Steering Problems, Run Aground, and it is still a good day!
Monday, October 7, 2019
Days 52 on the Loop – Grand Rivers, KY (Green Turtle Bay Marina to Ginger Bay (Tennessee River) (35.57 miles)
Here is a recap for Sunday and Monday.
Vicki Pelton arrived on Saturday evening. Sunday was a quiet day. We had thought about taking the boat out for a "shakedown," but the weather was rainy and we decided not to. Instead, we went into town for a final dinner at T Lawson's Grill (very good!) and did some food shopping and other chores.
Other Loopers were having a get together at the Commonwealth Yacht Club, but since I have decided not to continue with the journey it seemed like it would be strange to be at the gathering.
We had decided to leave on Monday, and got underway about mid-morning. The Garmin GPS5215 had gone out of alignment and was showing us a "crabbing" down the river. The shoreline, as shown by the radar, did not align with the shoreline as shown on the chartplotter (the radar was showing the correct orientation). A Google and Youtube search had revealed that the problem was actually with the Garmin Autopilot, and there were instructions on how to run a "wizard" to correct this. We took the boat out the performed the actions (doing some steady circles, and then allowing the autopilot to do some zigzagging) and it worked! Now we are going straight down the river! :)
We then set off on our intended course for the day, about 30 miles to Ginger Bay, an anchorage recommended in the Skipper Bob publication. We had transitioned from the Cumberland River to the Tennessee River, when we noticed problems with the steering. It felt very loose and the rudder would return to the middle position, even when right or left wheel had been applied. We returned to Green Turtle Bay Marina where Floyd and Nathan looked at the system. They could not find anything specifically wrong but they bled the system. Whatever it was, their fix worked and we started back off again. Wonderfully, Green Turtle Bay did not charge us for that work!
We moved along at a good clip (about 11 knots) and arrived at the anchorage around 5:00 pm, which was well in advance of sunset. With a momentary inattention to the depth sounder, I did manage to run us aground! Thankfully, we were able to quickly reverse off of the muddy bottom and find a place with about 5' of depth to anchor. With a 2.5' draft we have more flexibility than other boats as far as anchoring places.
Having found a good site for anchoring, we tried to lower the anchor, only to find that the control for lowering the anchor at the helm station was not working. Luckily the control on the bow was still working on Vicki was able to lower from there.
The site is gorgeous, and we we are sitting in perfectly calm conditions with a lovely evening light.
It is ironic to have such a wonderful evening, on the day after I decided to end this journey. I just need to remind myself that of the steering failure and now a partial failure of the anchoring system.
Here is a recap for Sunday and Monday.
Vicki Pelton arrived on Saturday evening. Sunday was a quiet day. We had thought about taking the boat out for a "shakedown," but the weather was rainy and we decided not to. Instead, we went into town for a final dinner at T Lawson's Grill (very good!) and did some food shopping and other chores.
Other Loopers were having a get together at the Commonwealth Yacht Club, but since I have decided not to continue with the journey it seemed like it would be strange to be at the gathering.
We had decided to leave on Monday, and got underway about mid-morning. The Garmin GPS5215 had gone out of alignment and was showing us a "crabbing" down the river. The shoreline, as shown by the radar, did not align with the shoreline as shown on the chartplotter (the radar was showing the correct orientation). A Google and Youtube search had revealed that the problem was actually with the Garmin Autopilot, and there were instructions on how to run a "wizard" to correct this. We took the boat out the performed the actions (doing some steady circles, and then allowing the autopilot to do some zigzagging) and it worked! Now we are going straight down the river! :)
We then set off on our intended course for the day, about 30 miles to Ginger Bay, an anchorage recommended in the Skipper Bob publication. We had transitioned from the Cumberland River to the Tennessee River, when we noticed problems with the steering. It felt very loose and the rudder would return to the middle position, even when right or left wheel had been applied. We returned to Green Turtle Bay Marina where Floyd and Nathan looked at the system. They could not find anything specifically wrong but they bled the system. Whatever it was, their fix worked and we started back off again. Wonderfully, Green Turtle Bay did not charge us for that work!
We moved along at a good clip (about 11 knots) and arrived at the anchorage around 5:00 pm, which was well in advance of sunset. With a momentary inattention to the depth sounder, I did manage to run us aground! Thankfully, we were able to quickly reverse off of the muddy bottom and find a place with about 5' of depth to anchor. With a 2.5' draft we have more flexibility than other boats as far as anchoring places.
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| Green Turtle Bay to Ginger Bay. The squiggly lines at the top are our re-orienting the chart plotter and our return to Green Turtle Bay for steering repairs. |
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| Our anchorage on Google Maps |
The site is gorgeous, and we we are sitting in perfectly calm conditions with a lovely evening light.
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| Evening Light in a still anchorage - Ginger Bay |
It is ironic to have such a wonderful evening, on the day after I decided to end this journey. I just need to remind myself that of the steering failure and now a partial failure of the anchoring system.
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