What's that – and where did it come from?

A couple of years ago the excellent mechanic at Marathon Boat Yard taught us the adage: “a boat is not a bath tub” by which he meant that if you find water in the bottom of your boat, you need to determine where it came from and eliminate it. Now I have come up with one of my own, “a fuel tank is not a trash can”.

For the last week, we have been waiting here in Dinner Key for Skip's Fuel Cleaning to clean out what we thought was dirty fuel in our starboard fuel tank. Skip did his work today and found that the problem was not dirty fuel, but was instead, a small, circular piece of paper. When he fished it out of the filter that he was using to clean the fuel, I recognized it instantly. Back nearly two years ago, when we were getting ready to put Jascat in storage in a boat yard, I poured some fuel treatment into each of the fuel tanks. Only a tiny amount of treatment is used so I was using the bottle cap to measure it out. That worked well on the first tank, but on the second, the little paper cover sealing the cap fell out into the fuel tank fill pipe. I almost retrieved it using a long piece of wood but in the end the little paper cap slipped out of sight into the tank. I was too busy to do anything about it at the time, so I promised myself to get it fished out when we put the boat back in the water. And then I promptly forgot about it.

So now, after a year in storage and several months of use, that little piece of paper finally made its way to the vicinity of the fuel tank pickup hose. Whenever the engine started drawing fuel, the paper would be sucked up to the mouth of the intake partially blocking it. The fuel pump could apparently create enough suction so the engine would run at higher throttle settings but not enough to run at idle. Thanks, Skip, for finding the problem.

Well enough engine stuff. Ann and I have had a good time here in Coconut Grove/Miami/Key Biscayne but we have gone completely stir crazy. We have had the misfortune to be here during a confluence of events: Spring Break, a major tennis tournament on Key Biscayne, and some kind of big fashion event on South Beach. We couldn't go anywhere by car without running into traffic jams. We are ready to get out of here.

But we did get a lot done. We restocked the food stores, washed all the clothes (twice), repaired the autopilot, filled up the water and diesel tanks, and shopped a little. Added to the ships stores were a fancy shorty wet suit for Ann and an inflatable kayak for the both of us.

As long as the breeze is not out of the SW, the Dinner Key Mooring Field is a nice place to visit. The tourist area of Coconut Grove is just a few blocks away. It features lots of trendy shops and good eateries and a great little book store. And, of course, a very busy Starbucks. On the other side of the marina is the Fresh Market, a boutique super market offering the freshest fruits and vegetables, and the best meat and fish you'll ever see.

But now after a week, we have seen it all and are ready to leave. Tomorrow we are heading back down the Keys to one of our favorite anchorages, Pumpkin Key.