We usually spend the entire Fourth of July week with my cousins camping at Lake Norman. This year we deviated from that plan to spend an entire week cruising the Pamlico Sound and Pamlico River. Although there were extenuating circumstances, the weather was the main culprit that kept us from making our trip.

Late June and early July are usually warm and fairly dry in Carolina but this year the term "Monsoon Season" comes to mind.. It rained and rained and rained and rained. It seemed that every day brought reports of flooding to areas of the state that do not usually flood. I had taken the entire week off from work but we did not leave home right away. We know from experience that staying on the boat in a driving rain is no fun. We spent one day with cousins at the lake and one day working on my new shop. I spent another day on a road trip to Winston Salem with my friend Hal to take some amateur radio equipment for repair. Finally we caught a break in the weather, or at least the forecast was for a break on Wednesday July 3.

Wednesday July 3, 2013
We left home for the coast shortly after noon and had a nice lunch at the American Road House in Asheboro. We were in no hurry. Our "plan" was to leave our dock on Thursday morning for an anchorage at Campbell creek and then on to possibly Belhaven for Friday night and then back to Ensign Harbor on Saturday. When we arrived, the weather was very pleasant although we had driven through several serious rain storms on the way. Joey and Dorothy were there and we learned they had lost their much loved dog "Ellie May". Before the weekend was out we had Ken and Jan, Don and Trish, Stefan and the whole Ufer clan. Bob and Tammy were there as well as Larry and his family. Nick and Jeanette were at home so there was a nice crowd on the docks.

Shortly after arrival I discovered that one of our battery banks was seriously depleted. Our "house" battery was almost completely discharged and the battery charger was not working. This is a serious situation because the "house" battery supplies power to the bilge pump. If the house battery fails then the bilge pump fails. This could lead to serious consequences. I pulled the failed battery charger out of the cabinet and found that the internal fuse on the AC side was blown. My theory was that there was a surge on the AC dock power that caused the problem. One of the boats at our dock had actually ben hit by lightening. I went into town in search of a replacement fuse in hopes that a new fuse would solve the problem. While I was gone my first mate called me on my cell phone with the news that one of our dock mates (Eric) had a fuse that met our specifications. At that point I abandoned my search and headed for the boat with a borrowed can that I had filled with diesel fuel. It was almost 9pm when I got back with the fuel and the Food Lion chicken salad sandwich was quite tasty. I was entirely too tired to deal with the charger.

Thursday July 4th 2013
My assumption that replacing the blown fuse would fix the charger was dead wrong. I replaced the fuse and plugged the charger back in to the sound of electrical snap crackle pop and the sight of internal sparks followed by a final puff of white smoke. My electronics instructor always told us that the trick was to keep the smoke INSIDE the box. This was not good. A quick Internet search revealed that the old charger was not the best choice but it had always worked so I had never disturbed it. Any time I buy something for the boat I like to do some research but this equipment needed to be fixed before we left. Shopping around was not an option. I usually buy from the locally owned "Provision Company" in Oriental but I called them and they did not have anything in stock that would fit the bill. I called West Marine and was actually surprised that they were open on July 4. They had several in stock so I would at least be able to make a choice. One charger was cheaper but it was huge. I am not sure where we would have put it. The other choice was much more expensive but it seemed to be a better choice and would fit in the space abandoned by the old charger. I bit the bullet (so to speak) and bought the charger. Hopefully we will never have to buy another one for this boat. When I started the installation I discovered that the new charger did not include everything I needed to install it so it was back to the hardware store (which was also open on the fourth) for fuse holders an AC plug and other required electrical gizmos. When it was all said and done, I am happy with the installation and the new charger. It is obviously a superior device compared to the old one. It is designed to charge several types of batteries including wet cells and there is a setting to select which type. It charges in 3 stages. Bulk, absorption and float depending on what the batteries need. When I first turned it on it went to it's BULK state which was expected because battery #1 was down to about 6 volts. It took several hours for the state to change to absorption and another couple to go to FLOAT. The last stage is the one that will be the most common because we don't use the boat very much. One thing that the new charger does that I like is to satisfy all the DC requirements when we are on shore power. The batteries are never actually used because the charger takes over and supplies what is needed at the time. The only down side is that is has a fan and makes at least a little noise all the time. I need to research to make sure I don't need to move it outside the cabinet where the old charger was located.

After an excellent meal of grilled salmon fresh squash and coleslaw we had a nice visit in the cockpit with everyone. Jeanette brought zucchini cake which tasted nothing like zucchini but was a deep rich chocolate. By 11 pm we had solved all the world's problems and were ready to turn in.

Friday July 5, 2013
Nothing had gone according to plan the whole week and I think that finally caught up with me on Friday and took the wind out of my sails (so to speak). I slept late and didn't do much of anything all day. It was not a bad way to spend a vacation day, but not very exciting. We talked about going over to South River for the night but after looking forward to a weeklong cruise a single night at South River seemed like a lot of trouble especially considering how hot it was. I did fix a leak in the gas tank of the little dingy outboard motor. That required removing the cowl and tightening a fitting. I think I had done the same thing before. When it got close to dark we took the sun awning down and I fitted the new sail cover that I had been working on for the last few weeks. I was relieved to see that it fit just fine. At least something we right for a change. We went into town for ice and in search of hot dog buns. Ice was plentiful but hot dog buns were simply not available. We had grilled hot dogs in sandwich thins and they were perfectly fine. We had a nice visit with our friends Ken and Jan after supper and turned in before very late.

Saturday July 6, 2013
After a week that had not gone the way I wanted, I told the first mate I was ready to go home so I would have Sunday to relax before returning to work on Monday. It seems it is harder and harder to return to work even after a weekend and especially after an extended time off. We left for home around 11am with plans to stop in Kinston for a nice lunch. All in all it was a good week. I got to spend some time with a grandson and visit with cousins. I got a good bit done on my new shop with the first mate's help. One of my favorite sayings is... "Sailors cannot have plans, only intentions"