Any Day Now…
Preparing for a couple of weeks away at the family beach house or other vacation sort of trip, has never been a particularly big deal. Lay out the clothes, toiletries, and meds you need for the time away, add a few snacks for the trip itself, pack up the car, check the oil and tires and off you go. You’ll get gas along the way, and if you forgot something, you can probably find a replacement when you get there. Getting ready for what we hope to be an extended cruise, is a bit more complicated.
We’ve been part-way down this road already. Two years ago, mid-October had us looking at the charts of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, planning our route and estimating our time aboard for the first leg - the roughly 450 miles to the salty water of Mobile. We had lived aboard for about five months, and felt like we had everything covered to begin our journey once hurricane season was over. But as it turned out, life wasn’t marked on the charts as an obstacle that we would have to deal with. Those responsibilities fulfilled now, soon we’ll set off, and hope that we haven’t forgotten something.
Late spring / early summer was boat projects, bottom paint, stuffing box stuffing, anodes, and some blister repair. Once those were complete we finished the installation of our air conditioner unit, a huge plus over the hottest parts of July and August. A new bimini and dodger, some new wiring for a VHF handset in the cockpit, as well as an external VHF speaker and a new autopilot filled out the refit list. And of course, varnishing. Part of Kotona’s charm is her woodwork, both outside and inside. But that charm has a price, and at time of writing that price is about $50 a quart, plus a couple of days of work. As October marched across the calendar, we turned our attention to restocking the pantry, reorganizing the cubbies, lockers and cabinets for optimum space; and to the charts.
This past week marked most of the last few things off the checklist. Amy’s church family threw a little farewell party and some friends and family came to see us off. The last couple of things that the boat needed was an oil change and checking the water pump. If you’ve followed us for a while you know we’ve had adventures with water pumps before. A good practice before setting off on a longish trip, is to replace the water pump impeller, but I had put off doing it. Monday morning rolled around and that was the last thing to do. I shouldn’t have put it off.
Monday morning started nicely enough, a hot cup of fresh coffee gifted by a friend. Laid out all the tools I needed and began dissembling the pump. Changing the impeller is fairly simple and soon enough it was all back together. Started the engine to confirm it was pumping properly - it was - and back down below to check for leaks. And sadly there was one. Not at the impeller gasket part, but at the pulley shaft part, the bit that the engine spins. Not a flood of water, but a noticeable amount.
We talked about proceeding anyway, and taking our chances. But having the possibility of the pump failing in a narrow part of the river, three hours away from a place to dock and fix it, was just more than I wanted to fool with. A rebuild kit is on the way. It should be here tomorrow. With a bit of luck we’ll be on our way Thursday, Friday at the latest.
So just a bit of an update. We plan to post something every few days. Maybe some commentary, maybe just some photos. So check back, and thanks for coming along with us.