Events:

Left Clifton at 07:50 and had quiet water all day, with only a couple of barges/tows and a few pleasure craft. Arrived at Iuka, MS, Safe Harbor Aqua Yacht, at 15:25/3:25pm, in the hottest day of the year at 'feels like 106'. The marina is bigger, with 450 slips; the transient dock is a long face dock, which is certainly easier for us for docking. They have a restaurant and a full service yard. Good reviews by loopers who have been here.

The transient dock is indeed looong and faces the open harbor [see photo]; the other side/inside of our dock has seasonal rental slips, for 40' and up to 70'; many of the slips have built small patios with furniture and grills [see photo], which is a nice feature [for a floating condo!!].

Had 1 lock to go through at Pickwick Dam, a 54' lift; had to wait an hour after he finished with a large barge/tow; not really a problem except we were too hot and we had to keep the boat relatively 'stationary' while waiting.

The big event was our genset started overheating within an hour of leaving Clifton, which meant our a/c wasn't going to be available. Found that the oil was low - haven't checked it for a week and have been using it a lot - not too bright on my part - so added about 600ml of 15-40 which brought the dipstick up to 3/4 full from below low; thought that was the solution The raw water strainer looked bit 'gunky' so cleaned it out - not much in it but cleaned the sight glass and water observed to flow ok. The coolant level in the recovery tank is fine. Unfortunately, the problem with overheating persisted.

We found that the genset ran fine, without overheating, to power the fans, freezer, fridge, but as soon as we added 1 a/c unit, within 5 min. the temp rose 3 degrees, then another 3 degrees and we would shut off the a/c and the temp returned to normal. So we ended up running the Pilot House a/c for 5 minutes every 10 minutes to help cool us relatively to 88F, combined with two fans blowing on us; but finally just shut off the a/c, opened both PH doors and the hatch to the flybridge, and had better air flow which helped a bit.

Thus, it would seem that the a/c units simply put too much amperage load on the genset, which works fine for the other demands. But, why now? Just because the water is too warm and can't help cool the engine enough? Or, is the raw water flow impaired by something blocking the strainer on the hull, which would reduce the cooling efficiency?

Contacted the service manager here at Aqua and will see him at 08:00 tomorrow to review what we need to have done later [window/hull/deck/props/ etc] - meaning schedule a return date in Sept/Oct likely. He will also get someone to come to the boat to look at the genset in the morning.

Photos:

Saw the effects of some erosion on the Tenn.R. with cliff slides causing one house to partially collapse [and the rest will soon follow??]; and then showing a couple of houses that have dumped loads of rocks to stabilize their shoreline.

Admirals Comments:

Its hot! barely seems an adequate description. We've traveled in heat many days before but the A/C usually managed a few degrees of cooling. Today's heat seemed bad enough with a/c but without was pretty unpleasant. Definitely a 3 t-shirt day. The a/c is running fine on shore power so the problem is the generator. We get home Friday and only have one travel day left. So if for some reason the generator isn't fixed we still plan be home on Friday. Will really need cold beer and wine upon arrival!!

There is a courtesy car available and even though we don't need anything I plan to go buy something anyway.

Not much else to add. Its a little less hot, we had leftovers again, and the wind just picked up sending big chop onto our beam. We're on the outside face dock. Rob just added a couple of lines. Rock n Roll!

Plans:

Meet with service mgr tomorrow. Clean the gray water sump. Friday, home - now at T-2 [Thurs = T-1; Friday = T-0!!]

Comments:

Deedee  •  12 Aug, 2021 - What a drag with ac! Have Chris get the pool ready! Jump in! With your beer!! Lol! The path you show looks like a big heart! 😍🍺🍺🍺🍺

ErnieR  •  12 Aug, 2021 - At least the generator acted up at the end rather than the start! When was impeller last changed? Sounds like a blade or two missing?

Terry  •  12 Aug, 2021 - Check raw water output. Ernie may have named problem.

ErnieR  •  12 Aug, 2021 - I am a little concerned that in your eagerness to get home you might turn right from Aqua and head down the Tenn Tom again instead of passing Great Harbor and then turning right! Please double check all headings with the Admiral !!

Tom W  •  12 Aug, 2021 Good luck on your final push home. We’ll miss your daily journal entries !

ErnieR  •  12 Aug, 2021 - Just because you’re back doesn’t mean you can stop the blog! Glad to see gen fixed!