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

Up and at em at 6 30 this beautiful Sat morn here at Demopolis Marina on the TTB Waterway. We are receiving a lot of new boaters from the Gulf daily. The marina is basically full at this time. Most everyone I talk to says even tho it is an extremely serious problem with the oil they themselves have not seen any oil in the waters. The new word as of yesterday was that a storm was brewing of the Yucatan Penn and could very well go thru the Gulf to Texas or to Louisiana. ....This marina sets here on the waterway as the water is running north to south. The fuel dock as is usually the case is the first part of the marina so it is easily accessible. The outside or western most section is for tow boats only. They come and go constantly for this is the first real fuel dock off north of Mobile. The inside of the dock is for boaters only for fuel and pump out. Then from west to east there are three docks hooked together in a pitchfork arrangement. A, B, and C docks as a designation. C dock is covered. I get up at apx 6 00 each a m and come to THE WALL in front of the boaters lounge and restroom area. This building looks out over the entire scene and is the site of our daily rondevous..knew I could not spell that word. We meet here in the late afternoon and visit socialize..c o for Jim Doane...These people are so nice . We share concerns ...talk about boating questions ...ideas....and solutions. They all work together ,helping each other to enjoy the pleasures of boating . It is really neat. Yesterday was Fri which is special but it was also Joy's b day so we all went to the local Mexican restaurant together for lunch and for her b day celebration. One of the gentlemen boaters who is a very nice guy asked Dale and I if we could lift a bid 8d battery off his boat for him this a m . That is the kind of cooperation I am talking about. Couple other examples would be that Dale has sewen window covers for the front and side windows on our boat. They are beautiful and the Capt is going to love them. They are really neat for you can see out but can not see in. Another helpful guy is Smitty fro New Orleans who tells of being laid up with leg problems as a kid so he got interested in ham radio and radios in general. He found out that we have a bad hum in our fly bridge radio so he has been on our boat daily checking and checking and I am positive he is going to find our problem. He is on a mission. As I sit here this morn and look out I see a tow fueling up and a huge pleasure boat at the fuel dock. A few sailors are up and working on the decks of their boats. One very interesting fact and I may be off with my facts a little but I am close some of these tows will buy 25 to 30 000 gallons of fuel at a time the tankers that deliver the fuel only hold 10 ooo so that takes a lot of tankers coming and going 24 hrs a day to keep the fuel dock supplied. P S the fuel dock is open 24 hrs a day....busy little place...hope that gives you a little thumb nail of what this place is like....Thanks for reading and following along stay in touch...have received emails and call and sincerely appreciate it...good to hear from you all...Tom

Readers and this beautiful morning

Up here on the wall this a m and it is about 6 15 I can see that the river is as smooth as glass even tho it is flowing. There are a couple of marina workers already out and about for they start at 6 00 because it gets so hot mid day. I see a couple of people over cleaning a sailboat and one worker with a boat owner working on an engine on a nice new fancy boat that just came in yesterday. Have a nice little breeze this a m but that will not last long. The new rest rooms are to open today ...that will make Capt Jan happy. She does not think marinas in general do a very good job with their rest rooms. A CHANGE OF TOPIC...I wanted to mention the audience that we hope is following our adventures and blogs for this summer. The reason to mention this is so that readers do not get the wrong idea on some of what is said. We are by no means boating experts nor do we try to be . We just want to have fun, learn, boat, enjoy, laugh, and travel. We blog for our fellow boaters back home, our new boater friends, Mrs Hines' staff, students,and parents, along with our friends and relatives. So as you can see we have HOPEFULLY quite a diversified group to address. So if some of it is boring to you or to simple for you please realize who we are trying to reach. Thanks for understanding. Well yesterday I adjusted the impeller that was leaking while we did our test run on Wed , I then sanded some marine tex spots I had repaired earlier in the week. Marine Tex is an epoxy mixture that is usually very white and then becomes quite hard as it dries. It can be sanded and painted if you wish. I also got our dingy down from the top of the aft deck roof and took it for a shake down ride. By then it was reall hot so I cooled it. Hope you enjoy following along..Thanx for reading Tom

The Boat

Well yesterday was the day of truth, the pumps had come back fro Midwest Fuel Injection in Bolongbrook, Il and it was time to see if that in fact had been the cause of the surging problem. So Mark Davis the diesel man down here in Demopolis and I went on a boat ride. The boat ran exceptionally well. We went up the Black Warrior River several miles running the boat at different rpm s so as to try every speed for a period of time. The boat never surged once and was very smooth. This BW river is really something. Beautiful places to anchor, fifty feet deep most of the way, and very peaceful and secluded. Gorgeous, gorgeous,gorgeous. The boat is a 42 foot Jefferson with two state rooms with heads in each, a living salon, a galley, an aft deck and a fly bridge, and a large bow area on the front. I really should not say on the front, for that is not a boat term.......some boating language I will get into in a future posting. The boat has two Cummins engines that are 5.9s. The boat cruises very comfortably at apx 8 to 10 knots, it will cruise at 20 to 25 knots comfortably and very expensive. The fuel tanks of which there are two each hold 175 gal of diesel fuel. This is a total of 350 gallons at apx 3.00 dollars a gallon so there you go....fill er up for apx 1050 dollars...the good news is that will last all summer.. we get 2 miles to the gallon...so 700 miles...that is a nice summers travel...thanx again for checking in Tom

Plans

I will be here the rest of this week working on the boat. Right now it is just Peanut the dog and me. Jan or Mrs Hines as her students know her will be here next Monday and we have some exciting plans popping up for us to do before we head up the TTB and onto the Tenn River headed to Chatta andKnoxville. The TTB designation will always be for the Tenn Tom Bigbie Waterway. The plans include a free iol spill concert by Jimmy Buffett on the beach at Gulf Shores to benefit the area of the disaster. I guess famous entertainers from country music to New Orleans jazz musicians are signing on. Just an attempt to get people to come down there. We are also going to anchor out at least one night to try and sharpen or refresh our anchoring skills. I will talk more about the five to one ratio at another time. We are also planning a quick trip up the Black Warrior River before we head to the Tenn River. The W leave Birmingham comes thru Tuscaloosa past the Univ of Al and empties into the TTB right here at Demopolis. Final plan so far to do here is on the FOURTH of JULY when the owner of the restaurant on site is planning a big hoopla up the river at Rattle Snake Bend. Complete with refreshments and food and three bands playing in the sand on a beach there. So we are excited so much to do before we ever leave Demopolis. Thanx for reading and following along. Sincerely Tom. PS those of you who know we had surging problems with the starboard cummins diesel engine the two pumps have been repaired by Ben Seidel in Chicago and installed in the boat for a test run today...YAHOO...Thanx Ben

Getting ready for the annual summer boat trip

I have been here at Demopolis in Al for a week or more and to say it has been hot would be an under statement. We have had over 100 degree days every day. Gets so hot you have to work inside the boat in the afternoon for it is too hot outside. Thank goodness for the A C. I want to catch up on the jobs I have been working on since my arrival but I am not going to list them all. It has been fun for me for I like to tinker and keep busy. I go to Walmart once a week and I do my laundry once a week and the majority of the time I am working on the boat. A boat is like a house there is always work to be done. Boatng is not just fun and games all the time it is like most things-a lot of work to finally realize the fun. Some of the major jobs have included changing impellers in the two engines and the generator, fixing the two strainers for the AC and the generator, painting the aft deck, checking all saftey items and 100 other little jobs. I have been here a while and still have a lot to do. I have met a lot of nice people and we gather each day in front of the boaters lounge and visit for at least two hours after we get our work done for the day. I will try to keep up the posts and stay in touch.at least until the Admiral gets here. You see I am the Captain and Jan is the Admiral or as I like to put it she is the real Captain. Email us please. Signing off Tom.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

FOR ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN HOLDING YOUR BREATH JUST WAITING FOR ANOTHER BLOG YOU MAY BREATHE AGAIN FOR HERE WE GO ....THIS TIME I WOULD LIKE TO DISCUSS ALL THE JOBS THAT ARE AWAITING AT DEMOPOLIS ALA...I HAVE THEM DIVIDED INTO THREE PARTS BECAUSE I THINK IT WILL TAKE THREE VISITS TO THE BOAT TO GET THEM ALL COMPLETED...ONE SET IN NOV...THE SECOND SET IN MARCH AND THE FINAL SET AFTER THE BOAT IS BACK IN THE WATER IN MAY...THAT IS THE THINKING AT THIS POINT ANYWAY..REMEMBER IT IS A LABOR OF LOVE..BUT IT ALSO IS VERY DEPENDENT ON THE WEATHER AS JOHN AND I FOUND OUT IN AUGUST... THE WEATHER AVERAGES ARE 67 AND 41 FOR HIGHS AND LOWS FOR NOV.....MAR 68 AND 43...MAY 83 AND 58......NOVEMBER SEES US FINISHING THE BOTTOM WORK ..CHANGING THE OIL AND FILTERS..DOING A LITTLE ANTIFREEZE WORK..CLEANING AND PREPING THE DINGHY..SETTING UP THE HEAT LAMP FOR THE ENGINE ROOM ALONG WITH A THERMOSTAT TO CONTROL IT..CHECK THE BATTERIES..THIS DOES NOT LOOK LIKE A VERY BIG LIST BUT ...IT IS....NEXT IN MARCH WE WILL WANT TO DO THE FOLLOWING ..CHECK THE ANCHOR AND VHF RADIO..TAKE THE HEAD PUMP OFF THE MASTER HEAD AND REPAIR OR REPLACE..REPLACE ALL 3 ZINCS IN THE ENGINES AND GENERATOR...DO THE SIDES OF THE BOAT BUFFING AND WAXING...THEN IN MAY.CHECK AIR CONDITIONERS AND IDLES.THEN FINALLY TRY TO GET THE SURGES UNDER CONTROL...THANX AGAIN FOR READING TOM