Boating Again

Kevie started talking to our neighbor John about their recent trip and we ended up in their boat drinking coffee and chatting. They're nice people and I took the opportunity to check out the houseboat. There really is a lot of room. Two berths, a big salon with a separate kitchen, and more space on the roof with a small patio out back.

Saturday afternoon we went to Seaside Heights and walked the boardwalk. Played frog bog, went on the carnival rides, and ate our way down the boardwalk. Chris went on the bungee jump trampoline. According to his expression he was uncertain about just how high the thing was going to take him but I know he had a good time. I want to try it next time.

Sunday morning we put the boat on the travel lift and poked and prodded gunk out of the intakes for both engines and the A/C. The covers that fit over the holes are shaped like clam shells and where the striations would be in the shells there are slits. I had screwdrivers to poke in the slits and when I'd removed the stuff that was hanging down thought I was done. Fortunately the more experienced around me (Dave and Jacob) had a better idea of what was needed and they dug inside with a putty knife and ended up using the power wash to force the stuff out. "Stuff" was a mix of dead and live eel grass and living barnacles.

Dave's advice is 1) Sand the bottom paint off the covers and never paint them again. He explained that the paint has metal in it that draws this stuff to it. 2) run the engines every week so that the normal suction can deal with the build up of gunk before it becomes too dense.

Needless to say that when the boat was dropped back in the water it ran at temperatures 40-50 degrees less than before. All is well.

We headed over to Tuckerton in the early afternoon to visit a boat up restaurant called Paninni Bay but when we found it the chart showed the water to be way too shallow and there was no marked channel. We chickened out and spent the afternoon at anchor in the bay splashing around and made our own lunch.

Got back to port in time for Sunset Marina's Labor Day festivities. The owners put out a nice spread and we all probably ate more than we intended. Sat with Bob and Alison and were surprised that they had just been through the same overheating problem and remedy that we went through. I guess I don't feel so singled out for abuse anymore.