Clifton Tennessee to Florence Alabama

This post is retrospective as we have been home for a few days now but I wanted to complete the journey with the blog.  This section of the Tennessee between Clifton, Tennessee and Florence Alabama  is pretty much devoid of anything that I would call spectacular although a there are a few sandstone bluffs with some architecturally interesting houses along the way. . It’s not unlike the lower Ohio with lots of riverbank with farmlands beyond and not a lot to look at.  The bank is speckled with weekend houses and fishing camps mostly populated by weekend residents from western Tennessee. There are a few islands along the way, most of which are pretty good anchorages sheltered from wakes of passing tows, although the commercial traffic on the Tennessee is much less than on the Ohio. The biggest town ipn the section of river is Savannah, Tennessee which boasts a Tennessee River Museum. However there is no place to dock a boat or even land a dinghy in Savannah. Savannah is just north of the site  Civil War Battleground at Shiloh and while a significant portion of the artillery and infantry of the North arrived by steamboat at Pittsburgh Landing and the confederates were bombarded by artillery from union  gunboats on the Tennessee River, the National Park is hardly distinguishable from the river. There are so signs, no docks or any place to land a dinghy. Unless one is looking at a chart of the area you wouldn’t even know it’s there.

Once we left Clifton we passed only three tows  headed downstream the entire day.    As we got closer to Pickwick Dam the current kept increasing. When we left Clifton we were doing about 6.8 miles an hour and as we progressed along out boat speed kept dropping. Just below the dam it had dropped to a paltry 4 miles per hour indicating that we had a current on our nose of about 3.5 mph.  Seems like we could have made as much forward progress if we had the anchor down. Heading upstream, there is a long sweeping turn on the approach to the dam. As the dam came into view it was pretty clear why we had so much current as most of the gates were open dumping an incredible amount of water into the downstream flow. A few miles below the dam we passed a big tow headed down. As I recall, the name of the vessel was the Winchester, and it was pushing a full house of 15 empties and had another identical push boat tied on his hip that he was taking downstream. We met him on a fairly narrow section of the river, on a turn where there was a buoyed channel. I saw him two miles away and gave him a courtesy call on the radio and asked him where he wanted us to be when we passed, as his control with the current behind him was limited. His response was “out of my way” and then he laughed. We got outside the buoy line until we had safely passed in order to give him a wide berth. As we got closer to the lock we could tell there were no other commercial vessels in the lock by looking at our AIS. We called the lockmaster and he came right back to us and said that the big chamber lower gates were still open from the Winchester s lockage and we wer cleared  and to come on in and get tied up which we were only too happy to do, although with the current holding us back, it seemed like we would never get.

We got right through the lock with no problems. Once out on the Pickwick Lake, our boat speed picked back up to over 7 miles per hour. Pickwick Landing State Park Marina is only about 2 miles from the dam. There is a buoyed channel in, which I would hate to have to find in the dark if I was not familiar with it. Even in daylight the small buoys are hard to pick up even with binoculars. For the mariners who keep their boats there and use the channel frequently it’s probably not an issue, but for those of us who venture in there infrequently, it can be a bit of a challenge. We had called ahead to let them know we were coming and even though it was a weekend day we were the only transient boat there. The attendant came out to help us tie up. I guess he probably had fair warning we were coming in as we fired up the calliope as we entered the basin. We got tied up and settled in for the evening. It was late afternoon when we got there but we had some time before our guests arrived at 5:30 and we proceeded to work on the deck leak. We had purchased some more material for the patch while we were in Paris , Tennessee and as we had rain in the forecast we wanted to get it put down and dry before we tested its integrity. We used foam insulation board with double sided foil and put it down with silicone instead of water based caulk. I selected that because it was cheap, light, easy to bend and cut and I thought the silicone would adhere to the aluminized foil surface.

Fred Meyers and his wife Joan have cruised over 30,000 miles on the Rivers of Alabama and Tennessee and wrote the definitive cruising guides to the Tennessee River and the Cumberland Rivers. They are well seasoned boaters with lots of interesting stories and full of information.      They spent the night with us on Friday night and traveled with us the 50 odd miles to Florence Harbor on Saturday.  It was good to have some knowledgeable company with us and they gave us lots of pointers on anchorages and pitfalls along the river as we passed. The day started off sunny and clear but by early afternoon had become overcast but we did not get the rain we expected, so out patch at this point remains unproven.

There are some interesting remnants on the river of the days before our modern high hydroelectric dams when the Tennessee River was not navigable along the section. Below Florence there are the remains of old stone canals that were dredged to facilitate the passage of steamboats upriver. Some of these old canal remnants are visible above water and some are submerged providing significant hazards to the unwary boater.  The entire area is referred to Muscle Shoals. The term “Shoals” is derived from the fact that the river along here was almost 20 miles of rapids and was impassable most of the year.  Many steamboats and packets met their fate on the rocks in the river at Muscle Shoals. Goods arriving here by steamboat were offloaded at Sheffield Landing just downstream from Florence and transported by rail up toward Decatur where they could be safely loaded back on steamboats to continue the journey up river to Chattanooga and Knoxville via the river. .

We arrived at Florence late afternoon and got Annie safely tied up and plugged in. We have another 25 miles to go to Joe Wheeler State Park where we keep her making the journey of almost 3000 miles complete. We were tired from the day’s journey and decided to spend the last night on the boat. The next day we went to the house to see what shape things were in and to access what we would need to do to return to our lives ashore. The dining room table was piled high with mail and packages of things I had ordered for the boat. When we left in August we had lists on top of lists of things to take to the boat, things to buy and things to do. And now as we return to living ashore we have lists on top of lists of things to do, groceries to buy and things to bring home from the boat. Some things never change.

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Golconda Illinois to Clifton Tennessee

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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Cincinnati Island to Golconda, Il.

Good morning from Cave in Rock O 880.5

Yes that’s actually a name of a town. There’s actually a huge cave here right on the river. During the 1800s when there was a massive flux of people moving west there were a lots of flatboats floating down the Ohio  to the Mississippi  and then on down to New Orleans and other destinations loaded with manufactured goods,  produce, guns and munitions. Piracy was rampant on the Ohio River as it was then and  still is for the most part very desolate. Cave in the rock was a hideout for pirates who used various means to lure unsuspecting river travelers into a trap where they took their money, goods and often their lives. Finally the federal government sent in troops to rid the river of its pirates.        

Last night we spent anchored behind Cincinnati Island. We tried to get into an anchorage behind the island at old Shantytown. Indications from the cruising guides and our charts were  that there was enough water to get in. We were  watching the depth sounder while we were going in and were going dead slow when we hit the soft bottom at the entrance.

.  Our original plan was to go to Cincinnati Island but decided to take a look at Shanteetown. The town used to be right on the river but when the town was devastated by the flood of 1937 the town was moved back from the river a few miles and the buildings were abandoned. The old bank building was one of the first banks in Illinois. Also therev is an old abandoned brick church building still standing . We thought that if we could get into the anchorage we would dinghy ashore and go exploring. Well that didn’t happen so on to Cincinnati Island.

Cincinnati Island was only a few more miles downriver and there were some other options if that didn’t look good. We had to approach the anchorage from down river and were able to get up fairly close to the island to protect us from the wind. We anchored in about 12 feet of water. We dropped the anchor and it immediately dug in. There was a pretty good current running behind the island where we were anchored, but that good as Annie lies perfectly still in a current. I would estimate the current was  about 2 mph. The downside of that is that we have been having some outboard issues and have not used it in two weeks and if I had problems with it I was going to have to row against the current.  We got in about 3 o’clock . After bedding the boat down I wanted to take Hillary ashore  and scope out the island as I would have to take her ashore again before we went to bed except the second trip would be in pitch blackness. As it turned out the island had good hard sand beach that immediately  dropped off into deep water. This was  a perfect landing spot as I could drive the dinghy right up on shore and get myself  and the dog out of the dinghy without getting our feet wet and muddy. I pulled  a log down from the bank and tied the dinghy to it while we were walking and would also use this log as a landmark so I could find the same spot again in the dark. The outboard was a little cantankerous but I have gotten used to fiddling with it to keep it running. The first trip ashore was uneventful, and Carol went with me last night and aside from a little mud in the dinghy and some wet doggy feet it went well.

Last night was cold. It was predicted to go below freezing so when we walked the dog last night   we ran the big generator and ran the heaters and got the boat toasty warm while we wer gone.  . I don’t think it made it to freezing last night but it was chilly.. .we just put an extra blanket on the bed and sleeping was great. I woke up about 6 and started the generator to get it warm and then took Hillary ashore for here morning romp. When I got back Carol was up coffee was made  and we got the dinghy secure and anchor up and we were on our way.

Tomorrow is Golconda to Paducah which is a run of 33 miles with one lock at Smithland which will be our last lock on the Ohio. The ;lower Ohio is our least favorite section of the trip. The banks are low and treelined. There are very few houses along the river and even fewer towns, so there is not much to look at. The river is wide ½ to ¾ mil at places. There are lots of islands however which provide anchorages in the chutes behind the islands protected from the wind and wakes from passing tows. Most of these islands are wildlife refuges.

Destination today is Goncola Marina which is about 40 miles downstream from Cincinnati Island.  The town of Goncola is a ghost town and the marina is not much more. It’s in a dredged basin off river and extremely well protected, unfortunately there are not many boats there to protect.

What’s left of the town is about half mile walk from the marina with a very elaborate foot bridge across the creek that separates the town from the marina. . This was a state funded project and was a very expensive project located in a very bad location. The marina unfortunately silts up and we are in the mud just inside the entrance.  They usually tell us to come to the fuel dock when we go in there but there is no way we can get there, so we blow out own channel to the nearest dock and get tied up. We tried it again today and made it all the way to the fuel dock and got tied up.

There is a Subway and  two bar and grills in town… mostly bar and little grill but the foods  not too bad and its a chance to get off the boat. I would not classify this as a culinary experience.  The saving grace of Goncola is that its cheap, the people are friendly  and they have good power and water. . We’ll be in and  secured early afternoon so I can work on the patching the deck leak an washing the e boat down. Its Supposed to be in the 60s today. Weather clear and there is not a cloud in the sky. The river is like glass.

We’re not sure what we are going to find in Paducah. Last time I was through on a boat was coming back from Lake Michigan two years ago. At that time there was a city dock by a boat ramp downtown. This would be a good place to tie up as it’s close to the waterfront area with shops, the Maritime Museum and restaurants. One reference says ther is a 15 minute time limit, presumably to prevent people launching their boats at the ramp from monopolizing the dock. Whether this is enforced or not is another question. We called the Paducah Waterfront Development Council and they didn’t answer the phone. Then we  called the “Parks” Department and they didn’t know. So I guess we will find out tomorrow when we get to Paducah. . David Quin our friend and frequent crew member will be meeting us in Paducah tomorrow. If there’s no dock, we will just have to find a place to anchor and commute to shore by dinghy. Paducah lies at the mouth of the Tennessee River so it iss at Tennessee Mile “0” Miles on the Tennessee are measured from Paducah and get larger going upstream.   While the mile numbering oin the Ohio is opposite, The Ohio numbering system begins at Pittsburgh at mile “0” and goes to mile 979 where the Ohio flows into the Mississippi at Cairo Il.

From Paduah its 22 miles up the Tennessee River to Kentucky Dam and Lock. Since Barkley Lock is down for repairs, all of the traffic on the Cumberland is going up the Tennessee. through Kentucky Lock,  So barge traffic is backed up at Kentucky Lock. We called the lock this morning to see if recreational vesels were on a locking schedule. And the answer was no. The locking regulations are such that government and commercial vessels have prioriry but it states that if there is a backup of vessels locking through that every third lockage has to be for recreational vessels. It takes about  45 minutes to and hour to  put a tow in the chamber  and bring it up or take it down. So a complete turnaround could take and hour and ahalf or maybe as long as two hours. So two complete turnarounds could take as long as 4 hours.  Now if we got really lucky and there were a bunch of recreational vessels trying to go up and they have been waiting for some time then we would go up with them. Bottom line is we won’t really know till we get there how long its going to take.  ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.

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Owensburg Kentucky to Evansville Indiana

Hello from Evansville Indiana O-797.

This is likely the last post for a few days as we are out in the middle of nowhere with little or no cell service.

We’re at the Nu Plaza Yacht Club in Evansville which is pretty much deserted.   Any resemblance between Nu Plaza and what we think of Yacht Clubs on the Tennessee is purely coincidental.

.  But the folks are friendly, the dock is good there is a free courtesy van. We got ready to settle our bill tonight as we are leaving in the morning. We’ve been here two days and nights and the owner Jim said just give him something for the electricity.  Had the same situation in Cincinnati when we stayed at the Riverside Marina. They said just give them something for the power which we were only too happy to do.

Came in yesterday form Owensboro, Kentucky whyere we stayed at the Redneck Yacht Club. Its well removed from anything within walkng distance but has good power and the water was still on.

. Not a long run but basically prettyunremarkable. . Passed a bunch or tows heading north on the river and had one lock to go through at Newburgh. Got right through Newburgh which was surprising as there were commercial tows waiting but they put us right through even though they were only running one chamber. .

The Ohio River here is pretty boring. Its wide ….up to ¾ mile wide or wider in places with low tree lined banks. Can’t see much beyond the banks but the Google Earth cartography shows mostly farmland on both sides of the river. The riverbank is still interrupted occasionally by coal fired steam plants with many barges of coal being unloaded along the banks, supplying electrical power to the Ohio River Valley.

We have stayed here at Nu Plaza three times before and this makes the fourth. We’ve been here enough that we know our way to Walmart, Home Depot and Lowes. The marina keeps an old conversion van as a courtesy vehicle. We’re not complaining, mind you, but this is one of the 1970 vintage “hippy vans” with the carpet on the walls, drapes on the windows and a bed in the back.

Fortunately it still runs good and great for hauling groceries. Actually compared to some marina courtesy cars we have used over the years it’s a limousine. Some of the ones we have had in various places, you just pray that it makes it back to the marina before it explodes, or the wheels fall off, whichever comes first. Open the trunk of one of these gems and you can usually find a wide variety of partially used cans of power  steering fluid, brake fluid and oil, and the obligatory jumper cables.. Some burn more oil than gasoline and some should have an anchor to throw out when you want to stop as the brakes work not so good!.This one has a compartment over the steering wheel where  the keys are kept  that we call the snapper hole. We allways give the driver grief about putting their hand in theat “hole”.

Were out of here in the morning. Probably will have to anchor our tomorrow as there is a hundred miles of nothing in front of us until we get to Paducah, Ky. And were not sure what we will find there. The last time we were through bringing a boat down to the Tennessee River from the Great Lakes, there was a courtesy dock in downtown Paducah.  We have made several calls to the City of Paducah, to the Waterfront Development Council which does not answer their phones and the Parks Department which was relatively clueless and no one seems to know if it’s still there. . So as or right now we cannot verify that there is or is not a dock there. The waterfront area is a nice spot to stop as there are a number of shops, restaurants, a maritime center and a quilt museum. We would normally not go to Paducah because it’s closer to go up the Cumberland and lock through Barkley Lock and the use the Barkley Canal to cross over to the Tennessee River. Because Barkley Lock  is down for maintenaance  we have to use the Tennessee River route  and go down to the Tennessee River at Paducah and then head upstream.  . . The Tennessee enters the Ohio at Ohio mile  935 and that will be Tennessee River Mile 0. We live in Florence at T 255 and Annie stays at Joe Wheeler at T 275. As of right now we have 138 miles and two locks remaining on the Ohio and then 275 miles and three locks on the Tennessee for a total of about 415 miles We are moving at 40-60 miles a day so right now we are 10-12 days out. We have a 2 mph current behind us on the Ohio but as soon as we turn up the Tennessee the current is on outr nose so our speed drops quite a bit.

Destination tomorrow is an anchorage behind Cincinnati Island, one of many Islands on the Ohio. We have never anchored there before but all the information says it’s a good overnight anchorage behind the island and protected from the main channel. Also it’s lines by a sandy beach along its perimeter so there’s a good place to land the dinghy and take Hillary ashore. We have several alternative destinations should we decide to go further or stop sooner. . We are planning on spending the night in Paducah so we have to break up the 138 miles into three segments arriving there is late afternoon. Once we get back on the Tennessee, the sightseeing is pretty much over as the first part of the trip on the lower Tennessee is in the segment of the river that borders Land Between the Lakes. The channel there is a buoyed channel out in the middle of a big lake that is 5-7 miles wide and were not close enough to shore to see anything. In that stretch of river we are basically running from one channel marker to the next. Once back on the Tennessee we will probably “marina hop” all the way back to Florence as there are Marinas about every 50-60 miles.

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Good morning from Evansville Indiana O-797

We’re at the Nu Plaza Yacht Club in Evansville. IN.

. Any resemblance between Nu Plaza and what we think of Yacht Clubs on the Tennessee is purely coincidental.  But the folks are friendly, the dock is good and  there is a free courtesy van. We got ready to settle our bill tonight as we are leaving in the morning. We’ve been here two days and nights and the owner Jim said just give him something for the electricity.  Had the same situation in Cincinnati when we stayed at the Riverside Marina. They said just give them something for the power which we were only to happy to do.

Came in yesterday form the Red Neck Yacht  lub in Owensboro, Kentucky. Not a long run but basically pretty boring. Passed a bunch or tows heading north on the river and had one lock to go through at Newburgh. Got right through Newburgh which was surprising as there were commercial tows waiting but they put us right through even though they were only running one chamber. .

The Ohio River along here is very boring and unremarkable. Its wide ….up to ¾ mile wide or wider in places with low tree lined banks. and since it is wide its fairly shallow and there is a marked channel to follow so the helmsman has to pay attention.  Can’t see much beyond the banks but the Google Earth cartography shows mostly farmland on both sides of the river. The riverbank is still interrupted occasionally by coal fired steam plants with many barges of coal being  unloaded  along the banks, supplying  electrical power to the Ohio River Valley.

We have stayed here at Nu Plaza  three times before and this makes the fourth. We’ve been here enough that we know our way to Walmart, Home Depot and Lowes. The marina keeps an old conversion van as a courtesy vehicle.

We’re not complaining, mind you, but this is one of the 1970 vintage “hippy vans” with the carpet on the walls, drapes on the windows and a bed in the back. Fortunately it still runs good and great for hauling groceries. Actually compared to some marina courtesy cars we have used over the years it’s a limousine. Some of the ones we have had in various places, you just pray that it makes it back to the marina before it explodes, or the wheels fall off, whichever comes first. Open the trunk of one of these gems and you can usually find a wide variety of partially used cans of hydraulic steering fluid, brake fluid and oil, and the obligatory jumper cables.. Some burn more oil than gasoline and some should have an anchor to throw out when you want to stop as the brakes work not so good!. Once we had in North Carolina we took to the grocery store to get something. We got back in the car and chunked it over the seat into the back seat. Sounded sort of funny and I looked over the seat. The floorboards in the back seat were rusted out and our  bag  was laying on the ground under the car.

Were out of here in the morning.We will have to anchor our tomorrow as there is a hundred miles of nothing in front of us until we get to Paducah, Ky. And were not sure what we will find there. The last time we were through bringing a boat down to the Tennessee River from the Great Lakes, there was a courtesy dock in downtown Paducah.  We have made several calls to the City of Paducah,  one to the Waterfront Development Council which does not answer their phones and the Parks Department which was relatively clueless and no one seems to know if the dock is  still there. . So as of right now we cannot verify that there is or is not a dock there. The waterfront area is a nice spot to stop as there are a number of shops, restaurants, a maritime center and a quilt museum. We have been to the quilt museum before nad well worth doing again.

We would normally not go to Paducah because it’s closer to go up the Cumberland and lock through Barkley Lock and the use the Barkley Canal to cross over to the Tennessee River. Because the lock is down we have to use the Tennessee River route  and go down to the Tennessee River to Paducah and then head upstream.  . Unfortunately, the Barkley lock is closed so we have to go the Tennessee r[oute. The Tennessee enters the Ohio at Ohio mile  935 and that will be Tennessee River Mile 0. The numbering system on the Tennessee gets larger going upstream while on the Ohio the converse is true. Mile “0” is at Pittsburgh and the  njmbers increase going downstram.  We live in Florence at T 255 and Annie stays at Joe Wheeler at T 275. As or right now we have 138 miles and two locks remaining on the Ohio and then 275 miles and three locks on the Tennessee for a total of about 415 miles, and 5 locks We are moving at 40-60 miles a day so we are 10-12 days out.

Destination tomorrow is and anchorage behind Cincinnati Island, one of many Islands on the Ohio. We have never anchored there before but all the information says it’s a good overnight anchorage behind the island and protected from the main channel. Also it is  lined by a sandy beach along its perimeter so there’s a good place to land the dinghy and take Hillary ashore. We have several alternative destinations should we decide to go further.It depends on what time we get there. We have to be anchored up by 4 :30 or 5 as it gets dark early and we dont want to be going into an unknown anchorage after dark.  We are planning on spending the night in Paducah so we have to break up the 138 miles into three segments arriving there in late afternoon. Once we get back on the Tennessee River 1the sightseeing is pretty much over as the first part of the trip on the lower Tennessee is in the segment of the river that borders Land Between the Lakes. The channel there is a buoyed channel out in the middle of a big lake that is 5-7 miles wide and were not close enough to shore to see anything. In that stretch of river we are basically running from one channel marker to the next. Once back on the Tennessee we will probably “marina hop” all the way back to Florence as there are Marinas about every 50-60 miles.

This post is not yet complete but I need to send it to the server bdefore we get out of range of the cell tower. .

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Louisville to the Salt River to Derby Indiana

Good morning from O-641. Spent the night anchored up the Salt River which in our estimation is one of the prettiest anchorages on the entire trip.

  

To go up the Salt River we have to go under a highway bridge but then the river is relatively narrow…maybe 150 feet wide and tree lined on both banks for another half mile before a railroad bridge. The river is secluded with virtually no boat traffic as there is a log jam at the railroad bridge and boats cannot get through. There were a few intrepid fisherman launching their boats at the ramp behind us during the evening. I think it was a curiosity to see such a big boat up the river but they launched and went on their way. There is a concrete boat ramp and normally there is a dock there for dinghying ashore but Joe the owner operator of the campground just took his docks out yesterday so getting ashore is a little more difficult, sometimes involving mud and wet feet. There is a pretty swift current running down the river and Annie, with her long keel, sits a still as a rock in the current. She doesn’t like wind and there was absolutely no wind so we didn’t budge all night long. We were anchored right in the middle in 24 feet of water which is deeper than I generally like to anchor in but we had to stay right in the center as there was barely enough room to turn around in the river.
When we got in and anchored, Joe was waiting for us on the shore. We rowed the dinghy in to walk  Hillary and talked to Joe  a bit. I had met him before on one of our previous trips and he gave us the local scoop the town of West Point. Apparently there was a quite  bit of activity in West Point during the Civil War and there were a few local skirmishes here. General Sherman had his headquarters in one of the brick houses along the river. There are historical markers all over the town and a pretty interesting to see late 1700 and early 1800 houses.

                

Abraham Lincoln’s father built and launched a flatboat here and took it to New Orleans before returning north with enough of a profit to get married and start a family. We walked a couple of miles around the town looking at old houses and buildings curious about all that had taken place here it….so typical of these little Ohio River towns. Unfortunately I did not bring my camera with me but Carol had her cell phone and she took some pics and sent them to me.
This morning, I was up just as the sun was coming up. Started the generator to make coffee and turn the heaters on. I got dressed and took my coffee with me as I rowed Hillary ashore.We walked for 15 minutes and Hillary finally deposited her load of organic fertilization and watered the grass in various locations. I don’t understand dogs. They have to have exactly the right spot. Sometimes have to walk a half a mile to find that spot. Hell, I can pee anywhere.
Back to the boat with muddy wet feet and on our way down Salt River back to the Ohio. Just a hint of fog on the river this morning. Passed one coal tow with 15 barges as soon as we got back on the river and there are two more, one southbound and one northbound , about 2 miles ahead. Interesting points of direction used on towboats on the Ohio: if you are heading up river, you are northbound and if you are heading down-river you are southbound, irrespective of what direction you are actually going. The river turns back on itself frequently so it’s entirely possible to be headed due south and be northbound or heading due north and be southbound.
Yesterday was an interesting day. I say interesting but that’s not a good word. Let me elaborate. Since we didn’t have a long day with only 30 miles to go to the Salt River we didn’t get going until around 9. Louisville is an interesting city with old bridges and one new bridge under construction just below where we were docked, and one of the older bridges is covered with computer controlled colored lights.

   

. After passing the bridges, we motored past the old sternwheeler the Belle of Louisville who had her 100th birthday last year.

The entrance to the canal leading to the locks is just below Louisville not more than a mile, and it leads directly to McAlpine Locks, our only lock of the day. We called the lock and the lockmaster told me he had one tow to bring up and when that tow was out of the chamber we could go in. That tow was just going into the chamber downriver, so it was going to be 30-45 minutes before we could lock down. There was a big basin beside the lock and we motored over there to keep out of the way as the tow had to make a hard turn coming out of the lock. This basin was a mooring location for the Corps of Engineers work barges and they were building 4 huge new lock doors.

     

Just as the barge passed coming out of the lock, I throttled up to head into the lock and we lost the port engine

. We called the lockmaster and told him we had some problems and he said he would keep the lock ready for us. I ran down below and primed the engine and bled the injectors and got it going again. This process took less than 5 minutes and we got into the lock and tied off. Before we had even started down in the lock we lost the port engine again. McApine has a 20+ foot drop and if since we had not even started down yet I had time to go down and troubleshoot the problem. The port engine was not getting fuel through the booster pump. So I quickly disassembled it and found the problem…the same problem we had had a few days before with the generator pump. There was a piece of square fabric lodged in the impeller in the pump. I pulled it out, reassembled the pump and tried to bleed and prime the port engine. About that time the horn sounded and we were cleared to leave the lock. I decided to get out of the lock and then I could deal with the fuel problem and engine problem. All this time the starboard engine was still running. We pulled our lines off and headed out of the lock and just as we got past the lower lock doors the starboard engine started sputtering and quit also. Apparently when I opened the port engine fuel supply it allowed some air to get into the starboard fuel supply so now we were dead in the water. We had enough forward momentum that we managed to get over to the lock wall, unfortunately not close enough to a bollard to get a line on. We tried pulling the boat along the wall wedging boathooks in cracks   but old Annie weighs about 80,000 pounds,and we had little sucess.. I saw a big crack in the wall and jammed our anchor snubber hook in there and it held  and got it tied to a cleat so we were at least tied up to the wall. I called the lockmaster and told him our predicament. He said not to worry we were fine. I went to work and got both pumps primed and working and then bled the injectors on both engines and within 5 minutes had both engines going again. We were on our way. We called the lockmaster and thanked him for his patience and explained what had happened.
The little piece of fabric looks exactly like the one I pulled out of the generator fuel pump a few days ago

     

They look like the little acetone wipes used to remove fingernail polish. But for the life of me cannot figure out how they got into the fuel system. They could have been in the system from the time we built the boat but if so why didn’t they do something until now… 10 years later? Also where did they come from, the fuel tank or the fuel manifold or contaminatred fuel? And if from any020 of those places how did they get through the fuel manifold without getting stuck? Is it possible it could have come from someplace where we bought fuel? On the other hand we have been having fuel problems with the generators for about 5 years. Is it possible that this has been obstructing the fuel to the generator for 5 years stuck in one of the fuel lines somewhere? This remains a total mystery and the big question is this going to happen again? Is there more contamination in the system? We were using the port forward tank when all this came down and since we don’t know if the problem arose from the tank or somewhere else we are going to isolate that tank and not use it until I can pullhe inspection plate off the tank and look inside. That probably won’t happen till we get home. I have a fiber optic snake at home that can look into the tank and see if there’s anything else there. t

Yesterday we saw a nest of two bald eagles in a tree close to the water. We were a good ways up river before we could get close enough tio see them clearly with the binoculars. I slowed to idle speed and we got within a hundred feet or so and then one flew off. Did get some pictures but it has to be enlarged to get any detail. We do see them quite frequently along the river. Not every day but several times a week and more out here in the more sparsely settled areas of the river.

Arrived Derby Indiana last night and Dave and Mary Alexander came aboard. This mornig the came for breakfast this morning and it was nearly noon before we got away from the dock. We are headed for Rocky Point at O-719. It’s called Rocky Point Marina. Actually, its more of a fuel dock with a long  floating dock. We have been trying to contact them for a few days to let them know we are coming in but have had no success until this am. We finally got through this morning and they are expecting us. Supposed to be 38 degrees tonight ansnfd will be nice to have heat without running the generator. Today is rainey and the  river is a little foggy but visibility remains upward of a mile. We have encountered several tows today mostly headed upstream.
A little lesson on river jargon
Here, at our present location, the right side of the river is Indiana and the left side is Kentucky. Sometimes this can be confusing when moving from state to state. Initially, when we left Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was on the both banks, and then we passed the state line and Ohio was on the right side of the river and West Virginia was on the left side . Then we left West Virginia and Kentucky was on the left bank with Ohio on the right bank. Now, it’s Indiana and Kentucky and further on down its Illinois and Kentucky. Doesn’t sound like a big problem but sometimes the tug captains on the radio will refer to the shore that way and I have to stop and think about where we are. To make matters more confusing, some of them refer to the banks by color. Going down the Ohio, the red channel markers are on the left side and the green on the right side, hence the terms red side and green side. And to make things even more confusing the banks are sometimes designated as right and left based on a route going downstream and locations will be described as RDB and LDB referring to right descending bank and left descending bank. The push-boat captains many of whom were born and raised around here  probably know these waters like their own backyard and use lots of local geography in their radio conversations with each other as they run these waters everyday.. They will frequently put out security calls on the radio broadcasting their positions in terms of local landmarks. They might say this is the MV Samuel Clemmons northbound at Picadilly Creek. For us amateurs not as familiar as they are with the river we are scouring the charts looking for Picadilly Creek when, in fact, Picadilly Creek is not on any of the charts or our chart plotter.

Made it to Rocky Creek around 3:30. Rainining here,,,,not hard, but enough to make it a dreary day. Had to run the wipers to keep the rain off the winshields in the pilot house most of the day and run the fans to keep the windows from fogging up. Another boat pulled in after us and fortunately we got here first and  there is only one 50 amp power plug on the dock and we have it. So we have heaters and can cook tonight with running the generator.

Carol has cooked a big pot of chicken chili and cornbread for dinneer. Almost like home

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Louisville Nov 6

Today was a play day. Carols buddy Gail from St Louis came down we all had lunch across the river in Jerrffersonville. and then they went and did whatever girls do for three hours. We had to wait for some fuel filters for the boat to come in today which arrived and we picked them up while we had Gails car.  We  changed all of the fuel filters   and  used out last ones so we called ahead, found a supplier and they ordered them in. Came in today so now we have spares should  the need arise.

One of the many  bridges here in Louisville is lit at night with computer controlled colored lights and the colors keep changing. Its really 

   pretty neat to see. I took these last night from the aft deck of the boat at the municipal marina in Louisville. Tonight we were walking Hillary and I took some time exposures from the hill behind us  with Annie in the foreground.

They are a little fuzzy but I was hand holding a 10 second time exposure.

We are leaving Louisville in the morning. Destination is the Salt River where there is a nice off river anchorage protected from the wind. Its only 36 miles and depending on what time we get there we may decide to go further. Not much on the river for the nest 130 miles. Next day the destination is Derby where we have friends. .Derby will be a long day about 60 miles unless we decide to go further tomorrow.  Internet may be real marginal  for the next few days as there are very few Verizon cell towers along this section of river. The next stop  after Derby will be Rocky Point Marina where at least there will be power and they do have diesel fuel. .

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Thursday Nov 5 Florence Indiana O-529 to Madison Indiana O-557.8 to Municipal Docks O-603 Louisville Kentucky

Good morning from O mile 573 somewhere below Madison, Indiana. Destination today is Louisville, Kentucky. Last night we spent anchored off in Madison Indiana  as there were no docks available. Its that time of year up here where the docks disappear.

Night before that we went into Turtle Creek Marina.

   It’s a creek or bay off river that has several marinas across the river from the town of Warsaw and two miles above Markland Dam.

 We had tried to go in there last year but aborted because of shallow water. Most of these smaller off river creeks and bays are pretty shallow and even if dredged they tend to silt up pretty quickly in the spring when the river floods.  Went in this time and made it to the fuel dock. We were kicking up mud but still had steerage. Had lots of help getting tied up and plugged into good 50 amp power. The marina was not new and fancy by any means but people were friendly and power was good. I always qualify the power supply because sometimes they say they have 50 amp service, it  doesn’t mean it’s true and the minute we plug in the breakers trip.  Although they had diesel , we didn’t need any, but  they had a  good place to get off the boat and walk the dog. We had called ahead to see how deep the water was to see if we could get in. We have learned over the years that if they say ther is 10 feet, we can count on 5 feet. I think they stick a long skinny pole in the water and measure how far it goes down before it hits bedrock. . That does not take into account the three  feet  of silt and mud on top of the hard bottom. Sometimes we can just plow through itand blow it out of the way and sometimes not. Also very hard to steerwhen when were in the mud.

We met a new friend Steve at Turtle Creek.  who helped us get tied up and plugged in at Turtle Creek. .  He came aboard after we arrived and gave all of the local info. He’s retired from the railroad and lives aboard his boat during the summer at the marina but has a house in Florence, Indiana. He was in the process of winterizing his boat and was there working. . Yesterday morning before we left, he came over and asked if we needed anything  or needed a ride. I did need to go to an auto supply store for some fuel fittings and fuel line.I had plans of working on the generator fuel system the next day when we got to Madison.

Steve was gracious enough to give me a ride to the auto supply store in Warsaw, across the river which unfortunately did not have what I needed. So we visited the local hardware store and they had it all. When we got back to the boat my top priority was to fix the dinghy drain which was leaking water into the dinghy. When we were underway the water would drain out but when we stopped the dinghy would fill up with water as the drain plug kept falling out. First we had to get out the electric pump and pump the dinghy dry and that was OK till the pump quit working.at which point I had to stop and take the pump apart. Problem was there was sand inb the dinghy from one of my trips ashore with the dog. The pump is a vane type of pump with very precision tolerances and it doesnt do well with sand.  Our dinghy  repair consisted of cementing a Motrin bottle cap in the hole on the inside and a mousse bottle cap on the outside of the hole with Gorilla glue which will cure out under water. The bottle caps were Carol’s innovation as I was in the dinghy trying to fix things.

I had told her to find something round and plasctic about an inch and  an eighth in diameter  and that’s what she came up with. Took a couple of attempts but they were the perfect size. So far so good. …no leaks. Big points for Motrin bottles and gorilla glue!

I had all of the things I needed to work on the fuel system. We have had problems with the generator fuel system for years. But it stated only several years after the boat was launched not at the very beginning.  I have tried all type of things to resolve the problem, so far with little success. Many hours have been spent in the bilge lyhing on my back tightening fittings and tracing fuel lines, installing new fuel pumps, rebuilding fuel pumps and changing out fuel lines. .  I thought I had the problem licked when we left home this time but the problems continued. The problem is that at times both generators are starving for fuel. I have gone so far as putting extra booster fuel pumps in the generator fuel supply which seems to have helped but then the problems recur with no particular pattern. Also installed a generator day tank for the small generator which help it,but not the big one. This the day tank. The white stuff is oil absorbent pad that turns red or brown if it comes in contact with diesel fuel. I tie wrap it on joints to see if there are any leaks.

We can fire the generators up and they run for a while and then run out of fuel.When we left Turtle Creek Marina yesterday morning we started the generator and it ran for a minute or two and then quit and wouldn’t restart, so tried the other generator and its wouldn’t start either. I didn’t feel like messing with it while underway as I needed Carol to pass me tools and whatnot while I was curled up in a ball in the generator compartment. I was going to put it off until we got to Madison but decided to at least check the generator fuel supply. The generator fuel filters were full of something that didn’t look like diesel fuel so I drained it off into a clear jug to look at it and it looked like there was water in the fuel. I let it sit overnight but did not change. If it were water it should separate out but it did not. It remained cloudy.  Then I could not get the filter to fill with fresh fuel even with the booster pump on. This led me to believe there was something wrong with the booster pump which I could not get into while we were underway as it supplied the starboard propulsion engine also. So this was going to have to wait till we got tied up in Madison.

We got into

Madison late afternoon hoping that the city docks would still be in the water. Wrong on that. Next possibility was the Lighthouse restaurant but they would not answer the phone and as it turned out that they were closed for the winter. Their dock was open but they had a lockout gate and no way to get the dog ashore so that didn’t work for us.  Just as we passed the Lighthouse Restaurant the starboard engine quit and would not restart. We were rapidly running out of options and it was getting dark. . Next dock we came to was the Skunk Hollow Yacht Club. They had a lock out gate also but we didn’t see anything else we could tie up to so I turned the boat around and we came along side and docked…not an easy task with one engine and wind.It wasn’t great but we were tied up and we could use the dinghy to get around the lockout gate to take Hillary ashore. I didnt take any pictures as I was preoccupied with running the boat.

As soon as we got tied I tore into the fuel system. My in initial thinking was that there was something wrong with the main booster pump so I pulled it out of the system and pulled it apart. Couldn’t find anything wrong with it but seemed like it was running slow so I decided to replace it, as I had a spare aboard.

After replacing it, I had fuel into the generator supply  pump but no fuel coming out of the pump so I assumed the must have an issue also, so I pulled it out of the system and took it apart. Here was the problem. There was a square piece of some type of fabric about 2″ square  stuck in the inlet port of the pump.

1 I have no idea what it is or where it came from or how it got into the fuel line. But, it was almost completely obstructing the inlet port of the generator fuel supply and it was understandable why the generators were starving for fuel.  I cleaned the filter screen in the pump, reassembled it, and put the system back together. By this time I am covered from head to toe with diesel fuel and probably lost a half gallon of diesel into the bilge when the lines were opened. After reassembling the entire system and tightening all of the joints we fired the big generator and it started right up. Same with little one. I tried to start the main engine and it was a no go so I had  to bleed the injectors and it started up after a few tries. I suspect that when I opened up the generator filter and drained out the diesel fuel that air backed up into the engine supply and killed the starboard engine. , At least everything was working and we had two engines again. By this time it was dark but we had to get off the Skunk Hollow dock as I had promised I would. We untied and moved the boat about 100 yards out in the river still out of the channel and anchored. We had to run the generator for a while to get the batteries charged up as we had not run it yesterday during the day while we were underway. We got the tools cleaned up and put away and most of the diesel fuel cleaned up. I was plain pooped but as I say, any day when there are more things working at the end of the day than the beginning of the day is a good day. We had some left over spaghetti and watched a movie. Carol fell asleep during the movie but woke up to go ashore with me in the dinghy to walk the dog.  Had a very nice peaceful night. Heard a few tows going by during the night but we were a few hundred yards out of the main channel and they barely rocked the boat. We hear them more than feel them as they make very little wake but we can hear the high pitched whine of the turbochargers a good ways away.    We are so used to it that we hardly pay any attention to them at night. When we were on the upper Ohio, both sides of the river had trains running 24/7…mostly coal trains. There were two high speed tracks across the street from Jim and Sues and coal trains came by every hours or so blowing for grade crossings along the way. They were so common that in time their horns  just blended into the background noise of the river and we hardly heard them.

The trees along the Ohio are in various stages of turning colors as we move down the river. I suspect it may have something to do with the variety of trees, soil composition and how much rain they have had. Coming in from Madison today the colors were spectacular. The riverscape is not as dramatic as we get further down the river and the two thousand foot tall hills of West Virginia andPennsylvania give rise to the rolling hills of Ohio and now Indiana on the north side.

It’ss now 2:30 and tied up at the municipal docks in Louisville, Ky. It’s a  beautiful fall day. Still a little overcast but 50% blue skys and temps in the high 60’s low 70’s. But, this too will change as we are expecting rain and cold weather. We will be here for two days. We used our last Racor fuel filters when we cleaned up the fuel supply yesterday . I ordered some more from a local marine supply house and they will be in tomorrow. We could go on without them but if we have another fuel issue we nothing to replace the filters again so we really need to have them aboard.

Carols friend Gail  from high school will be meeting us tomorrow. She’s driving in from St Louis. Not sure if she is spending the night. Probably leave here Saturday with a long section of empty river ahead. Next stop with any facilities is Rocky Point Marina which is really not much of a marina but more a fuel dock on the river. It however does have diesel fuel and there is a really good mom and pop restaurant across the road with good food.   Its 115 miles from here to Rocky Point. We found a very nice anchorage up the Salt River coming up this year.Its about half way to Rocky Point. There’s nothing there but pretty scenery and its a half mile up a narrow winding river but well protected and off the main river.

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October 29 Holiday Point Marina Franklin Furnace, Ohio to Maysville, Kentucky.

Somewhere on the Ohio between Franklin Furnace, Ohio  and Maysville, Kentucky O – 383

Good morning on a beautiful fall day on the Ohio River. We left the Holiday Point Yacht Basin early, as we have a log run today… over 70 miles to Maysville. Much more than our usual 40-50 mile days. We were all up by 6 and were off the dock at 6:30. It was a clear morning, not cold at all. Holiday Poiint is two miles at most above Greenup Dam  . The Holiday Point Marina is off river back in a cove or slough and very protected from the wind. Thats great in the winter or  fall as there is protection from our biggest enemy which is wind but in the summertime is very still and can be uncomfortable without a breeze. They had good power for us with the help of our homemade splitter. Had a quiet night aboard as there is no place to go in Franklin Furnace but a good place to walk the dog and stretch our legs.  I am not even sure there is a town there. The marina was deserted as one would expect for a cool fall night in midweek. We had dinner, watched a movie and retired early as we were planning a long day today.

We got through Greenup Lock while it was still dark and saw the first vestiges on daylight after we were through the lock. So far it’s been a pretty unremarkable day. Passed a few coal tows this morning. They are much less frequent down here than on the upper Ohio. We have had about a one mile per hour current behind us for the last two days and it picked up a little more just below the dam pushing us to over 9 mph. Today we have a pretty stiff head wind. The wind can push up some pretty big waves in the straightaway’s of the river. Today the foredeck below stayed wet all day and at time the spray came up over the second deck. We had to turn on the wipers  on at times to clear the spray from the windshield,The 23 mph head wind gusting to 35  has cancelled out the benefit we got from the current behind us and our boat speed had dropped to 7.6  mph.

Destination today is Maysville, Kentucky,, one of our favorite stops on this section of the River. Maysville has a splendid array of Victorian architecture, several museums, murals on the flood wall and a great bus system to get around. I have probably mentioned it before in previous posts but  a quarter will take you anywhere in town on the bus. Round trip takes about an hour but you can see parts of Maysville you would ordinarily never see as it runs down a lot of side street not always in the better parts of town.

It’s about 12:30 and we have about 24 miles to go  so we should be there around 4PM.

Now 4:30. Got in around 3:30,a bit sooner than expected. They have a brand new dock and both the old one and the new one are still in the water.   We had seen the new dock on our way up this year but decided to tie up to the old one. It’s a little crooked and wobbly but we knew there was enough water to get alongside  the old one. This one is a little farther to walk to town  but had better  cleats and looks more substantial.

Old dock in the middle of frame 

Jim was at the helm most of the day relieved by me on occasion and Carol and actually Sue took a turn for a while. While Jim was running the boat I had a project to do. The generator control panel has a door built into the entertainment center. The wood on the cabinet behind the latch broke off where the screws went through and it from constant slamming of the door and the piece was too small a piece to glue in. It needed some reinforcement. I had found a little piece of teak a week or two ago when I was going through the forward deck box. It had a little split in it, not much good for anything so I threw it into the trash can. A couple of days later I saw it there and decided I might need it sometime.  Well that sometime came today. I had pulled it out of the trash can and laid it on the back deck to dry out. Well it rained last night…like a lot of rain and the piece was wet……like really wet. I figured a minute or two in the microware would do the trick so I wrapped it up in a paper towel and turned the microwave on set on five   minutes and I was going to stand there and watch the teak block Well Jim called me from the wheelhouse  to look at something …can’t remember what it was but the end result was that I had to go below to check something. I had forgotten about the teak in the microwave. Carol started yelling that the boat was on fire. Well actually only the microwave was on fire., When the smoke cleared the microwave was OK but my piece of teak looked like a piece of burnt toast, 

Toasted teak….too say nothing of the paper towel it was wrapped in.  Fortunately I had only put half of the original piece in there so I had another piece which I gave to Carol. She put it in the oven for a minute or so and it dried out and I was good to go.  When we were in Owensboro, Indiana at the Red Neck Yacht Club they had a sign on the ramp to the marina that said CHILDREN MUST HAVE ADULT SUPERVISION. I so wanted much to have that sign to hang in the galley! After my piece of teak was dried out so the epoxy would stick ck I planed it to shape and glued it in place. I let the clamps stay on overnight and removed them this morning and will finish it up today.

That was enough excitement for the day. We’re tied up in Maysville and going to the big City  in a few minutes to have dinner.

  

  Towboat propeller or “wheel”on display at th eMaysville waterfront. 

The Masonic Lodge

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Rosemary Cloojney was born here and her pictures and memorials are frequent. Herfe is a mural on the flood wall.

This is the bridge across the river here in Maysville.

Tomorrow we  will do the museums and probably ride the bus out to Walmart and see the sights. I need to get a big pumpkin to carve amd set on the bow of the boat for Halloween………………………………………

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Huntington to Holiday Point Marina , Franklin Furnace Ohio

Good morning from somewhere downstream of Huntington. Have only 31 miles to go today. Destination is Holiday Point Marina where we stayed  last year on the up bound trip. Water is a little thin getting in but once we were at the dock we were OK. They did have 30 amp power and we were able to make up a jumper to power up the boat. We called ahead and Phil Hand the owner remembered us and is expecting us this afternoon. Overnight dockage with power was a paltry $25, half of the usual $53 we pay on theTennessee. Not much to do at Holiday Point as there was nothing within walking distance but a good place to get off the boat and stretch our legs.

We had a pleasant but short stay in Huntington. The little circle down at the docks is always decorated and this time was no exception.

We got it in mid to late afternoon and got tied up at the wall. We were in the mud but were able to get all the way up against the wall .The  top of the wall is about 8 feet off the water and a little challenging to get on and off the boat expecially for the dog. It was almost easier to lower her down from the top deck and lift her up from the main deck.

. We walked the two blocks to downtown. We knew where the Verizon store was as I needed to get new phone to replace the one that got washed. Bryan and Angie Bracey came down to the boat and picked us up and showed Jim and Sue around town and the campus at Marshall University.

This is the fountain in front of the student union building  at Marshall which is briefly turned off in the fall at the time of the plane crash in 1970. Every year they have a brief memorial ceremony at that time. The Marshall mascot is the Bullalo and they are the Thundering Herd. The bronze statues of the Buffalo in from onf the new indoor practive field were donated by one of Marshalls Alumnus.

We went out to dinner  at an Asian restaurant in downtown Huntington where Bryan and Angie treated us. After dinner we went back to the boat and Bryan took Carol and Sue to the grocery store to pick up a fewgrocery items  we were short on.

Since we have a short day today we did not see any necessity of an early start, plus we had to go back to Verizon this morning. When we were there yesterday Jim had purchased a case for his phone but when we got back to the boat last night is wasn’t in the bag. We had to wait till Verizon opened this am before we could leave so we walked up to the train depot/visitors center where there is a neat little coffee shop bakery. We all had some pastries for breakfast and bought a loaf of fresh baked sour dough  bread.

We got the phone case from Verizon this am and were underway about 10:30 which should put us into Holiday point around 2:30.

We had a few boat chores to do this am before leaving. We have a deck leak in the galley we have been fussing with for a week. The good thing is that it only leaks when it rains. The bad thing is that it’s been raining since we left Marietta. I think it’s the remnants of the hurricane that hit Mexico dumping rain upon us.So we had to go up and do a little more sealing to stop it up. Had to check the oil on the engines, check fuel levels and fix the gasket on the outboard that is coming off. It comes off once a year and I glue it back on with contact cement until it comes apart again the next year and I have to reglue it.

We’ve just passed Ashland, Kentucky. Somewhere below Huntington we crossed the state line from WV into Kentucky. Unfortunately we must have missed the “Welcome Station”. The Replica Nina and Pinta that we had seen at Station Square in Pittsburgh were there docked at Ashland.

.There must have been a school excursion trip as there were a couple of school busses parked down by the city wharf, next to the ships. We fired up the calliope as we motored past.

We are about to pass under a suspension bridge under construction. There are two concrete towers completed and they are building the roadway/ deck which is suspended and cantilevered out almost 200 feet. The construction proceeds from both directions and hopefully meets somewhere at the middle of the river.

The bridge is in the town of Ironton, Ohio. The city looks interesting buy has no docks, only  a concrete boat ramp so there is no access to the city without dinghying ashore and getting our feet wet.

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