Cruising South on the ICW

Happy New Years!

We started the New Year of right- we left the dock!

We wanted to get out of Two Way before the folks came back and gave us a hard time about taking up a slip for too long. The first was a cold and windy day. I had some concerns, but our plan was to stay in the intercoastal to St. Simons Island and anchor without getting out into any inlets or open waters,

We got off dock fine and out of the finger slips to the channel when the engine died! I quickly went forward and tossed out the anchor. The channel there is pretty deep, so I let out about 80′ of rode. We settled in and I checked the usual culprits and there was air in the fuel lines. Diesel engines DO NOT like any air in the lines. I bled the engine and it started right up. We waited about 15 minutes, then raised the anchor to boldy go- but the engine died again! More air! I bled it again and we waited about 15 minuted. We picked up anchor again and got a little farther up the channel before it died a third time. We dropped anchor again. I bled the engine and noticed that the RACOR fuel filter/seperator valve was letting air into the lines. I fiddled with the RACOR and it stopped leaking air (NOTE to myself, replace lower drain valve) and I bled the fuel lines again. She started right up and promptly died again in 15 minuted. I bled it again, this time at each connection point versus the front and last. There was A LOT of air on the inlet side of the fuel filter housing. After that was bled and we waited for almost an hour we raised anchor and headed to the ICW.

Emma in transit

We put Emma James in her life jacket and strapped her into her car seat resting on the cockpit floor, which is right above the diesel engine. The rumble of the diesel put her right to sleep once we were under way. She slept for almost 2 hours like that and Hil manned the helm while I tidied up the boat lines, fenders, and navigated.

We have a Garmin 192c which is really great- not 100% accurate, but in conjunction with paper charts is really a great tool for basic navigation. Hil basically followed the little pink ICW line on the GPS and it correlated with the markers and range markers on the chart and more importantly- on the water!

Hil at the Helm

Hil did a great job on the helm. She mans the helm weighing anchor, when Emma is sleeping, and when I have to do boat chores or deal with fenders, anchors, lines, etc. We have a pretty good hand signal system worked out for anchoring and ‘mostly’ get by without a lot of disagreement.

We motored right along and brought the boat up inside next to St. Simons Marina near Epworth Church. The first night the wind was really blowing so we anchored farther out in the open. It was a chilly night, but we ran our cabin heater and celebrated our first night out with a great steaks and a lovely red wine. We both slept like rocks that night.