Good morning from the Tennessee River. We finally made it. Seems like were almost home….atb this point only 2 days out from Florence. We left Golconda Nov 14 with a little fog on the river but not enough to affect visibility.
Saturday Nov 14
Before leaving Golconda Carol and I put the new patch on the roof leak. Getting the old stuff off was a mess. When we had put the first patch down we had put a couple of pieces of blue tarp material down with an exterior grade sealant and I thought that would stick it down. After we put the caulking down on the deck with a caulking gun, we laid the tarp down and then sealed the edges with duct tape thinking we had made a waterproof seal. Then we repeated the process with a bigger patch so in effect we had two patches on top of the deck. Apparently the sealant needs air to dry and when we put the tape down we also made it air proof so the stuff did not dry. And, when water got in, it turned to a soupy black mess. So instead of clear rain water dripping into the cabin we had this black syrup dripping in. So we had to clean it up when we removed the first patch. But of course, now with the tarp material off it started drying on our tools, hands and all over the deck. We finally got the mess cleaned up. This time we used two concentric beads of liquid nails and then set a 2 ft x 4 ft. piece of tempered Masonite on it.
Then we unloaded the cabinets of cans and 12 packs of soda and gallon cans of solvent and anything heavy and set them all around the edges until the liquid nails kicked off. We let it dry overnight and then yesterday, after everything had set, we went around the edges with silver metallic tape. So hopefully this will keep the water out. When we get home I am going to cut out the whole section of deck and replace it so this is just to keep water out of the ceiling till we get home.
Golconda is at O-903 and Smithland Lock is at O-918. We got right through Smithland Lock without delay. Still not sure what we were going to find in Paducah relative to dockage. We have looked at all the cruising guides and iPad aps. There are NO marinas. The only thing we have found is a reference to a dock that says it may or may not be there. We called the Paducah Waterfront Development Council and they don’t answer the phone and then we called the Parks department and they didn’t know. We are to meet David Quinn there and pick him up for the run up the Tennessee River. If there had been a place to tie up we would have gone to town and the quilt museum and maritime museum but we motored all along the waterfront and found nothing except a few docks where the tugs were rafted up side by side with no place to tie up. I ended up dropping the anchor and took the dinghy ashore and picked David up at a boat ramp. Once he was aboard Annie we had a committee meeting and had to decide between anchoring and going into Paducah by dinghy or heading on up the river to Kentucky Lock. We decided to head up river towards the lock and get in line to lock through.
Once in Paducah we are at mile 0 of the Tennessee. The weather was very comfortable. The sky was clear with little wind. The first few miles of the Tennessee are pretty commercial. There are a number of towboat repair facilities, plants, and floating dry docks but other than that there was not much to look at, just low lying flat, tree lined banks with farmland beyond. There was a riverboat, likely a gaming boat tied up probably for repair along the river.
. On the way up we called Kentucky lock to see what the status was as Barkley Lock was down for repair and all of the Cumberland River traffic was being diverted through the Kentucky Lock on the Tennessee River. The lock attendant told me that he had ten tows to go up and 12 or so to go down and he couldn’t tell me much, but to call him when we got there. Didn’t sound very promising.
We arrived there about 5:30 and it was already dark as the days are very short. There were tows lined up on both sides of the river below the dam waiting to go through. We heard one tow call to check in just as we were getting there and the lockmaster said it was going to be at least 24 hours before he got through. We talked to the lockmaster on the radio and he said he had a tow in the chamber that was going through and we would be the next to go in but it was going to be a few hours, as they had to break the tows apart and move them through is sections. We anchored on the side of the river behind some mooring cells and had dinner while we were waiting, keeping a close listen to the radio. It was time to take Hillary ashore and David went with me to find a spot to land the dinghy. We have several aps on my iPad that have Google earth pictures of the area and we could see what we thought was a boat ramp not too far up river between us and the dam. Of course it was pitch black and we couldn’t see anything. We got Hillary and us in the dinghy and got the outboard running. The bright lights of the dam were in our eyes and couldn’t see much of anything close. We hit one area of the river that must have had a school of Asian carp. They started jumping all over the place when the heard the motor. Just as we thought we were past them one big one jumped into the dinghy. This dude was about 2 feet long and must have weighed 10-12 pounds. He was flopping all over. Hillary went ballistic. Fortunately I had a pair of gloves in the dinghy and David put them on as was able to get this critter out of the dinghy before anyone got hurt. Unfortunately these carp are slimy and smelly and by the time we got him back in the water we and the dinghy smelled like dead fish. After all of the excitement abated we found a boat ramp and were able to land. David walked the dog while I remained in the dinghy, as there was nothing to tie the dinghy to. We got back to Annie and I decided to call the lock on the cell phone to get a status update. He told me they had had some problems with the tow in the chamber and it would be 20 minutes to get him out and another 30 minutes to drop the chamber back down so it would be another hour. This must have been around 8:30 or so. I had told him we needed a heads up as we had to get the anchor up and get out from behind the tow. About 9:15 he called us on the radio and told us to come on. We pulled the anchor up and got going and got right into the chamber and tied off. It took about 30 minute to lock up. When we got out of the chamber there were tows all over in the distance on Kentucky Lake and a big wide open lake in front of us. We found an anchorage on the west bank of the lake a few miles down and set a course for it. According to the charts and chart plotter there was plenty of water going in but unfortunately the depth alarm started going off as we got close meaning there was let than 3 feet of water under us. We went in dead slow we were able to get in and get anchored with no other issues.
Monday November 16
Slept good last night as it had been real long day and a short night. . We have less than 25 miles to go today to Kenlake State Park so no need to get up early, that is, until Hillary starts her “I gotta go pee dance and barking”. We will likely lay over at Kenlake State Park Marina for a day as we have bad weather coming, mostly rain, high winds and thunder storms. We have friends there so we may have a vehicle to go to the grocery store. It’s raining today and not a very pretty day but we’re running the main channel and its right down the middle of the Lake so not much to look at. I have a few little inside boat projects to do so today may be a good day to do them while David is at the helm.
Got into Kenlake State Park in the rain and got tied up with the help of Scott who runs the marina. It rained all day and to my dismay I found that our new Masonite patch on the deck was not helping at all in spite of the fact that David and I had gone up and taped the edges of the patch before it had started raining. I went out in the rain with a hose and hosed down the patch and all of the deck fittings while David was inside watching the leak. The increased flow from the hose seemed to increase the water coming in a bit but could still not tell where it was coming in. We met our friends Richard and Karen Lynch aboard their boat Semper Fi, a 37 foot Great Harbor. They invited us over for wine and munchies and what a spread! By the time we left we aborted any plans we might have had for dinner aboard Annie. Spent a quiet night aboard the boat. The bad weather never materialized, at least the thunderstorms. The rain had dissipated and we were left only with wind.
Tuesday November 17
Underway from Kenlake State Park T 42 destination Paris Landing T 62. The wind was the big problems today. Early morning was OK but by midmorning the wind was between 25 and 30 gusting to 35 at times. Annie does not like wind on the nose. She has no keel forward so the bow likes to blow off with any headwind. The autopilot was having a difficult time holding course and it was almost easier to hand steer. It was difficult to estimate current in the river because of the wind but we normally do 7.5 mph on flat water and we were doing only between 6.5 and 7 mph. The ride was not uncomfortable in spite of the wind and white caps. Waves were breaking over the bow and coming onto the top deck and windshield requiring the use of the wipers at times. The river is still pretty wide here and the channel is not close to shore so not much to look at except a lot of water pocked with buoys every ½ mile or so. .
The morning was pretty uneventful until after lunch and then the day got interesting. David was at the wheel and I was down below doing some chores. Carol had reminded me to check fuel that morning before we left Kenlake and it had slipped my mind. The generator had just quit which is a sign we were out of fuel as it’s the first thing to go. I knew we had a full tank left so we had plenty to get home, but I would be needing to switch over tanks pretty soon. When I went into check the fuel levels in the active tank we were almost empty. I checked the other tanks to see which one was full and then went down to switch over tanks in somewhat of a hurry. Shortly after changing over tanks the starboard engine started sputtering. I figured that in the process of changing tanks we had gotten some air in the line. Well, if so it must have been a lot of air as shortly thereafter the sputtering stopped and the engine died. Well, the port side was still cranking along so, no problem, get out the 17mm and 10 mm wrenches and bleed the starboard fuel system and injectors. Finally get the starboard engine running and then it dies again. Then the port engines starts sputtering and it dies. So now we are dead in the water, 30 mile per hour wind on the nose, bow blows off so now we are beam to the wind (sideways for you non nautical persons) and the boat is rolling like crazy. Drawers and cabinet doors flying open, things falling on the floor and were drifting out of the channel at a rapid rate. Water is too deep to anchor so I have no choice but to deal with it. First thing was to see why we were getting no fuel to the engines. Diesel engines are pretty simple. Give them fuel and air and they run. No rocket science here. I rechecked the tanks and in my haste to change over tanks, I had changed over to a tank that was already empty. The fuel manifolds are not complicated but I don’t use them very much as it takes a long time to go through one tank which is 200 gallons. There are a total of 14 valves. They have to be in the right positions and everything is labeled but in my haste to switch tanks I made a mistake. Once I realized what happened, I switched to the correct tank, turned on the booster pumps and bled both engines and bingo we were up and running again. And all was well or so I thought.
When we are in high winds and shoveling water over the bow, water gets into the chain locker from the chain pipe and runs down into the bilge. Carol is very compulsive about checking the bilge several times a day when conditions are such, although there is an alarm on the bilge pump if it goes off. An hour or so after the fuel fiasco she goes down to check the bilge and reports that there is diesel fuel all over the top of the bilge water. A little diesel fuel in the bilge is normal after having to bleed the injectors but she said it was a lot of diesel fuel. Well a cup of diesel on top of bilge water can look like several gallons so I went down and checked and sure enough this was not from bleeding the injectors. I checked the engines and one of the injector nuts had backed off and it had been blowing diesel fuel all over the engine compartment since I got it running. It was a quick fix to tighten the injector nut but we had a mess to clean up in the bilge. But it would have to wait till we got docked.
When we got to Paris Landing, our original destination, I looked at the time and did some quick calculations and decided we could make Pebble Isle at or around dark if we kept moving and had no further problems. Pebble Isle Marina is off the river and is a little complicated to approach as coming from down river you have to go way past it and then turn down river and follow a rather winding but well-marked channel to the marina which is situated in an off river bay. I have no problem going in there after dark as we have been in there many times before and we have a good search light for locating the buoys. We had called ahead and Billy was on the dock to help us get tied up…as usual in the rain. They put us at the fuel dock overnight as we were planning on getting fuel the next morning.
I spent an hour that evening soaking up diesel fuel in oil absorbent pads and then washed everything down with Simple Green, Purple Power and Dawn. After the wash-down I wiped everything down as much as I could with rags and sponges and paper towels. It’s amazing how a half gallon of diesel can cover everything in sight.
Wednesday November 18 Pebble Isle T-96
Today we have to make some arrangements to get David back to his car in Paducah. The closest rent a car is in Paris which was about 25 miles. He was able to catch a ride to Paris. Carol and I stayed behind and fueled up the boat. Pebble Isle typically has the cheapest diesel fuel anywhere on either the Ohio or the Tennessee Rivers so we decided to go ahead and fill the tanks while we were there. David returned with his rent car and by that times we were fueled up and ready to head to Paducah to reclaim his vehicle. It’s nearly a two hour drive to Paducah which took us three days in the boat. We arrived there a little after lunch and decided to take in the National Quilt Museum which is pretty incredible. We have been there before, but their exhibits rotate and as David had not been we decided to go again.
After that we decided to have lunch with plans of taking in the railroad museum and the Maritime center but by the time we finished lunch it was getting late and everything was closing so we headed back toward Paris to drop the car. There are some great murals on the Paducah flood walls along the riverfront depicting Paducah History.
While in Paris we stopped by a Lowes to get some more material to try to cover he leak as we have rain in the forecast for Saturday. We got back to the boat around 8 and as we had had a late lunch decided to forego dinner and spent the rest of the evening engrossed in conversation and David’s exotic coffees.
Thursday, November 20, 2015 Pebble Isle Marina T-96 to Clifton Marina, Clifton Tn T-158.
We were up early and David gave us a shove off the dock. He headed off toward home and we headed back out to the river in light fog. It was going to be a long day….about 62 miles still with strong headwinds and current keeping our speed down below 6.5 mph. It was a pretty uneventful (uneventful is good!) day, lots of winding river to look at with a few interesting houses along the way. Thankfully, we had no rain. I had thought that it would be a good idea to try to make another 12-15 miles before we hung it up for the day as tomorrow (Friday) would be a long day from Pebble Isle to Pickwick with the current increasing as we got closer to the dam. There are several islands along along here and most of them make good anchorages protected from the channel although there are virtually no pleasure boats on the river this time of year and very few tows making wakes. Carol said she wanted to go into Clifton which was actually OK by me as it sure makes walking the dog easier….no dinghy rides involved in the dark. Strange, but it’s always dark when I have to take her ashore, either predawn or well after dark. It’s never easy and always involves a flashlight and mud.
Friday, November 21 Clifton Marina T158 to Pickwick Landing State Park T-206 via Pickwick Lock and Dam.
I was up at 5:15. It was foggy and dark or maybe it was dark and foggy.
End result the same. Couldn’t see the bow of the boat so I decided to wait to get going especially since Sleeping Beauty was reposing in her sleeping chambers on the first deck. I knew that I could be as quiet as a church mouse and get the power cords put away and the docking lines off but as soon as I fired up the engines she would be up and dressed. So I make some coffee and started working on the blog which was well past due. It seems so hard to do when we have guests aboard. It seems like there is always something better to do. When we are alone on the boat I like to get up early and sit of the aft deck and drink coffee and do the blog and watch the sun come up. It’s not quite as much fun when its 36 degrees outside so I sit in the wheelhouse and do it. So today was catch up day. It’s now 11:00 and I am still pounding away at the keyboard. Were at T -186 so 20 miles to go with the lock.
We are meeting some people at Pickwick Landing State Park this evening. Fred and Joanie Myers are coming aboard and spending the night and will make the run to Florence with us. Fred is a writer and wrote the definitive cruising guides to the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. Although I have never met Joanie I have talked to her several times and Fred was the deciding factor in getting us on the river last year headed toward Pittsburg and the Ohio River. That’s another story but I think it will be interesting to spend some intense time with them on Annie. They sold their boat a few years back and I get the impression their cruising years are over so this will be a chance for them to get back on the river , be it only for a short time. We’re slowing down even more now, down to 5.7mph. It’s hard to estimate our arrival time there as our speed seems to be decreasing as we approach the dam. I have allowed an hour to get through the dam although if there is no traffic we can get through in much less time.
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