Swigert: 'Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here.'
Duke: 'This is Houston. Say again please.'
Lovell: 'Houston, we've had a problem. We've had a main B bus undervolt.'
As the intrepid crew of the houseboat Water's Edge cruised up an arm of the Albemarle Sound on July 9, 2001, heading for Taylor Bay an alarm on went off in the main cabin. Captain Bob and the Navigator (me!) were up on the flying bridge and did not hear it. The (really good) cook and bottle washer who was down in the gallery reading a book brought the alarm to the Captain's attention.
The gauges showed one of the two engine badly overheating. The Captain shut it down and told me to steer onwards while he attempted to diagnose and hopefully correct the problem. The houseboat did not steer well when running on just one engine and I weaved back and forth trying to keep us in the middle of the ever narrowing waterway.
The Captain opened the engine bay and soon took the sea strainer apart - this is basically and loosely, a water filter that water flows through on the way to the engine. Boat engines, by and large, do not have radiators like cars, but rather just use water passing under the boat. The thought was that perhaps the strainer was clogged.
Unfortunately, the strainer was not clogged. So Captain Bob continued to troubleshoot while we limped (the boat speed dropped to a fast walk when we lost the engine) into Coinjock hours later (or so it seemed anyway). Here there are several marinas that service boats traveling up and down the east coast of the USA in the InterCoastal Waterway (ICW).
Coinjock is on the straight blue line denoting the canal
(upper middle picture)
We tied up at Midway Marina and as events unfolded, were there for several days. The overheated engine had a broken head gasket and warped cylinder head that required the engine be rebuilt before it would run again.
Most the town of Coinjock is in this picture To the right, just off the picture is a highway bridge. On the road is a post office and if memory serves me, a couple of other buildings. The houseboat was moored on the canal just above the swimming pool in the center of this picture. Across the canal, and seemingly miles away (it was about 3 miles by car) was a seafood restaurant that filled the air with delicious, tantalizing scents.
With nothing really to do, we settled in and made the best of our stay here. The owners of the marina were wonderful. The pool was wonderful, and the seafood at the restaurant was wonderful even if the "limo"** we used to get there had seen better days.
** I believe it was a a mid-1960 vintage Ford pickup truck suffering from severe cancer (rust) and missing a floor under one of the seats. Buy hey, the marina owners graciously said, "feel free to borrow it and go where ever you want in it" so we were and are endlessly appreciative.
Midway Marina
Coinjock Marina and Restaurant
5 comments:
If you are wondering (and looking), I moved the previous entry to
Little Iggy Gets a Job
I couldn't take looking at Madonna any longer. I hope it was clear that the "job" Little Iggy got was "bra padding". I'm not sure I got that across though.
*whew* I thought someone hassled you and I was getting ready to rip into someone's ass for ya.
Yes...the job was clear to me although Im sure she uses cheerleader megaphones instead thereby making the lil guy several sizes too small ;)
With the exception of the boat going on the fritz (and the redneck limo in need of some TLC), it looks like the trip was wonderful.
Ah, don't forget coneheads grow very rapidly in their first couple days, Little Iggy is now a strapping teenager and very nearly the regulation 28 inches tall now.
Seriously, the boat trip was a grand adventure and the engine difficulties and all, I wouldn't trade for anything. :)
I, too, was worried that some narrow minded person had hassled you about the Madonna picture. Your imagination knows no bounds.
Love the post about Coinjock, NC. If you have to have engine trouble, that has got to be the way to go. The seafood restaurant sounds SO good!
That pick up truck sounds like Terri's. Awesome trip even through all the problems you had. Once in a lifetime memories happen when you least expect them to.
(sorry...been really busy and just didn't take the time to read a few blogs until now)
Post a Comment