It was foggy when we woke up in the morning at Bobby's, and after a brief conversation with the other boaters we all decided we were going to wait out the fog. The AIS showed a tow was anchored about a km downstream and nobody was moving. We got the boat ready to go anyways, as these things always turn into panic when we get the word, and then set in to wait. Just after the sun came up, three looper boats passed by Bobby's on their way to the lock. We all stayed put, as the fog was still too thick for our taste.
Foggy morning at Bobby's Fish Camp. The far bank of the river was only visible from time to time. There was a tow parked just downstream with it's flood lights on, and we could only see them sometimes.
Around 7:30 we got the word that someone had called the lock and we had to go NOW. So, after a brief fire drill we all got off the dock and underway. The fog was still pretty thick as we passed the tow downstream, and even entering the lock. Turned out that between the boats at Bobby's and the ones that passed us, there were 10 boats in the lock. This is usually nice, because the locks have 10 bollards to tie up to.
We were the last boat to enter the lock, and the others told us on the radio that the only open bollard was at the very front. The other boats were larger than us, so nobody wanted the bollard at the front as they were afraid their bows would over-hang where the lock doors closed. We have moored at the front lots of times, so we went for the front bollard. When we got set in, I walked to the front of the boat to make sure that the lock doors would not clip our anchor when the doors opened.
We had about 6 inches to spare between our anchor and the swinging lock door. Usually we have about 5 feet to the front, but this lock seemed to have a bit of a different design.
As we were coming into the lock, we noticed that all the other boats were motor yachts. While we were going down in the lock, I got on the radio to the other loopers to let them know that, as a trawler, we were likely to be slower than everyone else. I suggested that we would wait after the doors opened, so all the go-fast boats could go past.
While we were going down, we noticed a heron that had discovered a really good fishing technique. The lock doors are constructed out of I-beams, which creates small chambers that hold water as the lock operates. This heron flew into one of these chambers, and started fishing. Literally like shooting fish in a barrel, the heron stabbed at the fish and then ate his fill. As the water level descended, he flew to the next chamber down to dine on the fish trapped there. Really smart!
Once the doors opened, the motor yachts untied and went past us. We waited until all of them had past, plus another trawler that we knew would go faster than us, and then departed. This put Jewel and ourselves at the back of the pack. Just outside, the motor yachts went to warp, and took off for Mobile. This left several other boats travelling on impulse power behind. We were all at "hull" speeds, but we were the smallest boat and so went the slowest. Hull speed is the maximum speed you can go economically in a boat. To go faster, you have to have enough power to "climb" over your bow wave and reach plane. Each boat has a different hull speed which is determined by the hull shape. One of the biggest factors is the length of the boat, longer boats have a faster hull speed. The speed difference is not large, but is enough to make a difference over long travel distances.
This lock was the last one on the inland rivers, and so the last lockage we would have to worry about until we start north in the spring. YES! No more locks for the next few months.
Along the way Rich saw some wild hogs on the shore, and also saw an alligator. So, we were officially in gator country.
We passed an old-school tugboat pushing a barge as we were heading down. Every time I see one of these I think of Theodore Tugboat. This one had a distinctive paint job.
As I am driving, I constantly scan the engine gauges for signs of trouble. Normally the needles stay locked in place, and I have become very familiar with the "proper" reading on each gauge. Well, at one point in our journey, I noticed a slight decrease in the engine temperature. It was really small, but you notice this kind of thing and any changes that are engine-related get maximum attention. Scanning the other gauges, I noticed that the battery voltage was not right. mmmmmm
We have a battery monitor on the boat which I can use to monitor all of the important parameters of the batteries. Checking this, I discovered that the batteries were not being charged - in other words the alternator was not working. I asked Louise to drive for a bit while I checked the voltage regulator. Our regulator has a digital display that shows alternator status. I made a video of the display, so I could use any error codes to diagnose the issue once we stopped.
With that done, there was nothing else we could do except monitor the situation to make sure it did not get worse, so I now added a check of the battery monitor to my instrument scan for the trip. The monitor is not on the dashboard, so this required walking around every once in a while to check battery status. By the way, the reason that I had initially noticed the issue on the temperature gauge is that the gauges are voltage sensitive. The apparent drop in engine temperature had happened because of the reduced battery voltage when the alternator quit.
Jewel coming past a barge on the river. We were passing on a curve, and had to stop half-way past the barge to let him swing enough to give us room to get by. Here you can see how close we get to some of these monsters.
We arrived at the Three Rivers anchorage, which was a small lake at the end of a long, narrow channel. It was really well protected, and there was a small current in the water to hold us in place. We had 360 degree protection, which was really nice.
We had lunch with Rich and Melanie once we got set in place. This was mid-afternoon so this was a combo of lunch and dinner. After eating, Rich and I took a look at the alternator. First, we replayed the recording I made of the regulator display to find the error codes. There were only two, both related to disconnected temperature sensors. Both sensors were working, so these were just historical codes and not helpful for our present dilemma. Some more tests with a multimeter showed that the regulator was working, but the alternator did not appear to be. At this point, I decided to take a break to read more about alternator troubleshooting, so I climbed out of the Jeffries tube the regulator was in and cleaned up all the tools.
The next morning was fog-free, so we got underway early. This run would be a long one, about 5 hours, and we like to arrive early if we can to allow for "issues" should they arise. It started raining just before we left, and the rain would continue the rest of the day. Our destination was the Tensaw river, which was a beautiful anchorage. Big, well protected and there was enough current to keep us from swinging. We got the anchor set, and Jewel rafted up, then Rich and I did some more testing on the alternator. The alternator is a special one, in that it is designed to be controlled externally, but also has a built-in regulator that can be used as an emergency spare controller. I connected this to the alternator, and then Rich started up the engine and we ran it for a few minutes while checking voltages and amperages. As part of this test, we also by-passed the battery isolator to make sure that it was not part of the problem. Our tests showed us that the alternator was no worky. We confirmed this with a magnetization test, which the alternator also failed. OK, we have a bad alternator. I disconnected it from the controls, but left it in place since it was needed to hold the engine belts, and we began searching for a solution.
We decided to order a new one, as they need to be shipped and the earlier we ordered one the earlier we would get it. So, we got on the interweb and ordered a new one and arranged to have it shipped ahead of us. As the day wore on, the anchorage filled up with looper boats, and we eventually had a total of 9 boats in the anchorage. It rained pretty constantly all day, so everyone's boat got a good wash-down.
The next morning we planned to go to Mobile Alabama, which would officially be our entry into the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, we would enter salt water, and would also start to feel the effects of the tide. Some very cool milestones! We were up early as usual and got underway at sunrise. We had checked the weather closely to make sure we would be safe when we got to the Gulf, and although it seemed it would be rougher than we wanted, it was still within our go/no go parameters.
Morning at the anchorage. At night, you use an anchor light (single white light at the top mast) to show the position of your boat.
As we were underway, the coast guard got on the radio and issued a small-craft warning for Mobile Bay. Rich and I both decided we did not want to go anywhere near a small-craft warning area, so we started to check our plan B's for an anchorage to hide in. After some searching, we chose Big Bayou Canot north as the best place to hide. This anchorage turned out to be a river tributary that meandered here and there off the main channel. Jewel went in first and set the anchor, then iFloat rafted on.
We were secure here, but as it turned out we did not go in deep enough and were not fully protected from the wind gusts or the fetch. Jewel's anchor set was solid, we never moved, but we were being blown pretty good and swinging a lot. So Rich and I took their dingy and searched further into the anchorage to see if we could find a more protected spot.
Setting out on an Away-Team mission to find a better anchorage.
Back on the Mothership, Eevee decided to do some exploring. Don't know if she knows what water is, and don't want her to find out the hard way. Time to break out her PFD, cause we can't beam her back on board if she jumps in.
We went around a curve about a km further up the river, and found a place that was better protected against the wind, so we moved the boats to this location. It was still windy, but now the winds were by-passing us over the trees and so we were not being blown around.
Initially Rich set his anchor with us facing where we thought the current was from, and then we rafted to Jewel. But, it turned out that there was a small tidal effect here, and with the outgoing tide we swung in the wrong direction. This put us a bit to close to some deadheads, so we decided to move. So both iFloat and Jewel fired up engines, and we drove the pair of rafted boats upriver to a new anchoring spot. Was pretty fun as neither of us had driven a catamaran before.
The new location was really well protected, but we swung fairly close to shore a few times. Like other places on this river, these anchorages really remind us of the Wendover anchorage on the Ottawa river. We were close enough to the shore to be able to step off onto land if we wanted to.
As we have been going down the rivers, I keep expecting the forests to change, but the forests down here look just like the forests back home. The first change we noticed were cypress trees when we got to Green Turtle bay. Well, we saw some big changes here as the foliage suddenly started looking a lot like Florida.
Here you can see how close we swung to the shore.
We saw our first alligator! I saw what looked like a log, moving across the river. Rich got his binoculars out and confirmed that it was a gator, about 3 feet long. Cool! That night, Rich used his spot light to search for alligators. You can see their red eyes when you shine a light at them. Unfortunately, we did not see any, but we are sure we will have more chances in the future. In the morning, Rich also tried the spotlight again, but no joy.
Eevee wanted to check out the swim platform again after it got dark, but after seeing the gator swim by we made sure to keep the transom door closed.
We played a couple of rounds of SkipBo, ages 7 and up.
When we anchor I set an anchor alarm on the GPS. If the boat moves outside a set distance from our location, this alarm goes off to alert us of any movement. About 3 am Louise woke me up telling me the anchor alarm was going off. I quickly got up and checked the GPS and our surroundings, and discovered that the tide had swung which had flipped us around 180 degrees. This pushed us outside the alarm radius I had set the previous night. Checking the GPS readout showed that the anchor was still solid, we were not dragging. Although we had swung in a circle, we were secure. I re-set the alarm and went back to sleep.
The next morning, we were up early as usual and checked the weather. Both Rich and I went through all our weather apps, plus checked the coast guard website and weather channels. All clear, the small craft warning was lifted. Looking outside, we noticed that we had swung again, which now put our boats perfectly aligned for an easy departure. So we hauled anchor and set out for the Gulf for the second time in two days.
Leaving the anchorage early in the morning.
Along the way, we passed another anchorage that several other loopers had stayed in for the night. As we were passing, we heard them talking on the radio to each other. During the night, one of the boats had dragged anchor and moved about 1000 feet and ran aground. Two other boats were tangled in weeds and stuck in the entrance to the same anchorage. Yikes! The grounded boat had already called TowBoatUS and were waiting to get pulled off. Rich got on the radio to see if they needed assistance, but the grounded boat told him they were fine, that the tow boat was on the way. The other boats were tangled in weeds, and there was nothing we could do to help, they just needed time to un-fowl their anchors.
Along the way Louise shared her ham sandwich with Eevee.
We continued on, and a little while later heard the same loopers on the radio again. One of the boats that had been stuck in the weeds had gotten their anchor rode tangled around their prop, and they no longer had propulsion. As we heard this on the radio, the tow boat passed us heading up river. Since the boats were all in the same anchorage, the tow would rescue both of them.
Melanie calls Rich and I the "nerds". Both of us analyze things carefully, and make sure we are not going outside the capabilities of our boats. We both tend to overthink things a bit (OK a lot). The previous day, Melanie and Louise were a bit annoyed that we were searching for a new anchorage after we had set in securely in Big Bayou. Hauling up anchor in the windy conditions was tricky, and it took us about an hour to re-set in a new location. In the end it was worth it, as we were much better protected and passed a very comfortable night. After hearing about the boats in the other anchorage, she said she was glad we had nerded-out, and she and Louise were both proud of their nerds.
NERDS! Oh yeah.
We were in a outgoing tide, and so the river flow was immense. We showed a 5 kmph speed increase as we neared Mobile. Coming around a bend, all of a sudden we were in the ship harbour. Lots of container ships, barges, and even some Navy ships were docked here. Rich suggested we reduce speed in case there were any speed restrictions. There was nothing marked on the chart, or any speed limit buoys, but we decided to play it safe and slow to no wake. With the river current, we were still doing 15 kmph even with our engines at idle.
Cranes at the container port. We passed a container ship on the way out, but I think it was not one of the mega-ones. Still huge though.
Hospital ship in drydock.
Navy ship in drydock. Looks like some kind of landing craft.
Actually, I meant European Parrot.
Some kind of military ship in a covered drydock.
Littoral combat ship. These things spend more time in drydock than on patrol.
Gulf of Mexico marine museum
Heading out into the Gulf the water was super smooth as there was a north wind. But, as we got further out the fetch built and the waves got bigger. The ride was still pretty smooth however as we were in following seas. Along the way, we saw our first dolphins. A group of them swam towards the boat, and a little while later Rich reported that there were dolphins swimming in our wake. We also saw lots of pelicans dive bombing. These things hover around a spot and then all of a sudden dive straight down into the water. Pretty effective fishing technique.
The crew of Jewel crossing Mobile bay.
Our final approach to our marina for the day involved a turn to bring us into the waves and things got "sporty". We had spray coming over the bow, and had the windshield wipers operating full time. I even needed to use the washer as there was a bit of a salt buildup. It was a bit rougher than it should have been because we were in a narrow dredged channel, and so could not change our angle to the waves to make a smoother ride. This continued for about 6 km until we came into the lee of the land just outside Dog River, AL
It was really windy at the marina, and we had some trouble getting onto the gas dock, but eventually made it safely. After getting fuel, we got set in our slip for the night. We were now in tidal water, so had to take this into account when we tied up the boat. The tide swings here are fairly small, there is only one change a day and it is about 2.5 feet. However, this is enough to cause trouble if you are tied incorrectly. We spent some time making sure our lines were long enough, and I set up some fenders sideways to protect us from the poles, similarly to what we did in some places on lake Michigan. Here however, many boaters use fender boards to protect their fenders from being abraded as they move up and down the poles. About a month ago when we were in Green Turtle bay I made a set of fender boards from a 2 X 6, and we now deployed one of these on our boat. We only needed one because of the way the poles were staggered beside our boat.
There are different solutions to the problem of using fenders on a fixed dock with tides. Some boats tie a fender sideways to the pier. This worked well for us in lake Michigan, but would have subjected our fenders to abrasion as the tides raised and lowered the boat. Another solution is to tie a fender to the piling instead of the boat, but I was afraid we would forget and leave a fender behind sometime. The solution we decided to use was to make fender-boards. The board is against the fixed piling, and so the board gets abraded as the boat moves up and down. Worked very well for us in Mobile.
All-day long there were fishing boats passing by the marina. They would stop upriver and then drift down in the current, repeating the cycle over and over. This is why. There were huge schools of fish hanging out under the docks. Each time we walked down the dock, the water would churn with these fish right under the pier. These are mullet.
Once we were set, we got in the curtesy car and dropped off the alternator to get fixed. Rich had found a place, Franklin's Starter & Alternator, that was willing to look at it for us right away. We dropped it off and they promised to give us a call as soon as they knew something later that day. After doing that, we went grocery shopping and got some odds and ends from Home Depot.
Dropping the alternator off at the shop (its in the box).
Back on the boat, some other loopers, including Thyme Away, had arrived. Mike on Thyme Away invited us to docktails on the gas dock. So, we got our lawn chairs and enjoyed gasdocktails with several other looper boats who had stopped off at the marina. One of the main topics of discussion was the three boats that had gotten in trouble at their anchorage that morning. Turned out that the guy who was grounded was pulled off successfully by TowBoatUS and was parked in the marina across the river from us, while the boat that lost propulsion had to be towed back in. When they hauled their boat out, they found that their prop shaft had snapped off, taking their propeller with it. Yikes! Those prop shafts are 2 inch thick steel. Takes a lot of force to break one. Luckily the break was outside the boat, so they did not take any water in as part of the accident.
Later, Melanie told Louise that she was really glad that Rich and I are nerds.
The next morning we invited Rich and Melanie over for breakfast. Louise made a special egg casserole that Melanie had given her the recipe for. It was really tasty! After breakfast, Rich and I went over to Thyme Away to help him with his AIS, which was not working for him. At Demopolis, I had looked at his set-up and found that one of the settings on his GPS was incorrect and so he could not see AIS targets. Changing a few settings was all that was needed for him to receive info, but he was still not transmitting his position to other boats. After some troubleshooting, we discovered that the unit was never programmed by the installer. Luckily I had the software on my laptop after programming our own AIS, so we used this to set up his system and he was now visible on AIS. Just as we were finishing up, Louise stopped over to tell us that the alternator was fixed, and that she had reserved the curtesy car to go and get it. While we were waiting for the car to be returned to the marina by another boat crew, Rich, Mike and I walked over to West Marine and I got a few odds and ends to fix the anchor bridal.
We then set off in the car to pick up the alternator. When we got to the shop, it turned out that I had caused the problem with the alternator. The air filter on our engine is special. It is fitted with a device that takes crankcase overpressure (blow-by) and feeds this back into the engine intake. Boat diesels are designed this way to avoid the buildup of oil from the blow-by in the bilge (on trucks this blow-by is just vented outside). To reduce the amount of oil that the engine consumes from the blow-by, our air cleaner is actually an air-oil separator. The device uses a special air filter that is treated with a special oil. These filters are fairly expensive, so instead of replacing ours, I used a special cleaning kit to clean out the dirt. As part of this cleaning, you need to re-apply the special oil to the outside of the filter, and it turned out I used too much. The air filter is located over the top of the alternator, so some of this excess oil leaked out of the filter and onto the alternator. Inside the 'nator the oil mixed with brush dust creating an abrasive paste that damaged the brushes. OK, another lesson learned about boat maintenance. Next time I clean the filter I need to take special precautions to avoid excess special oil.
Back at the boat, Rich and I got to work reinstalling the alternator. After a bit of rocket surgery the heart was back in its home pumping out electrons, and we were ready for more looping. While we were operating on iFloat, Louise and Melanie collaborated together to make dinner, and then we visited with Rich and Melanie for a bit before turning in.
The next morning we were up early and ready to roll. That day we would be crossing Mobile bay. The water here is really shallow, about 10 feet, even though the bay is many miles wide. There is a shipping channel that is dredged, along with a dredged small craft channel and the intra-coastal waterway. Following those dredged channels to our next destination would be a pretty long day, as we would have to "circle" around the bay to get to where we wanted. Rich had talked to one of the pilots of a local rescue boat at the gas dock the previous day, and got some intel about a short-cut that would take us diagonally across the bay.
We started out heading into the waves, which was a bit rocky but comfortable. Since the waves were right on the nose, we were just pitching a bit. Entering the shipping channel, we were now beam-on to the waves and so started rolling somewhat. Luckily, this didn't last long, as we soon turned more into the swell to take the short-cut across the bay. In the short-cut the waves were on the port bow, so we got a bit of roll and pitch. As well we took a fair bit of spray over the bow, but the ride was smooth enough to be able to use the auto-pilot. The worst part of the trip was travelling into the sun made it difficult to see where we were going.
We arrived at Homeport marina in mid-morning. This place made us feel like we were in the Caribbean. Palm trees and kettle-drum music. What a feeling! We were now in a place that felt like a vacation resort, and we had brought our own boat with us to get there! WOW WOW WOW!
Homeport marina felt like a resort, which it was. Palm trees and vacation music.
Lulu's restaurant, owned by Jimmy Buffet's sister.
Feets up!
Milestones:
First alligator sighting
First dolphin sighting
End of inland rivers
Last river lock
Start of gulf segment
First tides
First salt water
First fresh-water washdown to clean the salt off
First palm trees
Name of the day: Franklin's Started & Alternator
