Boat Maintenance, Navigation Software, and a 911 Call

Thursday, August 22 2019

Day 12 on the Loop – Alton, IL (O miles)

Started the day with a wonderful sleep-in!   I am retired, and have no immediate rush to get things done.  Once up I spent the morning and early afternoon reading up on the Rose Point navigation software that I have bought.   A quick background here.... The boat came with a Garmin 5215 GPS Chartplotter.  I went to a boat show in San Francisco, and the Garmin representative said I would be fine with that model, though he recommended that I buy new charts, that come on an SD card.

I bought both the chip for the ocean portions (NOAA Charts) as well as the chip for the inland waterways.   (Corps of Engineers)  Once I got on board I learned that the new chips/charts are not completely compatible with an older chartplotter.  They show the basics, but not all of the additional features that are included on the chip (and which I had paid for).      

Rather than investing a couple of thousand dollars in a new chartplotter, I purchased a USB/GPS antenna for my laptop and spent about $300 on Rose Point's Coastal Explorer software.  I can download NOAA and Corps of Engineers charts for free, and have them automatically updated. 

I don't have all of the functionality of my boat-mounted chart plotter, but I do now have a very good backup system, though like everything it takes time to learn it.

In the afternoon I went shopping for some of the things Terry, the training captain, had suggested, like oil, engine coolant and transmission fluid.  I also went food shopping at a grocery store called Schnuks.  I was very impressed!  It was nicer than the Safeways I am used to in California, and had everything I wanted.

Upon returning to the boat I started some maintenance tasks.  Given that I am on a boat, nothing is straightforward.   The air conditioning system takes in raw water (i.e. from outside the boat) then runs it through a strainer.  I wanted to clean out the strainer.  This should be easy.  You just turn off the sea cock (the intake is below the water line) unscrew the top, take out the strainer, clean it, and put it back in.  It was really hard to get the top off.  Luckily there was a filter wrench on board, and I was able to do that.   Once I had cleaned the strainer and put it back to together I had a heck of a time getting it to seal properly.  Each time I opened the sea cock water flowed into the boat.  Not a good situation.  Finally I got it sorted.

Ont the engine I took off the air filter and run water back through it to clean it out (I had been told this was fine to do by the mechanic in Salem).   As I was putting it back together I dropped the screwdriver, which fell below the engine into the bilge.   What a contortion act to try and reach under the engine to retrieve it.   Since this is where the propeller shaft runs there is no option but to retrieve it, plus - I need that screwdriver!

Having done that I added anti-freeze to the engine cooling system.  That requires snaking an extended hose from a funnel into the holding tank.  Relative to the other tasks that was quite easy!  Finished with my maintenance efforts for the day, I had dinner.

Across the dock from me is a fire/rescue boat.   An engine crew had come down to do an an inspection and we chatted.  I showed them around Sunny Tug.    Shortly after they left I heard a high pitched alarm sounding.  I thought they might have left something running on their boat, but when I stuck my head out of my door is saw thick gray smoke coming from a boat down the dock. 

I went down to the boat, and another boater and I saw that the engine was running.  No one answered when we banged on the hull, and we were concerned that there might be someone on board, possibly overcome by smoke or CO2.  I called the fire department while the other boater went aboard to try and gain access. 

Two engines, two medics, and a Battalion Chief arrived and I met them at the gate to the marina and gave them a status report.  They searched the boat and did not find anyone aboard, and no keys in the two helm stations.   The best guess is that some sort of short started one of the boat's engines and since it was still winterized (where they put anti-freeze in the system) the thick gray smoke was from that.    Scary to think that a boat's engine can just start by itself!

As a final ending, the Captain that I had talked to earlier dropped is SCBA mask on his way off of the boat and it tumbled into the water.    Despite our best efforts with boat hooks and a grappling iron, the mask could not be found.