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US/Canada East Coast 2008 / Unexpected sojourn in Belhaven, NC

Posted 1 month, 29 days ago

US/Canada East Coast 2008 / Unexpected sojourn in Belhaven, NC
After we left Beaufort we motor-sailed across the Neuse River and along the very western edge of Pamlico Sound (which separates the mainland from the Outer Banks of North Carolina).  Much of this passage was in smoky conditions resulting from a large wildfire in the NE part of the state.  We anchored for Wednesday night in Gale Creek and the next morning in dense smoke crossed the Pamlico River and then motored along the Alligator River – Pungo Canal, setting an early anchor at the bay beyond the east end of the canal.   The next moring the engine would not start and it appeared that the starter motor (from which a suspicious puff of smoke had been observed) was not going to cooperate (fix-it-book or not).  This caused us to be towed 30 miles back to Belhaven, NC, a long and tedious revisit, again with smoke, of the canal we had just come along.  Luckily we had BoatUS towing insurance which saved us over $1000!  Being a Friday evening no work was started on the engine until Monday, so we spent much longer at the marina in Belhaven than we would ever have planned, but enjoyed riding our folding bikes around, jogging (for me), and really getting to know the small town. As if main engine problems were not enough, we had also found that the outboard motor on the inflatable would not idle.  Luckily, there was a Mercury dealer in town and they efficiently fixed it for us (trash in the low-speed jet of the carburetor, of course!)  We took the outboard there using the courtesy golf-cart from the marina…we must have looked quite odd the three of us.  Randall had several comments about his ugly but useful "girlfriend" as he waited in the golf cart with the motor when I went to the grocery store! This break did give us a chance to set-up the new wind generator, an exercise that allowed us to become quite familiar with the local hardware store (needing various nuts and bolts other than the ones we already had).  So we were getting close to being self-sufficient on power…all that was still needed was a link from the alternator to the house bank of batteries so that they could be topped up when running the engine (rather than just having the new alternator charging the engine starter battery).  It may sound rather technical and boring, but living and traveling on your boat and trying not to rely on marina hook-ups for electricity, soon makes one very aware of what uses power and all the things that have to work correctly to generate enough.  The chart-plotter (GPS, radar, and depth-sounder intergral with digital charts), auto-helm (self-steering), refrigerator, lap-top, etc., all feel like essential things to have available any time…but all eat power, especially the auto-helm and fridge.  As we get used to our equipment and options, our lives seem rather dictacted by battery volts… Full Story »

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