Shake Down Cruise? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Shake Down Cruise.

Well, we're still sitting here in Liberty Landing Marina.  We've been here since Tuesday night, and we'll stay here again tonight.  We ordered some parts that are due in today.

I haven't addressed the engines yet.  I'm pretty confident that the starboard engine quit for one of the following three reasons:

1.  fuel
2.  fuel
3.  fuel

I planned on changing both Racors and the four engine filters yesterday but my back is acting up (I've had chronic back problems for forty years).   So we decided to hire a marina mechanic to come over to do the job.  The labor rates here are probably as astronomical as their transient dock rates ($5 a foot per night, but hey, look where we are!  Not complaining) but it should be less than an hour's job.  The mechanic was supposed to come yesterday but didn't show.

Since we can't get Drift Away to Annapolis on Saturday for a party with friends, we've decided to just put the dogs in a doggie hotel, lock up the cats with a big bowl of food, and rent a car to drive to Annapolis on Saturday and return to the boat on Sunday.    We'll get to Annapolis when we get there.   We might even dilly dally and do some sightseeing on the Chesapeake first.

In other news, we are no longer sinking.   If you recall, Pam woke me up the other night with the news that  the floorboards were floating.  This is never good news on a boat and goes right to the top of the work list.   What it turned out to be was that the bilge outlet thru hulls that used to be above the waterline about an inch were now about one inch underwater due to the added weight in the bow for the extra chain and the big 80 pound Manson anchor I put there.  There is no vented loop or check valve on the line like there should be which would prevent water from siphoning back into the boat, so the bilge pump just turned on, pumped out the bilge, shut off, and all the water came right back in, and the cycle would repeat itself.   I stuck a wooden plug in the thru hull from the outside, switched off the pump and ordered a check valve from the marina as a quick fix, and once we're settled in Annapolis I will do it right by also adding vented loops.  The reason I'm waiting is because I need to modify some cabinetry to get at the sea cocks.   I will also haul the boat at some point and when I do, I should move the sea cocks higher.  The only seacocks that should be underwater are the ones that need to be, like head and engine intakes.

So here we sit in Liberty Landing Marina in Liberty Park with a view of the Statue of Liberty to the south, Jersey City to the north, and Manhattan to the east.   Not too shabby.

Since I'm pretty much out of commission, I've been spending my time surfing the 'net.   I posted our near sinking on an internet message board and one fella asked why we didn't do some shake down cruises before embarking on our trip.  I answered with one of my favorite Captain Ron quotes- "If it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen out there!".   I also wrote that we could have shaken down and cruised this boat, and I suppose that would have been the prudent seamanlike thing to do, but with the two of us having full time jobs, there just wasn't much time to do it. Besides, there is a difference. If I took a shake down cruise and broke down while I was working, I might miss some work and put a burden on the rest of my coworkers. Now that I'm retired, I can spend all the time in the world fixing Drift Away.

So to summarize, the definition of cruising is fixing your boat in exotic locations. The definition of a shake down cruise is fixing your boat in the same dull place you live.

We'll leave early tomorrow morning to ride the ebb out of The Narrows and we'll try to make Atlantic City.