Where in the world is Good Karma? Don't tell me...

Good Karma in Clifton TN 

I walked into church in Canton OH yesterday greeted by shouts of, “Hey, what are you doing here? I thought you were on the boat?” Nice.

Deer crossing by the church

I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I should have been on the boat but I was in Ohio instead. Truth is we haven’t had the ability to talk about our latest boat trauma. We are heartsick.

We are broken down… again. Unbelievable.

Let me bring you up to date. The last blog was written on Saturday, November 12, 2018 upon arrival in Clifton TN, that tiny town abducted by aliens. Sunday morning, November 13, dawned cold of course but at least it was clear. Good traveling weather with the right number of layers.

Our goal was Aqua Harbor, about 50+ miles south, down the Tennessee River just passed Pickwick Lock. We were planning to have the boat lifted out of the water to double check a tiny vibration Kermit felt to be sure we didn’t ding the propellers on the Mississippi River. Secretly I was hoping to dawdle a bit to let Eagle One catch up to us!

A little after dawn we started and warmed up the engines, put the hot coffee at the helm, unplugged everything and folded up the frozen power cords, threw off the lines to get started. The boat elegantly floated off the dock.

That’s it. Nothing. It just floated off the dock.

I was on the bow stowing lines. I turned back to look at Kermit. He was frantically pressing buttons and pulling levers to no effect. The boat was dead in the water even though the engines worked fine. Crap.

We quickly lassoed the cleats and hauled ourselves back to the dock. Remember this boat is 55,000 pounds so pulling the boat back to the dock is no small task. Some shouting was involved. Fortunately no one was around to hear us. The aliens, remember?

Kermit thought perhaps he overfilled the transmission oil that morning in his zeal to properly maintain the boat. So he pulled out some oil. No impact. In fact now the port engine was doing some sort of sputtering thing, no longer smooth like it had been. He shut everything down.

By this time folks started appearing in the office. We were on the gas dock, supposed to be gone already so they started appearing at the dock to see how we were doing. Kermit went into the office to chat with the older fellows who hang out there during the day.

One guy was a diesel mechanic who worked for years on river tows. The engines on our boat are often used as generators on the big tows so he made some helpful suggestions. His knees were so bad that he could not climb on the boat. Actually he could get on the boat but his knees would not allow him to go down stairs so he couldn’t get off again. He went home and found a manual on our engines that Kermit will devour once he calms down.

Good Karma docked at the t-head of a covered dock

Kermit called Tow Boat US, located just down the river at Aqua Harbor, our goal for the night. He would not come out to help! He said he just winterized his engines and the current was really high today so he didn’t want to come out for us. “But we have unlimited towing!” Isn’t that what Eagle One said when he was broken down in the Mississippi with us, also to no effect? I suspect Kermit will have some strong words for Tow Boat US!

Aqua Harbor could help if we could get there but how to get there without a tow? The helpful fellow (SARCASM ALERT) said we should just travel the 50 miles in strong current with one lock on one engine. Kermit pointed out that it was too strong for the helpful fellow and, no, we were not traveling on one engine 50+ miles through a lock. Someone needed to come to us.

That was a standoff.

Kermit started collecting names of diesel mechanics. One fellow came out of a nearby town on that Sunday to look. He was nice enough but after inspecting the situation decided he did not know how to help. That was $50 and an hour we won’t get back.

Finally Kermit connected with a fellow we will call Diesel Don in Gulf Shores AL. He would come out to look on Monday. We would have to pay him for his travel time and expenses but he was an experienced diesel mechanic who specializes in our particular engine. Kermit agreed.

Monday at 10am Don and his assistant arrived. He is indeed Diesel Don. Wow! This is the man to know.

Very professional, the assistant, a tall lanky quiet fellow very useful for engine yoga getting around the backs of diesel engines, set out Don’s tools on our engine-work blanket as if he were the surgical assistant. Everything was in a particular order, neat and clean.

Add caption

Don went to work. He seemed to know exactly what was wrong and how to fix it.

As in our previous adventure in Milwaukee, two separate very bad things happened at the same time. 

Let’s review:

We floated away from the dock. There is a pump doing something really important in the transmission. When the pump went out, the port transmission just gave up the ghost. Died. Just like that. Evidently when that pump starts to wear out, it can still propel the boat in reverse because that takes less effort, which is why the boat moved when Kermit put it in reverse but not in forward. Something like four times more effort to propel the boat in forward. This accounts for our failure to move forward when we left the dock. 

Diesel Don checking to see if the port engine
will work - it did!

These pumps are not made any longer. Don would have to remove the pump and send it to Atlanta GA to be rebuilt. That would take some time. Since the transmission pump on the starboard engine is the same vintage, Kermit asked about rebuilding that one at the same time. Don agreed that was a good idea so he removed the starboard pump too.

Poor port engine...

The engine sputtered. This is a separate problem unrelated to the transmission. Of course. Evidently there is a shaft in the engine that does something really important too. Don removed this blower shaft to reveal it was kind of stripped and no longer blew air into the engine properly. So the engine would not work. They don’t make this part any more either but Diesel Don had one in his truck! Of course he did! He is awesome! 

Don replaced that shaft and now both engines run smoothly even if the port transmission won’t propel the boat forward.

Before removing the transmission pumps, we all moved Good Karma slowly to a t-head dock to free up the gas dock while the pumps get rebuilt. Kermit just floated over using the starboard engine as best he could to get across the open water. Don’s assistant caught the lines.

All this took most of the day on Monday November 12, 2018. It was dark when Don and his assistant loaded up their tools and left, leaving the engine room cleaner than they found it.

Now what?

On Tuesday November 13 we had to figure out what we were going to do. We decided to go home since there was literally nothing in Clinton TN. That meant we had to find a car. The nearest Enterprise Car Rentals are between 40 and 80 miles away. No one would come pick us up. Kermit went to the office to consult with the old guys. They said, “Did you check with Jones Nissan in Savannah? Sometimes they rent cars.” Only they said it in a serious southern accent. No, we did not yet do that.

Did you know that car dealerships rent cars? I did not. Kermit called and yes, we can rent a car for a few weeks. So we did.

A lovely couple, Larry and Natalie, from Helena Montana used the marina courtesy truck to drop us off at Jones Nissan in Savannah TN, about 20 miles away. They are taking their 48 foot Bayliner Motor Yacht, Inn-CaBoots, down the rivers to Florida then through the Panama Canal then to Seattle. Isn’t that fascinating? This is another couple that are not experienced boaters but want an adventure! Kind of makes us all look tame, doesn’t it?  

The folks at Jones Nissan couldn’t have been nicer. We picked up a little scooter and headed for home.

Bottom Line

We are sidelined at home during Thanksgiving, not a terrible thing of course, just not what we planned. The rebuilt parts should be available sometime the week after Thanksgiving at the earliest. I have to travel to Chicago that week for a speaking engagement and doctor appointment with my sister so I would have been off the boat for a few days anyway. We just thought we would have been in Mobile or maybe Florida by then.

Our target is to be back at the boat on Friday November 30, 2018 to await repairs. Don will return as soon as the parts are rebuilt. Then we will resume our journey down the river. At this rate we won’t be in Fort Pierce until at least the middle of December at the earliest.

We didn’t intend to return for Thanksgiving at all. We planned to return on 12/16 weekend for a family “Thanksmas” or “Christgiving” with all of our kids and their lovely significant others. That plan is in jeopardy now.

You might be thinking, as we occasionally do, that this boat is cursed or something. Did we make the wrong choice? Diesel Don said this is not a bad boat. It just has not been run. Sitting as a dock queen is the worst thing you can do to an engine. Like the human body, you must use an engine or you will lose it. We knew when we purchased this boat that it had not been run. They told us that. We just cannot anticipate how the sitting will impact the boat. We have to wait to see what the engines tell us. So far the engines are being kind of like bullies.

We keep telling ourselves that patience is the key. We believe there will be more issues but until we run the boat we won’t know. 

So in the meantime, we are thankful:

• We are thankful that we don’t have schedules we have timing concepts. Flexibility is the key to making this whole thing work. 
• We are thankful we have a home base in Fairlawn OH to return to as opposed to being stuck somewhere. 
• We are thankful to have such wonderful mechanics we can trust like Diesel Don and Jim Shimandle to bring this old girl into 2018. The boat, not Katherine!

We would love to see Ohio friends while we are in town! We can’t wait to see the boating friends in Florida, eventually!

In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving!