following day reversed the lines & started the engine, or tried too. It would not turn. A local mechanic that was here in the marina came to look & check it out, his opinion was the engine had siezed. Called American Diesel & Bob Smith explained what had probably happened to the engine, spun a few bearings & probably damaged the Crankshaft & main bearings, even though the engine had only been run for 3-4 mins. (What happened to the oil pressure alarm!!!!!) Anyway tomorrow we are to be towed to Forest river Marina & have the engine pulled, & then we are going to run it up to American Diesel as they are about 3 hours from us. We will probable get a new (reconditioned) long block & have all our attached things put on the new engine after they are cleaned tested, & they will run & test the engine. Hopefully 3 days later we will go back to pick it up & bring it back to the boat, to have it installed, & then hopefully within a few days return to Dowry Creek. A very expensive lesson!!!!
To add to our problems yesterday, Miss B had a very bad allergic reaction to something that bit her, her face & neck swelled up with big lumps, so we rush to the vet, where she was given an injection of Benadryl IM & watched for a few hour. Anyway by the time we return she seemed to be better, but during the night we had the same thing happen though not as bad, she has been on a dosage of benadryl pills since & seems to be doing good so far.
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