As I recall we left you with the promise to pick up in New Orleans for the 50th anniversary of Jazzfest. It was a show where they pulled out all the stops and went over the top...until the Rolling Stones had to cancel. Maybe that should have been an omen for us. It was a great fest anyway and well attended as always.
We had made plans to return this year before heading back to the boat but plans have changed in a hurry for everyone. I imagine if they held it as scheduled it'd look more like this...
Anyway. after another great NOLA visit we made our way back east on the Mississippi Sound to Mobile Bay and Dog River marina to prepare for our trip up the Tenn-Tom waterway to the Tennessee River. We were treated to a lovely sunset the night before we left which seemed to be a good sign.
Unfortunately by the following afternoon this was still where we were. Not the way we wanted to start the next leg.
As we were leaving the marina and heading out the channel toward Mobile Bay we struck something submerged with the starboard running gear, it actually healed the boat over to port as we went over it. After cutting power and checking for leaks we resumed course and applied power only to find a serious vibration so we returned to the marina for repairs.
Once hauled out I was relieved to see no visible damage to the prop.
However, further investigation revealed the shaft was no longer straight!!
It soon became obvious we wouldn't be going anywhere for awhile. It took a long 3 weeks to get a new shaft made after they assured me it couldn't be repaired. Apparently some shops are less honest than others.
After a long delay our shaft came in and we were put together and on our way. At least we weren't charged for docking while we waited.
We were finally on our way in early June. As we prepared to anchor on the first night out we found that our windless was not working! I'd checked it at Dog River before we left...now what? After checking everything we could think of with no luck we resorted to the old "arm-strong" method to deploy and retrieve the anchor. Not optimal but do-able. Maybe Chasing 80 didn't want to return to fresh water after a couple of years in Florida?
Somewhere along the Tenn-Tom as I was passing a tow and being sure to give him plenty of room I managed to find the bottom with the port running gear!!! Luckily we were able to continue without vibration at our normal speed, however after getting anchored for the night I saw obvious damage to the port prop. We decided it was safe enough to continue our trip to our planned destination on the Tennessee River. Without further incident we traveled to Guntersville AL and came back to the house for a much needed break.
We were back to the boat in late August and moved her to Goose Pond Marina in Scottsboro AL where they have a travel lift and repeated the process....
We had a much better outcome this time even though the prop and shaft were both bent. Having a car we were able to drive the prop to a shop and the shaft to another where both were able to be repaired for a fraction of the cost of the job in Mobile. Finally, and honest and speedy repair facility!!
With everything back together we started to feel better about boating again...I was beginning to feel cursed somehow!
We next took a quick road trip to Cincinnati to meet friends at Oktoberfest. It was a nice break from boat projects...however....upon our return we found that our refrigerator had died while we were away! Well, with our much improved outlook on boating I remembered that I never liked that fridge anyway and secretly hoped for it's demise. We found a replacement that allowed us to make better use of the space and it was actually a bit roomier.
All-in-all we were happy with the marina at Goose Pond and decided we would winter the boat there.
We have gotten a ton of projects done, just didn't cruise as much as we had planned that fall. Jill being the "detail queen" decided to tackle the ship's bell again.
I finally got around to changing most of the 12v lights to LED which was a great improvement.
We did take a short cruise up to Chattanooga where we were lucky to get my 2 sisters together at the same time. That never seems to work these days! It was a great weekend and a nice cruise.
On the trip back we passed an interesting flotilla. How many boaters get to pass the Nina and Pinta on the "1 whistle"??
So our cruising season ended on a high note and we are looking forward to a less stressful 2020 once things return to whatever normal will be.
The "plan" for now is to return to the boat in mid April and isolate there for a few more weeks while getting a few more projects done. Hopefully by sometime in May we'll be able to start traveling but that will remain to be seen.
Maybe I'll post a list of what we've accomplished on the boat over the past year...it's not like I'm doing anything else right now....
