A New Generator

      The guys that are going to replace my generator finally got my new one in on Wednesday the 23rd and on Thursday the 24th they came out to the marina and started taking the old one out. They got it all disconnected in the morning and started removing it in the afternoon. They got the old one out, and the new one in but they didn't get started hooking the new one up before it was 5 o'clock so I thought they would be back today, the 25th to finish the installation but they didn't show up. One guy stopped by this morning and said they were waiting for some parts and if they came in they would be back to finish the installation this afternoon. Well of course they didn't show up so I called the office and they said they would be out first thing Monday morning to finish. I asked why they couldn't at least come out and hook everything up today so when the parts did come in that would be all they would have left to do. They didn't really give me a answer but said again that they would be here first thing Monday. So, here we sit for another weekend. I need to be north of the Georgia boarder by the 1st of August which is at least a two day run from here so I was going to leave here Saturday or early Sunday morning at the latest. I told them I hope they could finish the installation in one day or less, because I had to leave here Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning at the latest and hope I could make the boarder by the 1st.

 

The old generator is coming out.

 

The new generator is going in.

 

     It wasn't an easy task, but these two guys worked hard to get the old one out and the new one set in the boat. It only took them about 2 - 1/2 hours to do it. Now I just have to get the new one all hooked up and running so I can get underway. Hope all goes well on Monday.

Our first major setback!

     It's been awhile since I've updated our blog so I thought I had better do that while I have a wifi connection. We made good progress the past few days and were sitting in Fernandina Beach, FL just south of the Georgia boarder ready to continue north. I had been working on my generator for the past few days and I managed to get it running but it seemed to have a governor problem because it just wouldn't run at the right RPM and it was backfiring a lot with a real bad exhaust leak problem. I called a tech to come take a look at it and the news wasn't good. We have to replace it because fixing it is not a long term solution, much less cost effictive it seemed. So, we have headed back south again to a little town on the St. Johns river about 40 miles south of Jacksonville to get the generator replaced. So, here we sit in Green Cove Springs, FL waiting for our new generator to arrive so it can be installed. It looks like we will be here at least a week, maybe a little longer depending on when the generator arrives. Getting the old one out and the new one in is going to require some major disassembly of the salon to access the hatch over the generator to remove and replace it. Hindsight says I should have made the hatch accessible without having to remove the flooring first. Well, hopefully we will get this all done and be on our way again soon. Most everything else seems to be running pretty well. These little Perkins engines just purr along and don't drink a lot of fuel which is nice. I do have a small oil leak on the port engine which the tech is going to fix for me while he is here but otherwise, not a problem one with the engines. (So Far!) I have also found a small fuel leak in my day tank which is more a nuisance than a problem but I would like to get that fixed as well. I will have to see if I can find someone that can repair an aluminum tank in the boat because I don't think you can get that tank out to get it repaired.

     So far, life on the Molly B has been good. We are learning a lot about this pleasure boat living and we are beginning to realize how to conserve on the cruising budget. You can really spend a lot of money doing this, but there are many ways to do it a lot less expensively. The trouble is we are learning these lessons the hard way, and that's always the expensive way of learning anything. Sure hope we can get these costs under control once we get everything working properly and learn a little more about how to do it.

    

       Until next time,

Fair winds and Following seas

         The Molly B

We're Underway!

     We got underway the morning of the 8th of July. Sure was a good feeling to be moving after sitting for almost a month in Vero. The first day we made 75 miles but that was a 10 hour day. Much too long a day for this old skipper. We spent the night in a marina at Titusville, FL. The second day we decided we would reduce the millage a bit and just try to make around 50 miles. That was a good day, and we anchored at Daytona Beach, FL for the night. Today we started out sort of on the wrong foot. When trying to raise the anchor I got a backlash in my anchor windless and had to raise the anchor by hand. Then we got about a mile and a half up the ICW and noticed my engines weren't charging my house bank and they were down to 11 volts and dropping. We decided to turn around and go back to Daytona and see if we could find an electrician to find the problem. We docked at the Halifax marina and managed to get ahold of an electrician and he came right over and checked things out. It turned out that the circuit breakers on the battery isolators were going out and that caused the engine driven alternators to not charge the house batteries. He replaced the breakers and we ran the engines up and everything checked out ok. I sure hope that was the problem so we won't have to worry about that situation again. We will be leaving here in the morning and heading north again. So far, life on the water has been good. Linda even likes it! We should make Virginia in about 10 days or so at the rate we are traveling. We're not in a big hurry, so we are only running around 7 knots to try to conserve on the fuel.