North from Vero Beach

April 6, 2012

If I had looked at the weather forecast, and had shown some good judgement (that's asking a lot) we probably would have stayed where we were in Vero Beach! But you know me, "Mr.Let's-Get-On-The Road", and now we are stuck on this lousy anchorage a few miles south of Melbourne.

Nice house - Aussie flag

Half an hour after leaving Vero the wind got really strong, quiet unpleasant. There was basically no one else on the ICW, and I started to worry about where we would spend the night. So at about 2 PM we spotted an anchorage that (according to the chart) offered some shelter from the wind, and here we are. I think I will spend the night on "anchor watch" as I am a bit worried about our exposure. We could move, but I am not sure we can better our present set up. I plan to review our situation at high tide, about 8 PM

It got worse. The wind picked up and turned NW, which was not good for us, as we picked the anchorage for NE wind.. And it got stronger, and I got worried. I can only guess, but it must have been blowing 30 to 40 kts. So hard that it was tipping Tide Hiker "over" several degrees, and we decided to leave.

Upping Tide Hiker's anchor has proven to be difficult, and in a HOWLING GALE is is even  more so. The problem is that the windlass tends to stall if there is any load on it other than the weight of the chain, and throws the breaker. The breaker is in the chain locker, a long way from where I drive the boat.The breaker popped 3 bloody times and I had to race down and up 24 stairs to re-engage it. But we got the anchor up and were on our way.


I must admit, Tide Hiker is a bit of a windy boat. The Fly Bridge has a "hard top" that is 19 plus feet above the water, and it is totally enclosed by Eisen-glass, its like a big sail! (My friend Tony Peach pointed this out to me before I bought the boat). So in all this wind, it was leaning over, which I felt quite disturbing. And it was getting dark. And I really did not know what to do.

As mentioned before, we have joined a group called the MTOA (Marine Trawler Owners Association) and they have representatives in most ports, so Deidre suggested we call the Melbourne number. The lady who answered the phone - "Bobbi - was great. She suggested a perfect anchoring spot and told us how to get there. The only problem - at least then - was that we would arrive in the dark. Mind you, we are getting the hang of the chart plotter, radar etc and so now we had a target.

Just when I was starting to breath again - engine alarms started going off - the Starboard engine had over heated and I shut it down. Great! let me see:
     1. Blowing a gale
     2. Pitch bloody black
     3. Just one engine.

Fortunately the wind was on our starboard quarter, and that was the side of the engine that had quit. So we seemed to be able to go straight - sort of. I handed the wheel to Deidre "Aim for that light" and headed for the Engine Room. To my great surprise, the Starboard engine still seemed to be running, and I headed for the emergency shut down! Not so fast - just Tide Hikers forward motion thru the water was spinning the shaft, the motor was not running.

Looking for the cause of the overheating, I closed the engine thru-hull and opened the strainer - no problem, clean as a whistle. Next step is the impeller (and last step for me, as that is where I run out of ideas) But it was too bouncy, and the impeller on the stb engine is on the awkward side, and I needed to be up with Deidre. Sort that out tomorrow.

I called the previous owner for advice. Not much they could do, but consensus was to notify the Coast Guard. So I got on the VHF and had a nice chat with a lovely lady who took our description and advised us to report in every 15 minutes and "put on our life jackets" (which seemed a bit pessimistic to me.)

We were making about 5 knots and with a bit of effort could track fairly well - I assume a benefit of the big keel. But the navigation screens were killing my night vision so I turned them away and ask Deidre to give me a verbal reading as we progressed. We went under the second bridge then executed a big fat turn to the right (that's what she told me and it made complete sense). We had to miss the point ("Dragon Point") to get into the "Banana River" then head upstream and thru a swing bridge ("opens on demand up to 10PM"). When it was in sight I radioed the tower and explained our limited maneuverability. The fellow was very nice, he immediately spotted us (We had running lights and spreader lights on) and started the process to open the bridge so that by the time we got there it was open and thru we sailed.

Swing Bridge

Once north of the bridge we were in a well protected anchorage, although the wind was from the North and the anchorage was North-South. But the "waves" were now "chop" and so we dropped anchor in the middle.

I only had one more vital task remaining: Tell Deidre "This will never happen again". (I hope she believes me!)




April 7, 2012 Happy Ending!

In the end there was a simple solution - busted fan belt! I should have figured it out last night, but in the heat of the moment...... I will know better next time, if there is a next time.

When I checked this morning and found "the remnants" I could have skipped for joy! I had already checked the raw water impeller and that was OK (Though the cover needs replacing) There are a couple of spare belts on board and it was a relatively simple task to replace the broken one. The engine fired up OK with no temp issues.

I have to wonder why a belt would fail - but I checked the alternator and water pump wheels and they felt free.

We are planning to stay one more night here and then a short run to Titusville on Sunday, the weather will be calm, and I will keep a close watch on the belt.

My definition of "Back to normal" - Plus the observation that we had a "Boboli" for lunch.

Did you know that Melbourne, Florida was named in 1880 by an Aussie from Melbourne, Australia?