With thinking our fuel flow issue was resolved, and with having a shiny new starter motor installed, we continued our cruise further south after our layover at Green Turtle Bay where we had been waiting for weather to clear. There’s an unusual phenomenon when sailing in that it seems no matter which direction you want to head, the wind is always on your nose requiring constant tacking to make way. It was no different today in that we had 15 to 25 knots blowing in our faces, and it seemed as we ventured around the bends the wind changed with us, as if we were both following the valley. Even with the opposing wind and resulting chop HIPPOKAMOS plowed her way up the Tennessee River. The “up” river course was another thing to get used to since we were heading “down” south, but that’s how she flows.
One of the highlights along the way was learning that our cruising friends, Greg and Debbie from Louisville, had just finished their fall cruise up the Cumberland River on their trawler NEW ADVENTURE and Greg was bringing the boat to Paris Landing for a short layover. We had just arrived ourselves and were going to leave the next morning to continue our trip, but without giving it a lot more though we couldn’t pass up the opportunity have us all there together. So what’s another day added to our schedule since we had no schedule? So we stayed to catch up on stories over dinner.
After our one-day layover we continued on the Tennessee River. The routes we took winding through the hills of Tennessee gave us much to look at and our stops for the night, whether by anchor or marina, all turned out to be pleasant experiences. But as we approached Pickwick Locks, anticipating our exit from Kentucky Lake to Pickwick Lake, things started to go sour… Read more.
Date: November 03 to 09, 2023
Engine Hours: 26.9 (2536.1 – 2563.0)
Distance: 199.2 nautical miles
Green Turtle Bay to Aqua Yacht Harbor (cont.)
Unfortunately our fuel starvation issue was coming back to life and we had to make numerous emergency tank changes to keep the main engine chugging. The first trouble-maker came from the starboard-aft tank by not keeping up with the fuel flow. Then the port-aft tank decided to play the same game. That left us with our starboard-forward tank as the only dependable source for continuous, uninterrupted fuel flow. As we approached the locks at Pickwick Lake we were starting (continuing) to stress as we hovered around the gates waiting for them to open. Once inside all went well but when the gates opened and we exited the chamber the engine quit… and that means QUIT… nothing, not even a chug, chug, spurt. A quick trip down below to switch to the faithful starboard-forward tank and we were running again, but that was enough excitement and we were looking for “safe harbor”.
Speaking of which, just a little further was Safe Harbor Aqua Yacht, located at the mouth of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, but it still felt risky so we ducked into Pickwick Landing Marina for the night. After assessing the situation we decided we had enough cruising (and cussing) and decided that Aqua Yacht Harbor was a good place to layover for awhile. Our first thought was that a week would do it while the fuel system got another going-over, and then we thought going home for a month might help us chill. But then thinking further we realized we’d be back at the boat in the winter and it would be better to put her up and plan to start fresh in the Spring.
After trying some DIY investigating and doing the usual filter changes with no positive results we called in the boatyard mechanics. Since we showed up at Aqua Yacht without slip reservations, and we asked for unscheduled service work, our first thought was to pack up our belongings and head back to Louisville until HIPPOKAMPOS was good-to-go. After a bit more thought we realized we had to get the fuel issue resolved before we abandoned ship, so it looked like we’d be hanging around the marina for a few more days.
