Off Duty: Wednesday November 10,2015 - traveling through North Carolina

Wednesday November 10 ------Traveling through North Carolina

Still feeling the effect of some bad fuel we picked up and it was a day with some boat problems......we awoke and left early leaving Hey Jude behind. I was able to get some Sea Foam a dry gas agent from some good ole NC boys next form our marina we stayed at. They assured me that this stuff was some good sh..! It only treated 25 gallons so I put the entire contents into the starboard tank. That engine ran great all day. However about 2 hours after we left the port engine started acting up. It eventually got so bad I had to try and get some fuel additive. While we continued to make progress through the inter coastal, we stopped at 3 marinas along the route and no one carried the "dry gas" product we were looking for. The engine was running rougher and rougher so I pulled into another marina at a bridge on the ICW. The tide was racing and the opening very narrow. Sure enough, the port engine died just as I was about to dock. The wind caught the front of the boat and it turned us around during the docking. There were some nice guys on the dock and helped us to tie up safely. Fortunately for us, we were able to get some dry gas and a water separator filter at this marina. I was able to take the filter off and drain it into a bucket to see if there was water in it...no water! I placed the dry gas into the port tank and started the engine. It was running a little rough but if I kept in under 1,500 RPM's it was OK. So we continued down the inter-coastal. It was getting dark and we needed a place to dock. We found a community pier that was not being used, it was too small for our boat but at least we would be tied up and safe. After tying the boat with 8 lines to keep us safe with the tide, boat wakes and winds, we were hungry for some dinner. We started the generator and oh no, it wouldn't start. Again we suspected the result of bad fuel. It was getting a little chilly and we had no electricity or heat. Time to enjoy the sunset, eat some cereal and get to bed for tomorrow, another travel day. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little bit easier than today. Our goal is Myrtle Beach, but with the mechanical issues, we may need a different plan.

During the night, I could feel the boat shaking from the 3-5 knot current coming by the boat. It was then I thought maybe this was a mistake. I said several prayers hoping for a better day in the morning. Carol tried her best to keep me focused on all the positives that happened so far and that tomorrow would be a new day with new solutions. Those of you who know me realized how that went. I hardly slept, worried about how we were going to get the generator repaired without losing another day or two. The saving grace was the sights we passed today along the way and the best was the absolutely gorgeous sunset we had.