Thursday's Action....Fun,Fun, Fun

Yesterday we got up and at em and got our jobs done early morning. We had lunch and then ran a bunch of errands before the big weekend kicks off. While we were running around ...Jan had three or four stores she wanted to check and I had at least three places tostop....but anyway a man helps Jan out tothe car with some gifts she had bought for back home. He is just talking away with her and is the nicest guy. Jan introduces me to him as a former D 3 football player and he is telling about all the placeshe played at while in school. He says D 3 is where footbal is at anyway for the guys are playing for the love of the game. Anyway he gives me his business card and says if we ever have any trouble around Demopolis just call him. Well I think that is a little unusual so I look at his card.....He is the mayor of Demopolis. So the woman who owns the shop is his wife and he was just stopping by the shop to check on things and gets involved in conversation with Jan and his wife...neat. So we are going to look for him on the Fourth at the parade or at the fireworks. After that we went on a boat ride on our boat with Mark and his two daughters Sarah and Nicole. Sarah is a college softball pitcher and Nicole goes to college this Fall to study to be a vet. The boat had problems because the Impeller that I had put in that leaked on the last boat ride now burnt up and was not pumping water. So on a hot day in the river with Jan driving on one engine Mark and I changed the impeller for a new one. Then things were fine. We camebackto the slip cleaned up and sat on the back deck fishing for an hor and I gave up and went to bed . We were supposed togo over to Mark's and run the trout line with him but we were too tired. The older couple that were his neighbors had taken a 30 lb cat off the line that morning.....can you say catfish sandwich....Thanx for reading along Tom

Thursday and Firing Up for the Big 4th Weekend

Wellyesterday was a good day . Got alot of little jobs caught up and then spent an hour or two on THE WALL with Joy and Dale talking boating. We even got a picture of us signing THE WALL for posterity. Got a call from our friend Mark Davis who owns the diesel company and who did the work on our boat along with Ben Seidel...Iwill check this spelling...anyway we went to Mark's house for the evening. Boy did we have a good time. Mark is an excellent cook especially on his own design grill. He made beer can chickens. One was seasoned with lemon pepper and the other with Slap Ya Mama . They were both delicious along with a baked potato and Butterfinger Cake for desert..spelling. Before we ate he took Jan and me along with Peanut the dog and his daughter Nicole for a pontoon boat ride on the Black Warrior River. What a beautiful nite for a nice slow cruise. He wanted to show us a good fishing spot where he had caught a big blue cat the nite before . When we got to the spot it was set up beautifully for fishing or at least it looked that way. While we enjoyed his fishing hole he looked up and said I am getting ready to get crosswise with someone up there on the river. We all looked up to see two people in a boat just a couple of 100 yards up the river. So Mark started driving that way saying that they were running his trout line. That is something you do not do ,especially in the South and on the river. As we got closer we were all relived to find out it was his neighbor and friend who helped with the line at times. He had his wife of 54 years with him both with life jackets on and telling us of loving the river and of being 74 years old. They also had one big blue cat in their boat from the line they were running. I was surprised to see him baiting the line with goldfish. Yes goldfish about 4inches long. Peanut goes crazy over fishing so she was having a great boat ride. Walking on her hind legs so she could see better over the pontoon's rail. What fun. After the boat ride it was back to his house right on the river so we could eat and discuss THE FOURTH and future boat rides both on his ski boat , pontoon, and our boat......that he laughingly refers to as that yacht. So The Fourth is going to involve three bands up the TTB at Rattlesnake Bend on a sandy beach, city fireworks across the river from the marina, fireworks at Mark's house, accompanied by ribs and a brisket. Stay tuned I will let you hear of the festivities. One more good thing happened yesterday...Nate my son texted and said he was going to be able to sneak in a visit end of July or beginning of August....awesome. Thank you for reading along Tom P S the tender gets tested for leaks today

The Language of Boating

First of all different types of boating have different languages. Sailing for example has a different language than power boating. A small boat that is taken along with the larger boat and used for shorter trips and errands is called a tender on a power boat and a dinghy on a sailboat. The small flag that flies from a pole on your -bow pulpit- is called a- burgee. The -bow- is the front of the boat while the-stern- is the back of the boat-also called the -aft. Starboard- and -port- are commonly used terms meaning the right and left side. The very front of the boat where it cuts through the water will get a dirty brown colored -mustache-in river water. It also makes a large spray of water as it cuts through the water. This is called -pushing water. The- scupper-is an opening for draining water off the side walkways. At opposite ends of the boat are the -bow pulpit- and the- swim platform. The- fly bridge-is the area on top of the boat wher there is a -helm- or driving area located. There are no ropes on a boat they are called -lines. The fly bridge is covered by a -bimini. This is usually a canvas covered top or shade for protection. The maps of the lake or river or body of water you are studying or following are referred to as -charts. The channel markers you are looking to follow are referred to as -cans. When you stop to anchor you usually put out the anchor with a motor called a -windlass. The opening in the bow to allow air to enter the boat is called the -hatch. And the final term today is -bilge. This is the very bottom of the boat where you hope fluids will not gather but they do and then they are pumped out with a bilge pump. TODAYS CHORES include :finishing cleaning the I-glas, checking the patch job on the tender, cleaning the a/c strainer, pumping the bilge, doing some buffing and waxing, and checking the running and anchoring lights. Thanx for checking in Tom

Jobs, Changes, and Anchoring

Today I want to start out with a list of jobs I plan to tackle. Each day I choose from the long list of jobs to do. Also there is always a few left over jobs from the day before to finish up. For example the tender had been leaking before Jan arrived so I waited for her to get here so we could tackle that job together. We took it across the marina to the city park where there is a launching ramp. Pulled it up the ramp, took the motor off and rolled it over. It was unglued where the rubber is attached to the fiberglas bottom. I mean all of one side. So Jan walked back to the marina to get some supplies and adhesive, plus some cold drinks, and to bring back the truck. She was getting a good intro to the heat we have been experiencing. So today that job continues....especially the drying of the glue. I need to Brasso the faucets in both heads. I have some window caulk I need to replace, and finslly I want to shine all of the ising glas or the plastics as some refer to them...ck spelling. THE big change that has upset Jan is the storms coming to the Gulf area have caused the postponement of the concert we had tickets for ...and we are not available for the new date............ I wanted to point out some of the items to beconsidered when anchoring out. We have done very little of it so I am not ready to talk about technique quite yet. We will get to that later this summer for we plan to try it a few times. Although most people say it is just as cheap to stay at a marina as it is to run your generator all night keeping your food cold and your a/c running. Things to consider would include: the type anchor you have, whether you have one or two anchors, what the bottom is, the distance of swing your boat wii incur, the direction of the wind, the direction of the current, and the amount of traffic to go by during the night ....especially tows. Once agagain I thank you for tuning in Tom

The Admiral is Finally Here...Yahoo

Well the Bham airport is really nice. Easy in ..Easy out..pretty plants ,clean. Great access to the interstates. Now that Jan is here the dog that has lived with me for two weeks on the boat does not even know I exist. Glad to have her here and pleased that we can work on boating chores together. With only one person some jobs double their time of completion with all the running back and forth. Bought her to Demopolis and introduced her around. Took her to the wall for some excellent boating conversation, I knew she would love that. TOPIC CHANGE...Ilearned from Bob Lusco and Pete Hansen to do daily engine checks while traveling. You do not do your engine checks while on the move ...what i mean is daily before embarking on another leg of your journey. Two good reasons to do the checks of a morning...one is the engines have cooled down, and two is you are fresher and it does not cut into evening social time. Besides the obvious once over of the entire engine room including the engines, the generator , the couplings, the packings, and the bilge ..looking for fluids, hoping to find none. One would also check the oil and water in all the engines, check the fuel tubes, look for water in the separators, check the batteries for distilled water, and check the transmission oil. All of these are pretty casual but could save a ton of time, money and work if you found something you could solve before it became a big deal...Once again I appreciate your tuning in ..Thanx Tom

Slips

Yesterday while visiting on THE WALL another boater and I were talking and he noticed I had turned the boat around in the slip and he asked me about it. The boat originally had been backed in or as we say sterned in....as opposed to pulled in or bowed in. So he and I began talking about the differences and since I had that as one of my blog topics for the future I decided to use it today. Two obvious things when you pull in..bow in..one is that it is much easier to drive a boat forward than it is to drive it backwards...same as most motorized vehicles. Two is that on our particular boat it is almost impossible to see out the back..some boats are worse than others Jeffersons are notorious. I have received two good ideas since arriving here.....a little camera on the back of the boat much like some cars have or take the back waist high walls out of the corners of the back of the boat and replace them with see through plastic glass. Both of these ideas would help us immensely. Other good reasons to bow in include the shape of the front of the boat it is made to absorb on coming waves as opposed to a flat aft or stern, you can get the dinghy down off the aft roof when bowed in, and you are supposed to start your engined and let them come up to running temperature before pulling out. Diesels put out a lot of smoke and fumes and smell if you put that out where no boats are sitting your fellow boaters will appreciate that.....people do die from carbon monoxide. I know there is a debate on whether diesels put out co or not . I tend to lean toward the affirmative on that issue. If you bow in you miss a lot of the action on the dock in front of you , but that can be a good thing. One must also consider how much sun do you want. Mrs Hines, Jan, and I like to fish off our boat in the marinas at night so we like to sit on the aft deck and fish off the back so pulling in is a good idea. My final idea is just my conjecture but I feel the boat is actually safer sterned in rather than bowed in because bowed in makes it easy for people in boats to board your boat from the water which is a sneakier way to get on your boat. There is not a lot of that going on but it does happen. We prefer bowing in. Thank you for following along Tom

The day before the admiral arrives

Well I am excited because Jan flys into Bham airport tomorrow at 11:00. I have been down here two weeks with our dog Peanut and we have had a great time and done a bunch of work. But it is time to reunite the family and get on with our travels. Had a good day yesterday with alot of work done until about 1:00 and then lunch and the soccer game in the boaters air conditioned lounge. Several other boaters were in there talking and watching the game. After the gameMark Davis the owner of Riverside Diesel called and asked me over for a visit and beer can chickens on the grill. He live just a few miles from the marina on the Black Warrior River. He really has a great set up over there, back on a little bay off the river proper. It is so hot down here you can bet there was a lot of boaters out cooling off on a Sat afternoon. One thing about river boating is you can boat almost EVERY day. On Lake Michigan you can only boat when the waves and the wind and the weather permit....sometimes those days are few and far between. You can tell already that it is going to be very hot today. ..... I want to mention some of the many fluids a boat needs to have on board. This is just to give you an idea of some of the small things one has to consider in boating. I say small things but if you run out of them and need them all of a sudden it is not a small thing. Our two Cummins diesel engines have their own cooling system like a car does complete with antifreeze and they are also fresh water cooled out of the river. They also each hold 15 gallons of oil. There transmission uses straight 30 weight oil as its lubricant. The generator uses 10 w 30 oil and has two cooling systems just like the engines. The engine oil is 15 w 40. The rudders and steering resovoir..check the spelling...use automatic transmission fluid type A or dexron II. Finally the trim tabs use ATF generally 90 wt. So there is a little brief rundown on the fluids needed and the variety...do not get confused and mix them or you will have a very expensive disaster. P S you also need some type of diesel treatment for you fill ups to keep the diesel from gelling. And on and on we go...Thanks for reading Tom